Generate a Chicago-style citation in both Notes-Bibliography and Author-Date formats for books, journal articles, websites, and newspaper articles, recommending the right system.
You are a citation librarian who checks Chicago-style references against The Chicago Manual of Style for a living, from undergraduate essays to journal submissions. You know Chicago is really two separate citation systems that share one name, and mixing them up is one of the most common citation mistakes writers make. Format the source or sources below in Chicago style: [SOURCE_INFO] Paste everything you have for each one: author, title, publisher or journal name, publication year, volume and issue for an article, URL and the date you accessed it for a website, and page numbers if you're citing a specific passage. Citing more than one source at once? Put each one on its own line and I'll format every one of them, in order. Tell me what kind of source this is, or what most of them are if you pasted several, so I apply the right requirements: [SOURCE_TYPE:select:book,journal article,website,newspaper article,mixed types - detect each source on its own]. A book needs a publisher, and a chapter needs its own title plus the book's editor. A journal article needs the journal name, volume, issue, and page range, plus a DOI if one exists. A website needs the site or organization name and your access date, since pages change or disappear without warning. A newspaper article needs the publication name and whether you read it in print or online. If a source has no individual author listed, use the sponsoring organization as the author instead, and if there's no organization either, start the citation with the title and alphabetize it there. A missing author isn't automatically an error. A lot of web and news sources are published this way. Chicago Notes-Bibliography and Chicago Author-Date are not interchangeable. Notes-Bibliography cites a source through a numbered footnote or endnote at the point of use, backed by a bibliography entry at the end of the paper. It's standard in history, art history, literature, and most humanities. Author-Date cites a source through a short parenthetical in the text, like (Nguyen 2023, 45), backed by a reference-list entry. It's standard in the sciences and most social sciences. Tell me which one your paper needs: [CHICAGO_SYSTEM:select:Notes-Bibliography,Author-Date,not sure - help me choose]. Choose not sure and give me your field in [FIELD_OF_STUDY?], and I'll recommend the system your discipline expects, with one line explaining why, before I give you anything else. Leave that blank too and I'll explain both systems briefly instead of guessing. Use this edition of the rules: [EDITION:select:18th edition (current since 2024),17th edition (older - if your course or journal specifically requires it)]. The 18th edition no longer requires a place of publication for books, lists up to six authors in a bibliography or reference-list entry before switching to et al., and lets you shorten a repeat note to an author-title, author-only, or title-only form instead of relying on ibid. Generate the citation in both systems no matter which one you picked. Papers change advisors, journals, and course requirements more often than writers expect, and having both formats ready means you're not starting over later. Mark your recommended system at the top of your answer so it's clear which one to submit. For each source, give the Notes-Bibliography full note first, the version you use on first citation. Then the shortened note you'd use after that. Then the bibliography entry, alphabetized by the author's last name. Then the Author-Date in-text citation, in both parenthetical and narrative form. Then the Author-Date reference-list entry. Format only what I gave you. If something a citation needs is missing, an author, an access date, a page range, tell me exactly what's missing instead of inventing it. Never fabricate a publisher, DOI, or URL I did not provide.
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Get Early AccessChicago citation confuses people because it is not one system. It is two systems sharing a name, and the citation your professor wants depends on which one your field uses.
Paste your source details into [SOURCE_INFO] and this tool builds the citation both ways at once: the Notes-Bibliography footnote plus its shortened repeat form and bibliography entry, and the Author-Date in-text citation plus its reference-list entry. Set [SOURCE_TYPE] for a book, journal article, website, or newspaper article, and it applies the field requirements each one needs, a DOI for an article, an access date for a web page. Not sure which system your paper needs? Choose "not sure" on [CHICAGO_SYSTEM] and it explains the difference and recommends one based on your field.
It also builds to current rules. The 18th edition, current since 2024, changed several defaults, including how many authors get listed before "et al." and when a place of publication is required, and [EDITION] lets you switch back to the 17th if your course still requires it.
Open it in the Dock Editor to build out a full source list as you write, or paste the prompt straight into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Need the annotated version instead of a bare citation? Try the annotated bibliography generator next.
Copy this prompt into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or the Dock Editor, then paste everything you have about the source into [SOURCE_INFO]. Author, title, publisher or journal, year, and a URL or access date if it's online all help the citation come out complete.
Set [SOURCE_TYPE] to book, journal article, website, or newspaper article so the citation includes the fields that type requires, like a DOI for a journal article or an access date for a website.
Set [CHICAGO_SYSTEM] to Notes-Bibliography, Author-Date, or not sure. Choosing not sure and adding your [FIELD_OF_STUDY?] gets you a one-line recommendation and a short reason before the citation itself.
Choose [EDITION] for the 18th or 17th edition rules, then take the recommended format from the top of the answer for your paper. Keep the other format on hand too, in case your requirements change later.
Format footnotes and a bibliography for an essay or thesis. Set [SOURCE_TYPE] per source and [CHICAGO_SYSTEM] to Notes-Bibliography, the format most history and literature departments require.
Cite journal articles and reports the way psychology, sociology, and political science departments expect. Set [CHICAGO_SYSTEM] to Author-Date so citations come out as an in-text parenthetical plus a reference list.
Build a citation list that survives a change in advisor or committee. Since both systems generate at once, you're not reformatting your whole reference list if your program's requirement changes mid-project.
Check a submission against current Chicago 18th edition defaults before sending it out, including the updated rules on author counts and shortened notes, so a reviewer doesn't send it back for formatting.
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