10/5/23, 5:18 PM General Format - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

Purdue OWL > Research and Citation > Chicago Style > CMOS Formatting and Style Guide > General Format

General Format

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms
and conditions of fair use.

Since The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) is primarily intended as a style guide for published works rather than class papers,
these guidelines will be supplemented with information from, Kate L. Turabian’s Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses,
and Dissertations (8th ed.), which is largely based on CMOS with some slight alterations.

To see a side-by-side comparison of the three most widely used citation styles, including a chart of all CMOS citation guidelines,
see the Citation Style Chart.

Cite your source automatically in Chicago style

Website Search by URL, title, or keyword Cite

Using citation machines responsibly Powered by

Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in CMOS.

A NOTE ON CITATIONS

Unlike many citation styles, CMOS gives writers two different methods for documenting sources: the Author-Date System
and the Notes-Bibliography (NB) System. As its name suggests, Author-Date uses parenthetical citations in the text to
reference the source's author's last name and the year of publication. Each parenthetical citation corresponds to an entry on a
References page that concludes the document. In these regards, Author-Date is very similar to, for instance, APA style.

By contrast, NB uses numbered footnotes in the text to direct the reader to a shortened citation at the bottom of the page. This
corresponds to a fuller citation on a Bibliography page that concludes the document. Though the general principles of citation
are the same here, the citations themselves are formatted differently from the way they appear in Author-Date.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html 1/8
10/5/23, 5:18 PM General Format - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

If you are using CMOS for school or work, don't forget to ensure that you're using your organization's preferred citation method.
For examples of these two different styles in action, see our CMOS sample papers:

Author-Date Sample Paper

NB Sample Paper

GENERAL CMOS GUIDELINES

Text should be consistently double-spaced, except for block quotations, notes, bibliography entries, table titles, and figure
captions.

For block quotations, which are also called extracts:

A prose quotation of five or more lines, or more than 100 words, should be blocked.

CMOS recommends blocking two or more lines of poetry.

A blocked quotation does not get enclosed in quotation marks.

A blocked quotation must always begin a new line.

Blocked quotations should be indented with the word processor’s indention tool.

Page numbers begin in the header of the first page of text with Arabic number 1.

Subheadings should be used for longer papers.

CMOS recommends you devise your own format but use consistency as your guide.
For CMOS and Turabian’s recommendations, see “Headings,” below.

SUPPLEMENTAL TURABIAN STYLE GUIDELINES

Margins should be set at no less than 1”.

Typeface should be something readable, such as Times New Roman or Courier.

Font size should be no less than 10 pt. (preferably, 12 pt.).

MAJOR PAPER SECTIONS

Title Page

According to Turabian style, class papers will either include a title page or include the title on the first page of the text. Use
the following guidelines should your instructor or context require a title page:
The title should be centered a third of the way down the page.

Your name, class information, and the date should follow several lines later.

For subtitles, end the title line with a colon and place the subtitle on the line below the title.

Double-space each line of the title page.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html 2/8
10/5/23, 5:18 PM General Format - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

CMOS Title Page

Different practices apply for theses and dissertations (see Kate L. Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses,
ad Dissertations [8th ed.].

Main Body

Titles mentioned in the text, notes, or bibliography are capitalized “headline-style,” meaning first words of titles and subtitles
and any important words thereafter should be capitalized.

Titles in the text as well as in notes and bibliographies are treated with quotation marks or italics based on the type of work
they name.
Book and periodical titles (titles of larger works) should be italicized.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html 3/8
10/5/23, 5:18 PM General Format - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

Article and chapter titles (titles of shorter works) should be enclosed in double quotation marks.

The titles of most poems should be enclosed in double quotation marks, but the titles of very long poems should be
italicized.

Titles of plays should be italicized.

Otherwise, take a minimalist approach to capitalization.

For example, use lowercase terms to describe periods, except in the case of proper nouns (e.g., “the colonial period,”
vs. “the Victorian era”).

A prose quotation of five or more lines should be “blocked.” The block quotation should match the surrounding text, and
it takes no quotation marks. To offset the block quote from surrounding text, indent the entire quotation using the word
processor’s indentation tool. It is also possible to offset the block quotation by using a different or smaller font than the
surrounding text.

In Flowers of Freedom: Reframing Political Thought, Rose eloquently sums up his argument in the following quotation:

In a society of control, a politics of conduct is

designed into the fabric of existence itself, into the
organization of space, time, visibility, circuits of
communication. And these enwrap each individual life
decision and action—about labour [sic], purchases, debts,
credits, lifestyle, sexual contracts and the like—in a web
of incitements, rewards, current sanctions and foreboding
of future sanctions which serve to enjoin citizens to
maintain particular types of control over their conduct.
These assemblages which entail the securitization of
identity are not unified, but dispersed, not hierarchical
but rhizomatic, not totalized but connected in a web or
relays and relations. (246)

References

Label the first page of your back matter, your comprehensive list of sources, “Bibliography” (for Notes and Bibliography style)
or “References” (for Author-Date style).

Leave two blank lines between “Bibliography” or “References” and your first entry.

Leave one blank line between remaining entries.

List entries in letter-by-letter alphabetical order according to the first word in each entry, be that the author's name or the
title of the piece..

Use “and,” not an ampersand, “&,” for multi-author entries.

For two to three authors, write out all names.

For four to ten authors, write out all names in the bibliography but only the first author’s name plus “et al.” in notes and
parenthetical citations.

When a source has no identifiable author, cite it by its title, both on the references page and in shortened form (up to
four keywords from that title) in parenthetical citations throughout the text.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html 4/8
10/5/23, 5:18 PM General Format - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

Write out publishers’ names in full.

Do not use access dates unless publication dates are unavailable.

If you cannot ascertain the publication date of a printed work, use the abbreviation “n.d.”

Provide DOIs instead of URLs whenever possible.

If no DOI is available, provide a URL.

If you cannot name a specific page number when called for, you have other options: section (sec.), equation (eq.), volume
(vol.), or note (n.).

CMOS Bibliography Page

Footnotes

Note numbers should begin with “1” and follow consecutively throughout a given paper.

In the text:
Note numbers are superscripted.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html 5/8
10/5/23, 5:18 PM General Format - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

Note numbers should be placed at the end of the clause or sentence to which they refer and should be placed after all
punctuation, except for the dash.

In the footnotes:
Note numbers are full-sized, not raised, and followed by a period (superscripting note numbers in the notes themselves
is also acceptable).

Lines within a footnote should be formatted flush left. Place commentary after source documentation when a footnote
contains both; separate commentary and documentation by a period.
In parenthetical citation, separate documentation from brief commentary with a semicolon.

Do not repeat the hundreds digit in a page range if it does not change from the beginning to the end of the range.

For more information on footnotes, please see CMOS NB Sample Paper.

Headings
While The Chicago Manual of Style does not include a prescribed system for formatting headings and subheads, it makes several
recommendations.

Maintain consistency and parallel structure in headings and subheads.

Use headline-style for purposes of capitalization.

Subheadings should begin on a new line.

Subheadings can be distinguished by font-size.

Ensure that each level of hierarchy is clear and consistent.

Levels of subheads can be differentiated by type style, use of boldface or italics, and placement on the page, usually either
centered or flush left.

Use no more than three levels of hierarchy.

Avoid ending subheadings with periods.

Turabian has an optional system of five heading levels.

TURABIAN SUBHEADING PLAN

Chicago Headings

Level Format

1 Centered, Boldface or Italic Type,

Headline-style Capitalization

2 Centered, Regular Type, Headline-

style Capitalization

3 Flush Left, Boldface or Italic Type,

Headline-style Capitalization

4 Flush left, roman type, sentence-

style capitalization

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html 6/8
10/5/23, 5:18 PM General Format - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

5 Run in at beginning of paragraph

(no blank line after), boldface or
italic type, sentence-style
capitalization, terminal period.

Here is an example of the five-level heading system:

CMOS Headings

Tables and Figures

Position tables and figures as soon as possible after they are first referenced. If necessary, present them after the paragraph
in which they are described.

For figures, include a caption, or short explanation of the figure or illustration, directly after the figure number.

Cite the source of the table and figure information with a “credit line” at the bottom of the table or figure and, if applicable,
after the caption. The credit line should be distinguished from the caption by being enclosed in parenthesis or written in
different type.
Cite a source as you would for parenthetical citation, and include full information in an entry on your Bibliography or
References page.

Acknowledge reproduced or adapted sources appropriately (i.e., photo by; data adapted from; map by...).

If a table includes data not acquired by the author of the text, include an unnumbered footnote. Introduce the note by the
word Source(s) followed by a colon, then include the full source information, and end the note with a period.

HOW TO CITE THE PURDUE OWL IN CMOS

On the new OWL site, contributors’ names and the last edited date are no longer listed at the top of every page. This means that
most citations will now begin with the title of the resource, rather than the contributors' names.

Footnote or Endnote (N):

1. “Title of Resource,” List the OWL as Publishing Organization/Web Site Name,

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/02/.

1. “General Format,” The Purdue OWL, https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/02/.

Corresponding Bibliographical Entry (B):

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html 7/8
10/5/23, 5:18 PM General Format - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

“Title of Resource.” List the OWL as Publishing Organization/Web Site Name. http://Web address for OWL resource.

“General Format.” The Purdue OWL. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/02/.

Author Date In-text Citation:

("Title" Year of publication).

("General Format" 2017).

Author Date References Page Citation:

Year of Publication. “Title of Resource.” List the OWL as Publishing Organization/Web Site Name. http://Web address for
OWL resource.

2017. “General Format.” The Purdue OWL. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/02.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html 8/8