Formatting Chicago-style Papers

The following information is collated from various sources online.
​

Getting started

  • Font. Avoid a font that is unusual or hard to read. The typical recommendation is 12-point Times New roman or 11.5-point Cambria. 
    ​
  • Margins and line spacing
    • Leave margins of 1 inch (or 2.5 centimeters) at the top, bottom, and sides of the page.
    • Double-space the body of the paper, including long quotations that have been set off from the text.
    • Left-align the text

  • Citations
    • Footnotes are used to cite material that you have gleaned from other sources (especially primary and secondary materials).
    • All cited material should then be included in a separate bibliography at the end of your paper.
    • Two important resources for citations are:

More details

  • Title page. A separate title page should include the full title of your paper, your name, the course title, the instructor’s name, and the date submitted. 

  • Paginate with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, rather than I, II, III).
    • Number the pages in the upper right corner.
    • Do not number the title page but count it in the manuscript numbering; that is, the first page of the text will be numbered 2.
    • Depending on your instructor’s preference, you may also use a short title or your last name before the page numbers to help identify pages.
      ​
  • Capitalization and italics
    • In titles of works, capitalize all words except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (at, from, between, and so on), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet), and to and as — unless one of these words is first or last in the title or subtitle. Follow these guidelines in your paper even if the title is styled differently in the source.
    • Lowercase the first word following a colon even if the word begins a complete sentence. When the colon introduces a series of sentences or questions, capitalize all sentences in the series, including the first.
    • Italicize the titles of books and other long works. Use quotation marks around the titles of periodical articles, short stories, poems, and other short works.
      ​
  • Long quotations
    • You can choose to set off a long quotation of three to ten typed lines by indenting the entire quotation one-half inch from the left margin. (You should always set off quotations of ten or more lines.)
    • Single-space the quotation; do not use quotation marks.
      ​
  • Visuals
    • The Chicago Manual of Style classifies visuals as tables and illustrations (illustrations, or figures, include drawings, photographs, maps, and charts).
      • Keep visuals as simple as possible.
      • Label each table with an Arabic numeral (Table 1, Table 2, and so on) and provide a clear title that identifies the table’s subject. The label and the title should appear on separate lines above the table, flush left. Below the table, give its source in a note like this one:
      • For each figure, place a label and a caption below the figure, flush left. The label and caption need not appear on separate lines. The word “Figure” may be abbreviated to “Fig.”
      • In the text of your paper, discuss the most significant features of each visual.
      • Place visuals as close as possible to the sentences that relate to them unless your instructor prefers that visuals appear in an appendix.

  • URLs (web addresses)
    • When a URL must break across lines, do not insert a hyphen or break at a hyphen if the URL contains one. Instead, break the URL after a colon or a double slash or before any other mark of punctuation. If your word processing program automatically turns URLs into links (by underlining them and changing the color), turn off this feature.

More information