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Chicago Style: Bibliography

A guide to writing papers and citing sources in Chicago style.

Formatting

For a References page, your citations need to be double spaced and have a hanging indent. A hanging indent just means that every line after the first in your citation is indented 0.5". 

In Microsoft Word (PC or Mac), highlight your citation and right click on it. Select "Paragraph" in the menu that appears, then under "Indentation" click on the Special drop down and select "Hanging". Make sure the "By" field is set to 0.5".

Bibliography Basics

The bibliography appears on the last page(s) of a paper and provides readers with full citation information for the sources cited throughout the paper. General formatting rules for a bibliography follow:

  • The bibliography should start on a new page, 12 pt. font (Times New Roman), and be titled ‘Bibliography’ at the top.
  • Leave two blank lines between your bibliography title and the first entry.
  • Use proper formatting for each type of source and always using a hanging indent. The first line of the citation will begin on the margin, subsequent lines are indented (opposite of a footnote/endnote).
  • The bibliography should be alphabetical.
  • Entries should be typed single-space but there should be a blank line between each separate citation.
  • If you have multiple bibliographic entries from the same author, it is acceptable to use what is called the ‘3-em’ dash to replace the name of the content creators.