How to Cite a Website in Chicago Style
Choose good, reputable websites to use as sources., Begin with the author’s last name, followed by a comma, then the author’s first name, and a period., Add the title of the article or text in quotation marks, followed by a comma., Add the name of...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Choose good
Be careful when you look at websites for research purposes, as you want to always use a reputable site that is not spammy or full of ads.
Sites that have an “.edu” or “.gov” domain name are usually reputable and useful sources.
You may also want to cite news websites if you are writing on a trending or current topic., For example, if the author’s name is Reg Smith, it would appear in your citation as: “Smith, Reg.” The quotation marks used here are just to note the example; you would not use quotation marks around the author’s name in the citation. , Use regular (double) quotation marks for this information.
Make sure you use title case capitalization, which is when you capitalize the first and last words in the title, as well as any other important words.
Do not capitalize articles like “a” “of” “the” if they appear in the middle of the title.
For example: “Smith, Reg. ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling,’” , For example: “Smith, Reg. ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling.’ Renewable Energy Sources.” , You can usually find this information at the bottom of the webpage or on the top corners of the main webpage.
For example: “Smith, Reg. ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling.’ Renewable Energy Sources.
Last modified April 12,
2009.” , The final piece of information to add to the citation is the website.
Make sure you use the correct hyperlink notation (http://) and that you put a space after the website so it becomes hyperlinked.
For example:“’Smith, Reg. ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling.’ Renewable Energy Sources.
Last modified April 12,
2009. http://www.renewableenergysources.com/effects_of_geothermal_cooling.” , Though you can use a similar format, you will need to change some of the punctuation.
For an in-text citation you will turn the author’s name around and change most of the periods to commas.
You will also lowercase the word “last”.
Begin by clicking at the end of the sentence you are citing and using your word processing software to add a footnote.
The easiest way to add a footnote is to click “Reference” in the ribbon bar and then click on “Insert Footnote.” Place the citation in the footnote: “Reg Smith, ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling,’ Renewable Energy Sources, last modified April 12,
2009. http://www.renewableenergysources.com/effects_of_geothermal_cooling.” , So, your citation will look like this: “‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling.’ Renewable Energy Sources.
Last modified April 12,
2009. http://www.renewableenergysources.com/effects_of_geothermal_cooling.”, In this case, your modified citation will look like this: “Smith, Reg. ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling.’ Renewable Energy Sources.
Accessed April 12,
2009. http://www.renewableenergysources.com/effects_of_geothermal_cooling.”, The Chicago style doesn’t have an official stance on most social media, except for blog posts.
For a blog post, you will need the blog’s title, the title of the blog entry, and the date the blog entry was posted.
So, if “How to Cool Your Home” is the blog title entry, “Sustainable Energy” is the name of the blog, and the blog entry was posted on April, 25, 2010, the citation would look like this: “Smith, Reg. ‘How to Cool Your Home.’ Sustainable Energy (blog), April 25, 2010, www.suistainableenergy.blogsite.com/howtocoolyourhome.” , According to The Chicago Manual of Style, you can be more informal about citations for websites that are not major sources in your paper.
For an informal citation, you can just mention the name of the site in your text.For example: “As of July 15, 2013, Arby’s notes on its website that the company does not use GMO beef in its products.” To be safe, always provide more information, rather than less.
Whether you are citing a website as major source or a more minor one, start the citation with the author’s name and end with where you found the information (the website’s URL). -
Step 2: reputable websites to use as sources.
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Step 3: Begin with the author’s last name
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Step 4: followed by a comma
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Step 5: then the author’s first name
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Step 6: and a period.
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Step 7: Add the title of the article or text in quotation marks
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Step 8: followed by a comma.
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Step 9: Add the name of the website in italics
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Step 10: followed by a period.
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Step 11: Include the date the page was last modified.
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Step 12: Finish the citation by adding the website
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Step 13: followed by a period.
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Step 14: Use a similar format to create an in-text citation.
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Step 15: Begin with the website’s title if you don’t know the author.
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Step 16: Cite the date you accessed the website if you can’t find the publication date.
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Step 17: Use a different format to cite a blog post.
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Step 18: If the website is not a significant source in your paper
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Step 19: be more informal.
Detailed Guide
Be careful when you look at websites for research purposes, as you want to always use a reputable site that is not spammy or full of ads.
Sites that have an “.edu” or “.gov” domain name are usually reputable and useful sources.
You may also want to cite news websites if you are writing on a trending or current topic., For example, if the author’s name is Reg Smith, it would appear in your citation as: “Smith, Reg.” The quotation marks used here are just to note the example; you would not use quotation marks around the author’s name in the citation. , Use regular (double) quotation marks for this information.
Make sure you use title case capitalization, which is when you capitalize the first and last words in the title, as well as any other important words.
Do not capitalize articles like “a” “of” “the” if they appear in the middle of the title.
For example: “Smith, Reg. ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling,’” , For example: “Smith, Reg. ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling.’ Renewable Energy Sources.” , You can usually find this information at the bottom of the webpage or on the top corners of the main webpage.
For example: “Smith, Reg. ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling.’ Renewable Energy Sources.
Last modified April 12,
2009.” , The final piece of information to add to the citation is the website.
Make sure you use the correct hyperlink notation (http://) and that you put a space after the website so it becomes hyperlinked.
For example:“’Smith, Reg. ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling.’ Renewable Energy Sources.
Last modified April 12,
2009. http://www.renewableenergysources.com/effects_of_geothermal_cooling.” , Though you can use a similar format, you will need to change some of the punctuation.
For an in-text citation you will turn the author’s name around and change most of the periods to commas.
You will also lowercase the word “last”.
Begin by clicking at the end of the sentence you are citing and using your word processing software to add a footnote.
The easiest way to add a footnote is to click “Reference” in the ribbon bar and then click on “Insert Footnote.” Place the citation in the footnote: “Reg Smith, ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling,’ Renewable Energy Sources, last modified April 12,
2009. http://www.renewableenergysources.com/effects_of_geothermal_cooling.” , So, your citation will look like this: “‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling.’ Renewable Energy Sources.
Last modified April 12,
2009. http://www.renewableenergysources.com/effects_of_geothermal_cooling.”, In this case, your modified citation will look like this: “Smith, Reg. ‘The Effects of Geothermal Cooling.’ Renewable Energy Sources.
Accessed April 12,
2009. http://www.renewableenergysources.com/effects_of_geothermal_cooling.”, The Chicago style doesn’t have an official stance on most social media, except for blog posts.
For a blog post, you will need the blog’s title, the title of the blog entry, and the date the blog entry was posted.
So, if “How to Cool Your Home” is the blog title entry, “Sustainable Energy” is the name of the blog, and the blog entry was posted on April, 25, 2010, the citation would look like this: “Smith, Reg. ‘How to Cool Your Home.’ Sustainable Energy (blog), April 25, 2010, www.suistainableenergy.blogsite.com/howtocoolyourhome.” , According to The Chicago Manual of Style, you can be more informal about citations for websites that are not major sources in your paper.
For an informal citation, you can just mention the name of the site in your text.For example: “As of July 15, 2013, Arby’s notes on its website that the company does not use GMO beef in its products.” To be safe, always provide more information, rather than less.
Whether you are citing a website as major source or a more minor one, start the citation with the author’s name and end with where you found the information (the website’s URL).
About the Author
Dennis Reed
Specializes in breaking down complex organization topics into simple steps.
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