Chicago Journal Article Citations | Format & Examples
If you’re writing an essay in Chicago style, there’s a good chance that some of your scholarly sources will be journal articles. Chicago has two citation systems—notes and bibliography and author-date (which is far less common).
In essays using the notes and bibliography system, each journal article that you quote, summarize, or paraphrase needs two forms of citation:
- An entry on a bibliography at the end of the document
- A numbered footnote for each sentence that has information from the article
Use the examples below to learn about Chicago format for journal articles, or try QuillBot’s free Citation Generator to create in-text citations and Works Cited entries. Additionally, QuillBot’s online Notepad can help you take notes online and keep track of relevant source information.
| Footnotes | Bibliography |
|---|---|
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3. Guangbin Shi, “From Trap to Memphis Rap: The Incorporation and Reconfiguration of American Southern Hip-Hop Music in China,” Journal of Popular Music Studies 36, no. 4 (2024): 121, https://doi.org/10.1525/jpms.2024.36.4.112.
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Shi, Guangbin. “From Trap to Memphis Rap: The Incorporation and Reconfiguration of American Southern Hip-Hop Music in China.” Journal of Popular Music Studies 36, no. 4 (2024): 112–40. https://doi.org/10.1525/jpms.2024.36.4.112.
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Chicago journal article citation format
The examples below illustrate the basic format for citing journals with the notes and bibliography system.
Journal article bibliography format
Bibliography entries for journal articles have the following details, separated by periods:
- Name(s) of Author(s) in inverted format
- “Article Title in Quotation Marks”
- Journal Title in Italics volume, issue no., (year): page range
- DOI (if applicable)
- If you accessed a print article with no DOI, omit that section of the bibliographic entry and footnote.
- For articles with no DOI from a database or website, look for a permalink, and use that in place of a DOI (e.g., www.jstor.org/stable/48662040). Do not use the URL from your browser, though.
- If you accessed the article from a database and there’s no DOI or permalink, use the database name in place of a DOI (e.g., JSTOR).
Journal article footnote format
Each sentence that quotes, summarizes, or paraphrases the source also needs a footnote. Each footnote should start with a number that corresponds to a superscript number in the text of the essay. The superscript number goes at the end of the sentence that has information from the article.
The first full footnote has all of the bibliography entry details, separated by commas. The author(s) are in first-last order here (not inverted). After the first full footnote, use a short note with the author’s last name, abbreviated article title (if it’s longer than four words), and a page number where you found the information.
| Chicago bibliography format |
Author Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Journal Title in Italics volume, issue no., (year): page range. DOI.
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| Bibliography example |
Kingston, William. “First Aid for a Badly Injured Patent System.” Prometheus 39, no. 3 (2023): 166–74. https://doi.org/10.13169/prometheus.39.3.0166.
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| Chicago paraphrase example | The modern patent system originated in the US Constitution.⁶ |
| Chicago full note format |
Author First Name Last Name, “Article Title,” Journal Title in Italics volume, issue no., (year): page, DOI.
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| Chicago full note example |
6. William Kingston, “First Aid for a Badly Injured Patent System,” Prometheus 39, no. 3 (2023): 170, https://doi.org/10.13169/prometheus.39.3.0166.
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| Chicago short note example |
10. Kingston, “Patent System,” 171.
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Capitalize the first and last word of the main title and the subtitle (if applicable). Also capitalize other words unless they’re articles (e.g., “the”), prepositions with fewer than five letters (e.g., “with”), or coordinating conjunctions (e.g., “but”). If a title has a hyphenated compound word (e.g., “Hip-Hop”), capitalize the words on both sides of the hyphen.
Journal articles with multiple authors
Chicago has special guidelines for journal articles and other sources with multiple authors.
- 2 authors: The bibliography and footnotes have both names. In the bibliography, the first author’s name is in reverse order (Last, First Middle). The second author’s name is in regular order (First Middle Last). The first footnote has both authors’ full names in regular order. Short notes have the two authors’ last names.
- 3-6 authors: The bibliography has all of the authors’ names. In the bibliography, the first author’s name is in reverse order (Last, First Middle). The other authors’ names are in regular order (First Middle Last). The footnotes have the first author’s name and “et al.”
- 7+ authors: The bibliography includes the first three authors’ names (with the first in inverted order) and “et al.” Footnotes only need the first author’s name and “et al.”
| 2 authors | Bibliography:
Tyson, Laura D., and John Zysman. “Automation, AI & Work.” Daedalus 151, no. 2 (2019): 256–71. www.jstor.org/stable/48662040.
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| Full note:
5. Laura D. Tyson and John Zysman, “Automation, AI & Work,” Daedalus 151, no. 2 (2019): 258, www.jstor.org/stable/48662040.
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| Short note:
7. Tyson and Zysman, “Automation, AI & Work,” 259.
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| 3–6 authors | Bibliography:
Chee, Christine L., Gerald Shorty, and Sharon E. Robinson Kurpius. “Academic Stress of Native American Undergraduates: The Role of Ethnic Identity, Cultural Congruity, and Self-Beliefs.” Journal of Diversity in Higher Education 12, no. 1 (2019): 65–73. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000094. |
| Full note:
11. Christine L. Chee et al. “Academic Stress of Native American Undergraduates: The Role of Ethnic Identity, Cultural Congruity, and Self-Beliefs,” Journal of Diversity in Higher Education 12, no. 1 (2019): 67, https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000094. |
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| Short note:
17. Chee et al., “Native American Undergraduates,” 68.
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| 7+ authors | Bibliography:
Schwartz, Robert, Quinn Lester, and Rui Zhou et al. “Atomic Cat Sculptures.” Journal of Mid-Century Modern Artifacts 10, no. 2 (2023): 165–79. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0001234.
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| Full note:
6. Robert Schwartz et al., “Atomic Cat Sculptures,” Journal of Mid-Century Modern Artifacts 10, no. 2 (2023): 169, https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0001234.
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| Short note:
12. Schwartz et al., “Atomic Cat Sculptures,” 172.
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- Use all digits for both numbers when the first number is 100 or less or any multiple of 100 (e.g., 67–88, 100–107, 1200–1225).
- If the first number is 101–109, 201–209, etc., only use the last digit or last two digits of the second number (e.g., 303–8 and 402–36).
- If the first number is 110–199, 310–399, etc., abbreviate the second number to the last two digits (e.g., 317–45) unless more are needed to show the full page range (e.g., 1190–258).
Citing journal articles in Chicago author-date style
The Chicago author-date system has in-text citations instead of footnotes. In-text citations can be narrative or parenthetical, and they include the author, year of publication, and page where the quotation or paraphrased information came from. Each journal article in an author-date paper also needs a bibliography entry on a references list.
| Reference format | Author Last Name, First. Year. “Article Title in Quotation Marks.” Journal Title in Italics volume # (issue #): page range. DOI, permalink, or URL. |
| Reference example | Shi, Guangbin. 2024. “From Trap to Memphis Rap: The Incorporation and Reconfiguration of American Southern Hip-Hop Music in China.” Journal of Popular Music Studies 36 (4): 112–40. https://doi.org/10.1525/jpms.2024.36.4.112. |
| Narrative in-text citation | Shi (2024) explains … (114). |
| Parenthetical in-text citation | (Shi 2024, 115) |
Where to find details for Chicago journal article citations
The details for Chicago footnotes, bibliography entries, or author-date citations are often located on the first page of the journal article or the landing page where you access the article online.
The landing page for a journal article below includes the author, publication year, article title, journal title, volume and issue numbers, and the DOI.
Frequently asked questions about Chicago journal article citations
- How do you format titles in Chicago style?
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To format titles in Chicago Style, capitalize all words except articles (e.g., “the”), coordinating conjunctions (e.g., “but”), and prepositions with fewer than five letters (e.g., “with”).
Also capitalize the first and last words of the title and subtitle, even if these words are articles, coordinating conjunctions, or prepositions.
Use italics for titles of books, journals, films, and magazines. Use double quotation marks for titles of articles, poems, and short stories.
Chicago style capitalization rules apply to titles in the main text and in Chicago book citations, Chicago journal article citations, and Chicago website citations.
Titles in Chicago style examples A Complicated Passion: The Life and Work of Agnès VardaSurvival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde
“Popular Musics of India: An Ethnomusicological Review” in the Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies
QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you format titles correctly in your main text and Chicago citations.
- How do you cite a PDF in Chicago style?
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To cite a PDF in Chicago style, write a footnote for each sentence that quotes, summarizes, or paraphrases the PDF. Also write an entry for the bibliography page at the end of the document.
Chicago PDF citations are a form of Chicago website citations when PDFs are published online. However, the notes should have page numbers because PDFs have numbered pages (which is not the case for many websites).
Each footnote or endnote begins with a number that corresponds to a superscript number at the end of the sentence that quotes, summarizes, or paraphrases.
For the first full note, include the author, PDF title, website name, URL, and the page number where you got the information. If you cite the same PDF after that, write a short note with the author and title, which you can shorten if it’s more than four words.
The bibliography entry includes the author, PDF title, website name, and URL.
In both the bibliography and the first full note, use italics for the PDF title.
Chicago PDF citation examples Bibliography example Thomas, Paul. The Science of Reading Movement: The Never-Ending Debate and the Need for a Different Approach to Reading Instruction. National Education Policy Center. September, 2022.https://nepc.colorado.edu/sites/default/files/publications/PB%20Thomas_0.pdf.
Chicago full note example 8. Paul Thomas, The Science of Reading Movement: The Never-Ending Debate and the Need for a Different Approach to Reading Instruction, National Education Policy Center, September, 2022, https://nepc.colorado.edu/sites/default/files/publications/PB%20Thomas_0.pdf.Chicago short note example 10. Thomas, Science of Reading.QuillBot’s free Citation Generator can help you create clear and accurate Chicago PDF citations.
- What is a journal article?
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A journal article is a type of scholarly source that is common in academic writing. Journals are periodicals, which means that they are published multiple times per year (like magazines).
Each journal is focused on a specific aspect of a larger academic field. For example, within the broader field of nursing, there are scholarly journals about nursing education, intensive care nursing, cardiovascular nursing, and many other subcategories.
Each issue of a journal includes multiple articles by different authors. Journal articles often focus on original research experiments.
If you quote, paraphrase, or summarize journal articles in your writing, follow the format for APA style journal article citations, MLA citations, or whichever citation format you’re using.
You can also use QuillBot’s free Citation Generator to create journal article citations.
