Clear, Real-World Examples of Chicago Style In-Text Citations

Start with the best examples of Chicago style in-text citations

Chicago style can feel like two different worlds, because it actually is two systems:

• Notes and Bibliography (often used in history, literature, and the humanities)
• Author-Date (often used in the social sciences and sciences)

Instead of starting with abstract rules, let’s jump straight into examples of Chicago style in-text citations examples you’re likely to use in real assignments.

Examples of Chicago style in-text citations (Notes & Bibliography)

In the Notes and Bibliography system, your in-text citation usually appears as a superscript number. That number points to a footnote at the bottom of the page or an endnote at the end of the chapter or paper.

Here’s a simple, realistic sentence with a footnote:

Many historians argue that urban reform in the early twentieth century was driven by middle-class anxieties about immigration.¹

And here is the footnote (this is the in-text citation in Chicago’s notes system):

¹ Robert H. Wiebe, The Search for Order, 1877–1920 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1967), 102.

That pair of sentences alone gives you one of the best examples of Chicago style in-text citations examples for humanities research: superscript in the text, full details in the note.

First vs. shortened footnote examples

Chicago style expects a full note the first time you cite a source, and a shortened note after that. Here’s how those examples of Chicago style in-text citations work in real writing.

First citation in the paper:

¹ Robert H. Wiebe, The Search for Order, 1877–1920 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1967), 102.

Later citation of the same book:

⁵ Wiebe, Search for Order, 145.

Notice what changed:

• Only the author’s last name
• Shortened version of the title
• Page number

These are classic examples of Chicago style in-text citations examples for repeated sources: your reader still knows exactly where to look, but your notes stay compact.

Example of citing multiple sources in one note

Sometimes you want to show that several scholars support the same point. In Chicago notes, you can group them in one footnote, separated by semicolons.

Progressive reform drew on a growing body of social science research.²

Footnote:

² Robert H. Wiebe, The Search for Order, 1877–1920 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1967), 88–90; Michael McGerr, A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870–1920 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 112–15.

Examples include multiple books here, but you could mix articles, chapters, and primary sources the same way.

Example of Chicago in-text citation for a journal article (notes)

Recent scholarship has re-evaluated the political power of women’s reform clubs.³

Footnote:

³ Robyn Muncy, “Gender and the Progressive Movement,” Journal of American History 78, no. 3 (1991): 987–1008.

If you cited this article again later, your shortened note might look like:

⁷ Muncy, “Gender and the Progressive Movement,” 995.

These are some of the best examples of Chicago style in-text citations examples when you’re working with peer-reviewed articles.

Example of citing an online source with a footnote

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that regular physical activity is associated with improved academic performance in children.⁴

Footnote:

⁴ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Physical Activity Facts,” CDC, last modified April 23, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/benefits/index.htm.

This is a realistic example of Chicago style in-text citations for a .gov webpage: organization as author, page title, site name, date, and URL.

Examples of Chicago style in-text citations (Author-Date)

Now let’s switch to the Author-Date system. Here, your in-text citations appear in parentheses right in the sentence, and your full source details move to a reference list at the end.

A basic example of an author-date Chicago in-text citation looks like this:

Urban reform in the early twentieth century was driven by middle-class anxieties about immigration (Wiebe 1967, 102).

In your reference list, you’d have:

Wiebe, Robert H. 1967. The Search for Order, 1877–1920. New York: Hill and Wang.

This pairing—parenthetical citation plus reference list entry—is one of the clearest examples of Chicago style in-text citations examples for the author-date system.

Example of a Chicago author-date citation with multiple authors

When a source has two or three authors, you list all their last names in the citation.

Recent research highlights the long-term health benefits of moderate physical activity (Smith, Johnson, and Lee 2024, 45).

Reference list entry:

Smith, Angela M., David Johnson, and Marcus Lee. 2024. Movement Matters: Exercise and Long-Term Health. Boston: Academic Press.

When there are four or more authors, Chicago author-date uses “et al.” in the in-text citation:

Large-scale cohort studies show similar patterns across different age groups (Rodriguez et al. 2023, 210–12).

But in the reference list, you still list up to ten authors.

Example of Chicago in-text citation for a journal article (author-date)

Daily walking is consistently associated with reduced all-cause mortality (Lee and Paffenbarger 2022, 312).

Reference list:

Lee, I-Min, and Ralph S. Paffenbarger Jr. 2022. “Physical Activity and Longevity: Updated Evidence.” American Journal of Public Health 112 (2): 305–320. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/ajph.2022.305.

This is a good example of Chicago style in-text citations examples in a science or public health paper, where author-date is common.

Example of citing a website in Chicago author-date style

According to guidance from the National Institutes of Health, sleep quality is closely tied to cognitive function (National Institutes of Health 2024).

Reference list:

National Institutes of Health. 2024. “Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep.” NIH. Accessed November 15, 2024. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/health-information/public-education/brain-basics/brain-basics-understanding-sleep.

Examples include organizational authors like NIH, CDC, and universities. Author-date Chicago handles them smoothly: use the organization name where you’d normally put the author.

Tricky real examples of Chicago style in-text citations

Once you grasp the basic pattern, the real test is handling the weird situations: no date, no page number, or secondary citations. Let’s walk through some realistic examples of Chicago style in-text citations examples for those.

Example of Chicago citation with no page number

If your source has no page numbers (common for websites and some PDFs), Chicago suggests using another locator: section heading, paragraph number, or both.

Author-date example:

Web-based study tools can improve recall, especially when paired with spaced repetition (Harvard University 2023, under “Study Strategies”).

If you must use a paragraph number, you can write:

… (Harvard University 2023, para. 4).

For notes and bibliography, the footnote might look like:

⁸ Harvard University, “Science of Learning,” Harvard University (website), accessed March 10, 2025, https://learningcenter.harvard.edu/science-of-learning.

Example of a secondary citation (citing a source you found in another source)

Let’s say you read about a classic study in a newer article but didn’t actually read the original study. Chicago prefers that you find and cite the original if possible. But if you can’t, here’s how an author-date in-text citation might look:

Early research on spaced repetition suggested dramatic gains in long-term retention (Ebbinghaus 1885, quoted in Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel 2014, 45).

In your reference list, you’d include the newer book you actually read:

Brown, Peter C., Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel. 2014. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.

This is a realistic example of Chicago style in-text citations when you’re dealing with older or hard-to-find studies.

Example of citing AI tools in Chicago style (2024–2025 trend)

As of 2024–2025, many instructors and style guides are starting to address how to cite AI tools like ChatGPT. The Chicago Manual of Style has evolving recommendations, but a common approach is to treat AI as a software tool or personal communication, depending on how it’s used.

A cautious author-date in-text citation might look like this:

Draft language was refined using an AI language model (OpenAI ChatGPT, March 2, 2025).

Then, in a note or reference list, you could provide more detail, depending on your instructor’s preference. Always check your course or journal guidelines, because practices for these examples of Chicago style in-text citations examples are still developing.

Authoritative resources like the Chicago Manual of Style Online and major universities (for example, Harvard University’s writing resources) are updating their guidance as AI becomes more common in research workflows.

How to pick the right Chicago in-text citation system

One of the most common student questions is: “Do I use notes or author-date?” The answer usually depends on your field and your professor.

• History, philosophy, theology, and literature courses often prefer Notes and Bibliography with footnotes.
• Psychology, sociology, education, public health, and other social sciences often prefer Author-Date.

Real examples of Chicago style in-text citations examples from your syllabus, sample papers, or journal articles in your field are the best guide. If your professor gives you a sample paper with footnotes, follow that pattern. If they show you a paper full of parenthetical citations like (Smith 2023, 15), you’re in author-date territory.

For extra reassurance, you can compare your formatting to examples from:

• Purdue OWL’s Chicago guide
• University of Chicago’s own examples

These sites provide additional examples of Chicago style in-text citations you can line up against your own work.

FAQ: Short, practical answers with real examples

What is an example of a Chicago style in-text citation in a paragraph?

Here’s a full mini-paragraph using author-date Chicago style:

Regular physical activity has been linked to improved mood and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression (Mayo Clinic 2024). These benefits appear across age groups and activity levels, although more vigorous exercise is often associated with larger effects (Smith and Lee 2022, 58–60). For students, even short daily walks can improve focus and sleep quality (National Institutes of Health 2024).

This paragraph gives you three different examples of Chicago style in-text citations in one place: single-author organization, two authors, and another organizational author.

Can you give examples of Chicago style in-text citations for a book with no author?

If a book has no listed author, you use the title instead.

Author-date in-text example:

Early American cookbooks reveal changing ideas about home labor (The American Frugal Housewife 1833, 27).

In the reference list, the entry would begin with the title:

The American Frugal Housewife. 1833. Boston: Carter and Hendee.

This is a simple example of Chicago style in-text citations when there’s no author name to work with.

Do I always need a page number in Chicago in-text citations?

No. In author-date style, page numbers are recommended when you’re quoting or referring to a specific passage, but not required for general references.

• General reference: (Smith 2023)
• Specific quote or idea: (Smith 2023, 44)

In the notes system, page numbers almost always appear in notes for books and articles. When you’re just summarizing an entire work, some instructors will let you omit them, but check your assignment guidelines.

Where can I see more examples of Chicago style in-text citations examples online?

If you want to compare your work against professional models, these are reliable starting points:

• Chicago Manual of Style Citation Guide (University of Chicago)
• Purdue OWL Chicago Style Guide
• Harvard College Writing Center for broader writing and citation advice

Use them alongside the real examples of Chicago style in-text citations examples in this article, and you’ll have a solid model for almost any source your assignment throws at you.

If you keep a few of these best examples open while you write—one for a book, one for an article, one for a website—you’ll find that Chicago style stops feeling mysterious and starts feeling like a pattern you can copy, tweak, and use with confidence.