FAQ: How do I cite a book or eBook in Chicago Style?

Notes and Bibliography

Books by a Single Author

General Format

1. AuthorFirstName AuthorLastName or name of the institution if no author, Title of Work including subtitle (Publisher, Year), page(s).

For Example

2. Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown (Pantheon Books, 2020), 45.

Shortened Notes

3. Yu, Interior Chinatown, 48.

Corresponding Bibliography Entry

Yu, Charles. Interior Chinatown. Pantheon Books, 2020.

eBooks

General Format

3. AuthorFirstName AuthorLastName or name of the institution if no author, Title of Work including subtitle ( Publisher, Year), page(s), Database Name or URL.

For Example

3. Brooke Borel, The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking, 2nd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2023), 92, EBSCOhost.

Shortened Notes

9. Borel, Fact-Checking

Corresponding Bibliography Entry

Borel, Brooke. The Chicago Guide to Fact-Checking. 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press, 2023. EBSCOhost.

For more information, including how to cite book chapters, multi-volume works, and books by multiple authors please visit the Notes & Bibliography section on Books in the Chicago Style guide.

Author-Date Style

Books by a Single Author

Reference List Format

AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. Year. Title of Work. Publisher.

For Example

Tomblin, Barbara Brooks. 2016. The Civil War on the Mississippi: Union Sailors, Gunboat Captains, and the Campaign to Control the River. The University Press of Kentucky.

Corresponding In-Text Citation

(Tomblin 2016, 120-35)

eBooks

Reference List Format

AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. Year. Title of Work. Publisher. URL or Database Name.

For Example

Lack, Caleb W., and Jacques Rousseau. 2016. Critical Thinking, Science, and Pseudoscience: Why We Can't Trust Our Brains. Springer Publishing Company. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Corresponding In-Text Citation

(Lack and Rousseau 2016, 54)

For more information, including how to cite book chapters, multi-volume works, and books by multiple authors please visit the Author-Date section on Books in the Chicago Style guide. 

More information

• Citation Quick Guide This link opens in a new window (Chicago Manual of Style)
• Chicago Style Guide (Shapiro Library)

Disclaimer

This information is intended to be a guideline, not expert advice. Please be sure to speak to your professor about the appropriate way to cite sources in your class assignments and projects.

References

University of Chicago. (2024). The Chicago Manual of Style. University of Chicago Press.