4.2 CMS (Chicago Manual Style)
CMS is different from APA
and MLA styles because it uses footnotes or endnotes instead of parenthetical or in-text citations.
When you want to indicate a source for your information, insert a superscript number (in this example, the number 1 is raised above the text1) after the punctuation at the end of the sentence you need the citation for. This is your note number. This note number corresponds to a footnote at the bottom of your page or an endnote at the end of the essay. In the footnote or endnote, list the source(s) of your information for that sentence or group of sentences. You may list more than one source in a note.
Remember - your footnotes or endnotes do not replace your bibliography at the end of the essay. You need to have both!
Each time you cite a source, you use a new number (in consecutive order: 1, 2, 3, 4, ...). Even if you use a source more than once, you use a new number each time. (The numbering system is different from many of the scientific referencing styles.)
What is the difference between the footnotes/endnotes and the bibliography?
- The footnote/endnote directly links the section of your essay to the source you used when writing. The bibliography is an alphabetical list of all the sources you used in your essay.
- The footnotes are placed at the foot or bottom of the page where you used the source. Endnotes are placed at the end of the essay, but before the bibliography. The bibliography is placed at the end of the essay. Use either footnotes or endnotes, but not both at the same time.
- The footnotes/endnotes are listed, and numbered, in the order in which you used them. The bibliography lists only the sources you use in your essay in alphabetical order. Your bibliography should only include sources that appear in your footnotes/endnotes, and they are NOT numbered.
- The way in which the sources are formatted are different in footnotes/endnotes versus the bibliography. The information in both are the same, but the way in which the information is listed are different.
For example, if you are using a book with only one author, the footnote/endnote looks like this:
1. Camilla Gibb, Mouthing the Words (Toronto: Pedlar Press, 1999), 7-10.
The source in the Bibliography looks like this:
Gibb, Camilla. Mouthing the Words. Toronto: Pedlar Press, 1999.
Is there anything else I should know about using CMS?
As with all the formatting styles, there are many details about how to cite your sources and how to format your essays and reports. Once you know what style you are required to use, make sure you get a style manual or visit a good website so that you can get all the details. What to include in citations and references will be different depending on the type of source you are using (i.e., book, journal article, newspaper article, edited book, website, government or legal documents, and so on), as well as the documentation style.
