Best examples of Chicago style citing online sources: key examples for 2024

Quick overview through real examples of Chicago style citing online sources

Chicago style is easiest to understand by looking at it in action. Before we get into fine print, here are a few fast, real examples of Chicago style citing online sources: key examples you can model.

Think of these as patterns you can copy and adjust:

• A government web page (Notes & Bibliography):
  Footnote:

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “COVID-19: Vaccines,” CDC, last modified May 10, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/.

  Bibliography:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “COVID-19: Vaccines.” CDC. Last modified May 10, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/.

• An online news article:
  Footnote:

  2. Apoorva Mandavilli, “How the Pandemic Changed Public Health,” The New York Times, April 2, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/health/public-health-pandemic.html.

  Bibliography:
  Mandavilli, Apoorva. “How the Pandemic Changed Public Health.” The New York Times, April 2, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/02/health/public-health-pandemic.html.

• An online journal article with a DOI:
  Footnote:

  3. Anthony S. Fauci, “The Ongoing Challenge of Emerging Infectious Diseases,” New England Journal of Medicine 390, no. 2 (2024): 101–10, https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra2309876.

  Bibliography:
  Fauci, Anthony S. “The Ongoing Challenge of Emerging Infectious Diseases.” New England Journal of Medicine 390, no. 2 (2024): 101–10. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra2309876.

Those three patterns—web page, news article, and online journal article—cover a surprising amount of what you’ll cite. The rest of this guide expands into more specific examples of Chicago style citing online sources: key examples for PDFs, YouTube, social media, and more.

Core pattern behind examples of Chicago style citing online sources

Almost every example of Chicago style citing online sources follows one basic structure.

Footnote (Notes and Bibliography):
Author First Name Last Name, “Page or Article Title,” Website or Publication Name, Publication or Last Modified Date, URL.

Bibliography entry:
Author Last Name, First Name. “Page or Article Title.” Website or Publication Name. Publication or Last Modified Date. URL.

If there’s no author, you start with the page title. If there’s no date, you use “n.d.” (no date) and often add an access date. Once you see this skeleton, the different examples of Chicago style citing online sources become much easier to adapt.

Government and institutional websites: examples of Chicago style citing online sources

Government and university sites are some of the most common online sources in research papers. Here are a few of the best examples of Chicago style citing online sources in this category.

U.S. government web page (CDC)

You might cite a CDC page for public health or science writing.

Footnote:

4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Heart Disease Facts,” CDC, last reviewed January 15, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm.

Bibliography:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Heart Disease Facts.” CDC. Last reviewed January 15, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm.

Notice how the organization is treated as the author, and the site name appears in italics.

Federal agency PDF accessed online (NIH)

For a PDF you download from a government site, you treat it like an online report.

Footnote:

5. National Institutes of Health, NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2021–2025 (Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, 2021), 22, https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/about-nih/strategic-plan-fy2021-2025-508.pdf.

Bibliography:
National Institutes of Health. NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2021–2025. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, 2021. https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/about-nih/strategic-plan-fy2021-2025-508.pdf.

This is a strong example of Chicago style citing online sources when the source is both a report and a PDF.

University web page (Harvard)

University pages are common in education and social science papers.

Footnote:

6. Harvard University, “Harvard College Program in General Education,” Harvard College Handbook for Students, updated August 2024, https://handbook.fas.harvard.edu/book/general-education.

Bibliography:
Harvard University. “Harvard College Program in General Education.” Harvard College Handbook for Students. Updated August 2024. https://handbook.fas.harvard.edu/book/general-education.

Again, the institution is the author, and the page title comes in quotation marks.

Online journal articles and database articles: more examples of Chicago style citing online sources

For scholarly work, you’ll often pull articles from databases like JSTOR or PubMed. Chicago wants you to cite these as if they’re the online version of the journal itself.

Online journal article with DOI

Footnote:

7. Lisa M. Lee and Steven M. Teutsch, “Public Health Surveillance and Data in the Twenty-First Century,” Annual Review of Public Health 45 (2024): 55–74, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-013123-045678.

Bibliography:
Lee, Lisa M., and Steven M. Teutsch. “Public Health Surveillance and Data in the Twenty-First Century.” Annual Review of Public Health 45 (2024): 55–74. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-013123-045678.

If a DOI exists, Chicago prefers it over a plain URL.

Online journal article without DOI (stable URL)

Footnote:

8. Priya Kumar, “Digital Literacy and Equity in U.S. Public Schools,” Education Policy Analysis Archives 32, no. 3 (2024), https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/12345.

Bibliography:
Kumar, Priya. “Digital Literacy and Equity in U.S. Public Schools.” Education Policy Analysis Archives 32, no. 3 (2024). https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/12345.

These are clean examples of Chicago style citing online sources that live inside academic databases or journal platforms.

News, magazines, and blogs: examples include major outlets and smaller sites

Online news and magazine articles are cited much like their print versions, with the URL added.

Major U.S. newspaper article online

Footnote:

9. Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Congress Debates Funding for Pandemic Preparedness,” The New York Times, June 5, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/us/politics/pandemic-preparedness-funding.html.

Bibliography:
Stolberg, Sheryl Gay. “Congress Debates Funding for Pandemic Preparedness.” The New York Times, June 5, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/us/politics/pandemic-preparedness-funding.html.

Online magazine article (e.g., The Atlantic or Time)

Footnote:

10. Ed Yong, “The Lessons We Still Haven’t Learned from COVID-19,” The Atlantic, March 18, 2024, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/03/covid-19-lessons-public-health/675890/.

Bibliography:
Yong, Ed. “The Lessons We Still Haven’t Learned from COVID-19.” The Atlantic, March 18, 2024. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/03/covid-19-lessons-public-health/675890/.

Professional or academic blog post

Footnote:

11. Laura Portwood-Stacer, “How to Read a Journal Article in Under an Hour,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 12, 2024, https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/how-to-read-a-journal-article-in-under-an-hour.

Bibliography:
Portwood-Stacer, Laura. “How to Read a Journal Article in Under an Hour.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 12, 2024. https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/how-to-read-a-journal-article-in-under-an-hour.

These are some of the best examples of Chicago style citing online sources when you’re working with journalism or commentary.

Multimedia and social media: modern examples of Chicago style citing online sources

Chicago’s 17th edition expanded guidance for online media, and these formats show up constantly in 2024–2025 research projects.

YouTube video

Footnote:

12. Mayo Clinic, “How to Measure Blood Pressure Using a Home Monitor,” YouTube video, 4:32, May 1, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example123.

Bibliography:
Mayo Clinic. “How to Measure Blood Pressure Using a Home Monitor.” YouTube video, 4:32. May 1, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example123.

This is a clean example of Chicago style citing online sources when your source is audiovisual.

Podcast episode accessed on the web

Footnote:

13. “Long COVID and the Future of Public Health,” hosted by Sarah Zhang, Public Health Now (podcast), episode 42, April 10, 2024, https://publichealthnow.org/podcast/episode42.

Bibliography:
“Long COVID and the Future of Public Health.” Hosted by Sarah Zhang. Public Health Now (podcast), episode 42. April 10, 2024. https://publichealthnow.org/podcast/episode42.

Tweet / X post

For social media, Chicago recommends including the handle, platform, and the full text (or a shortened version) of the post.

Footnote:

14. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (@CDCgov), “Staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines helps protect you and your community,” X (formerly Twitter), January 20, 2025, 9:15 a.m., https://twitter.com/CDCgov/status/1234567890123456789.

Bibliography:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (@CDCgov). “Staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines helps protect you and your community.” X (formerly Twitter), January 20, 2025, 9:15 a.m. https://twitter.com/CDCgov/status/1234567890123456789.

These modern formats are increasingly common in research, so it helps to keep a few examples of Chicago style citing online sources like these in your notes.

No author, no date, or changing content: tricky examples of Chicago style citing online sources

Real life is messy. Pages lack authors, dates are missing, or content changes constantly. Chicago has workarounds.

Web page with no author

If there’s no clear author, start with the page title.

Footnote:

15. “Climate Change Indicators: U.S. and Global Temperature,” United States Environmental Protection Agency, last updated March 7, 2024, https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-us-and-global-temperature.

Bibliography:
“Climate Change Indicators: U.S. and Global Temperature.” United States Environmental Protection Agency. Last updated March 7, 2024. https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-us-and-global-temperature.

Web page with no date

Use “n.d.” and add an access date if the page is likely to change.

Footnote:

16. American Psychological Association, “Digital Learning and Student Well-Being,” APA, n.d., accessed November 20, 2024, https://www.apa.org/topics/digital-learning/student-well-being.

Bibliography:
American Psychological Association. “Digital Learning and Student Well-Being.” APA. n.d. Accessed November 20, 2024. https://www.apa.org/topics/digital-learning/student-well-being.

These are realistic examples of Chicago style citing online sources when basic publication information is missing.

Author-date style: parallel examples of Chicago style citing online sources

If your instructor or journal wants the author-date system instead of notes and bibliography, your in-text citations change, but your reference list looks very similar.

Here are a few parallel examples of Chicago style citing online sources using author-date.

Government web page (author-date)

In-text:
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2024)

Reference list:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2024. “Heart Disease Facts.” CDC. Last reviewed January 15, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm.

Online journal article with DOI (author-date)

In-text:
(Lee and Teutsch 2024, 60)

Reference list:
Lee, Lisa M., and Steven M. Teutsch. 2024. “Public Health Surveillance and Data in the Twenty-First Century.” Annual Review of Public Health 45: 55–74. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-013123-045678.

Online news article (author-date)

In-text:
(Stolberg 2024)

Reference list:
Stolberg, Sheryl Gay. 2024. “Congress Debates Funding for Pandemic Preparedness.” The New York Times, June 5, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/us/politics/pandemic-preparedness-funding.html.

Seeing both systems side by side gives you even more practical examples of Chicago style citing online sources you can adapt to either format.

FAQ: common questions and short examples of Chicago style citing online sources

What is a simple example of citing a basic website in Chicago style?

For a straightforward informational page, one simple example of Chicago style citing online sources in a note and bibliography system is:

Footnote:

17. WebMD, “High Blood Pressure (Hypertension),” WebMD, updated September 12, 2024, https://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/default.htm.

Bibliography:
WebMD. “High Blood Pressure (Hypertension).” WebMD. Updated September 12, 2024. https://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/default.htm.

Do I always need an access date for online sources in Chicago style?

No. Access dates are recommended when no publication or revision date is available, or when content is likely to change (think: home pages, dashboards, or dynamic data). For stable content with clear dates—like most journal articles, government reports, and many news stories—Chicago does not require an access date.

How do I handle long URLs in Chicago citations?

Chicago allows you to use a shortened or stable URL if the original is extremely long or full of tracking parameters. Many journals and universities prefer a clean URL without tracking codes. Just avoid URL shorteners like bit.ly in academic work unless your instructor explicitly allows them.

Are DOIs better than URLs in Chicago style examples?

Yes. When a DOI is available, Chicago prefers it over a standard URL because DOIs are more stable over time. Many of the best examples of Chicago style citing online sources for journal articles use DOIs rather than links that might break.

Where can I find more examples of Chicago style citing online sources?

The official Chicago Manual of Style Online (subscription-based) offers many more examples. For free, you can use university writing centers such as the Purdue OWL (owl.purdue.edu) or individual style guides from schools like the University of Chicago or Harvard. Comparing multiple real examples of Chicago style citing online sources from these sites is a good way to double-check your own work.

If you keep a small personal library of these real examples of Chicago style citing online sources—covering web pages, PDFs, journal articles, news, and multimedia—you’ll spend far less time wrestling with punctuation and far more time actually writing your paper.