Clear, real examples of formatting footnotes in Chicago style examples

Let’s start with what you probably came here for: concrete, ready‑to‑copy patterns. These are the kinds of examples of formatting footnotes in Chicago style examples that professors expect in history, theology, and many social science papers.

Chicago style has two systems:

• Notes and bibliography (footnotes or endnotes + bibliography) – this is what we’re focusing on.
• Author–date – more like APA; not our topic here.

In the notes and bibliography system, every time you quote or closely paraphrase, you add a superscript number in your text, then a footnote at the bottom of the page with the full details the first time.

Classic book: best examples of first and later footnotes

Books are the easiest place to see a clean example of Chicago footnote formatting.

Imagine you quote a line from page 45 of a book. Your first footnote for that source might look like this:

1. First use (full note)

1. Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 45.

You can see the pattern in this example of a first footnote:

• Author first name and last name
• Title in italics
• Place of publication, publisher, year in parentheses
• Page number at the end

Later in the paper, when you cite the same book again, you shorten the note:

2. Later use (short note)

5. Lepore, These Truths, 213.

This is one of the best examples of how Chicago saves you from rewriting the full citation every time. Once your reader has the full information in the first note, the short form keeps the page uncluttered.

If you’re unsure about the basic structure, the Chicago Manual of Style Online (via many university libraries) and guides like the Purdue OWL Chicago guide are reliable references.

Multi‑author books: real examples of tricky author names

Things get more interesting once you have multiple authors. Here’s a real example of a Chicago footnote for a book with two authors:

3. Two authors

6. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (New York: William Morrow, 2005), 89.

Shortened later note:

12. Levitt and Dubner, Freakonomics, 102.

For three or more authors, Chicago lets you shorten the list using “et al.” (Latin for “and others”) in your notes after the first full citation. First footnote:

4. Three or more authors

7. Paul Farmer, Jim Yong Kim, Arthur Kleinman, and Matthew Basilico, Reimagining Global Health: An Introduction (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013), 57.

Shortened later note:

15. Farmer et al., Reimagining Global Health, 61.

If you’re working with academic or medical texts, you’ll see this pattern constantly. For more on citing health sources, you can check the National Institutes of Health and CDC pages your professors often assign.

Journal articles: examples of formatting footnotes in Chicago style examples for research

Journal articles add a few extra pieces: article title in quotation marks, journal title in italics, volume, issue, and page range. Here’s a real example of a first footnote for a scholarly article:

5. Journal article (print or PDF)

8. Ta‑Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations,” The Atlantic 313, no. 5 (2014): 62–75.

If you’re citing a specific page within that range, you put the exact page at the end:

8. Ta‑Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations,” The Atlantic 313, no. 5 (2014): 62–75, 68.

Later shortened note:

19. Coates, “The Case for Reparations,” 70.

For a typical peer‑reviewed journal article from a database, your footnote might look like this:

6. Scholarly journal article from a database

9. Jennifer L. Hochschild, “If Democracies Need Informed Voters, How Can They Thrive While Expanding Enfranchisement?” Election Law Journal 9, no. 2 (2010): 111–23, https://doi.org/10.1089/elj.2010.9201.

Later note:

22. Hochschild, “If Democracies Need Informed Voters,” 118.

Notice how the DOI (digital object identifier) works like a stable link. Many professors in 2024–2025 specifically ask for DOIs when they’re available, so this kind of example of a footnote is very current.

Websites and online articles: 2024–2025 style examples

Online sources are where students usually panic. The good news is that examples of formatting footnotes in Chicago style examples for websites follow the same logic: author, title, site name, date, URL.

Here’s a real example of a footnote for a government website (very common in public health and policy papers):

7. Government website (CDC)

10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “COVID‑19: Long‑Term Effects,” last modified March 15, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/long-term-effects/index.html.

Later shortened note:

24. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “COVID‑19: Long‑Term Effects.”

For a university or education‑focused site, such as Harvard:

8. University web article

11. Harvard University, “Using Sources Effectively: Avoiding Plagiarism,” Harvard College Writing Center, accessed September 5, 2025, https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/using-sources-effectively.

Later note:

25. Harvard University, “Using Sources Effectively.”

For news articles you read online, here’s an example of a Chicago footnote:

9. Online news article

12. Apoorva Mandavilli, “What to Know About the Latest COVID Variants,” New York Times, July 18, 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/health/covid-variants.html.

Shortened later note:

27. Mandavilli, “Latest COVID Variants.”

These are the kinds of examples include details you’re actually dealing with in 2024–2025: updated dates, live URLs, and online‑only sources.

AI tools, PDFs, and other modern sources: newer examples

Professors are increasingly asking students to document AI tools and digital formats clearly. Chicago hasn’t fully standardized every scenario, but style centers at universities offer some of the best examples of how to handle them.

Here’s a cautious, transparent example of citing an AI tool in a footnote (always check your instructor’s policy first):

10. AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT)

13. OpenAI, ChatGPT, response to “Explain the causes of the Great Depression,” August 30, 2025, https://chat.openai.com/.

Shortened later note:

31. OpenAI, ChatGPT, response to “Explain the causes of the Great Depression.”

For a PDF report downloaded from a site like the NIH or a think tank, treat it like a report or article, not just “a PDF.” For example:

11. Government PDF report

14. National Institutes of Health, Strategic Plan for NIH Nutrition Research (Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2020), 4, https://dpcpsi.nih.gov/sites/default/files/nih_nutrition_strategic_plan_2020-2030.pdf.

Later note:

32. National Institutes of Health, Strategic Plan for NIH Nutrition Research, 9.

These are some of the best examples of how to adapt Chicago’s footnote rules to newer digital formats without inventing your own system.

How to move from examples to your own footnotes

Seeing examples of formatting footnotes in Chicago style examples is helpful, but you also need a simple way to build your own. Think of each footnote as answering four questions in order:

• Who created this? (Author or organization)
• What is it called? (Title of book, article, page, or report)
• Where did it appear? (Publisher, journal, website, institution)
• When was it published or updated? (Year, and sometimes full date)

Once you’ve answered those, you plug the details into the pattern that matches your source type—book, article, website, report, or AI tool.

Here’s a quick narrative walk‑through using a real‑life scenario:

You’re writing a paper on vaccine communication. You quote a statistic from a CDC page, then analyze an article from a medical journal, and finally cite a book on public health ethics. Your footnotes might look like this:

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Vaccine Safety,” last reviewed June 10, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/index.html.

2. Saad B. Omer et al., “Vaccine Refusal, Mandatory Immunization, and the Risks of Vaccine‑Preventable Diseases,” New England Journal of Medicine 360, no. 19 (2009): 1981–88, https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMsa0806477.

3. Nancy S. Jecker, Albert R. Jonsen, and Robert A. Pearlman, Bioethics: An Introduction to the History, Methods, and Practice, 3rd ed. (Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett, 2011), 142.

Later in the paper, the shortened notes become:

7. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Vaccine Safety.”
8. Omer et al., “Vaccine Refusal,” 1984.
9. Jecker, Jonsen, and Pearlman, Bioethics, 150.

Once you’ve practiced with a few sets like this, you’ll start to recognize patterns instead of memorizing every example of a footnote from scratch.

Common mistakes (and how these examples help you avoid them)

When students compare their work to examples of formatting footnotes in Chicago style examples, a few problems show up over and over. You can sidestep them by watching for these patterns:

• Missing page numbers. If you quoted or closely paraphrased, include the exact page in the note, as you saw in the book and journal examples.
• Using commas instead of periods. Chicago likes periods to separate big chunks (author. title. publication info.), with commas inside those chunks.
• Forgetting the shortened form. After the first full note, switch to the short version. It keeps your notes readable and matches all the real examples above.
• Listing URLs only. “https://…” by itself is not a Chicago footnote. You need author or organization, title, and date, just like in the CDC and Harvard examples.
• Mixing citation styles. Don’t blend APA in‑text citations with Chicago footnotes. Pick one system—your professor almost always specifies—and stick to the same pattern as these best examples.

When in doubt, compare your draft note to a similar example of a Chicago footnote here. If the rhythm and order match, you’re probably on the right track.

FAQ: Short, practical answers with examples

How many examples of Chicago footnotes should I include in a paper?

You don’t need a specific number of examples of footnotes; you need a footnote every time you quote, closely paraphrase, or rely heavily on a specific source. A 10‑page history paper might easily have 20–40 notes. What matters is that each note follows the Chicago pattern shown in the real examples above.

Do I always need a shortened note after the first example of a full footnote?

Yes, in the notes and bibliography system, the first time you cite a source, you give a full note. Every later example of a note for that same source should be in shortened form—author last name, short title, page number. This is exactly how the Lepore, Coates, and CDC examples work.

Can I use “Ibid.” instead of repeating information, like in older examples?

Chicago 17th edition still allows “Ibid.”, but many instructors now prefer the short note format you see in the best examples here (author, short title, page). It’s clearer, especially in long papers where you might insert new sources between earlier notes.

Do I need a bibliography if I have good examples of formatting footnotes in Chicago style examples?

Usually yes. Chicago notes and bibliography style expects both footnotes and a bibliography at the end. Your notes point to specific pages; the bibliography gives a full list of sources. The order and punctuation are slightly different, so don’t copy notes directly into the bibliography without checking a guide like Purdue OWL or your university’s writing center.

Where can I see more real examples of Chicago footnotes?

University writing centers and libraries publish some of the best examples. Good starting points include the Purdue OWL Chicago guide, the University of Chicago Press, and your own school’s writing center page (many are modeled on Harvard’s Writing Center). Compare your own notes to their models the same way you compared them to the examples of formatting footnotes in Chicago style examples in this guide.

If you keep this page open while you write—glancing back at the book, article, website, and AI tool models—you’ll quickly build your own set of reliable patterns. After a few assignments, you won’t need to hunt for the best examples anymore; your own footnotes will be the ones other students copy.