Citing Sources
As a scholar, you need to cite the sources that you use in your research. Your discipline determines the citation style you use. Many disciplines in the humanities use the Chicago citation style. Citations are important because they:
In-Text Citation
An in-text citation is used to point readers toward any source you quote, paraphrase or refer to in your writing. The Chicago Manual of Style has two options for in-text citations:
Choose one of these citation options and use it consistently throughout your text. The source details are listed in full in a bibliography or reference list at the end. Make sure to pay attention to punctuation (e.g., commas and quotation marks).
Reference List
The reference list is organized alphabetically typically by the author's last name, followed by additional info that describe the source to help readers locate the item. The following examples are the most commonly referenced types of sources.
Lash, Scott, and John Urry. Economies of Signs & Space. London: Sage Publications, 1994.
Schulian, John, ed. 2019. The Great American Sports Page : A Century of Classic Columns from Ring Lardner to Sally Jenkins. New York, N.Y: Library of America.
Herndon, David N. 2012. Total Burn Care. 5th ed. Edinburgh ; Saunders Elsevier.
Aron, Laurent, Marion Botella, and Todd Lubart. "Culinary arts: Talent and their development." In R. Subotnik, P. Olszewski-Kubilius, & F. C. Worrell (Eds.), The psychology of high performance: Developing human potential into domain-specific talent, 53-64. American Psychological Association, 2019.
In-text: (ChatGPT, March 7, 2025).
Reference list: not needed because it cites only in-text.
AsapSCIENCE. "A Star Is Born...LITERALLY. If you want to support our channel, watch the video on YouTube!" Facebook, April 10, 2019. http://www.facebook.com/AsapSCIENCE/.
U.S. Department of State. 2017 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2017. https://www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/.
Images (online)
Cheng, Minder. Double-Crested Cormorant. 2021. Photograph. Flickr. March 21, 2021. https://flic.kr/p/2kQcKZ3.
Images (print)
Bruegel, Pieter, the Elder. Christ Carrying the Cross. 1564. In Rose-Marie Hagen and Rainer Hagen, Bruegel, 24. Cologne: Taschen, 2019.
Artwork viewed in person
Goya, Francisco. The Third of May 1808. 1814. Oil on canvas. Museo del Prado, Madrid. https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-third-of-may-1808/.
MacDonald, Susan Peck. “The Erasure of Language.” College Composition and Communication 58, no. 4 (2007): 585–625.
Gibbons-Neff, Thomas, and Mujib Mashal. 2019. “U.S. Is Quietly Reducing Its Troop Force in Afghanistan.” New York Times, October 21, 2019. https://nyti.ms/31xXNQb.
Deo, Nisha. “Visiting Professor Lectures on Photographer.” Exponent (West Lafayette, IN), Feb. 13, 2009.
Hanstedt, Paul. “This is Your Brain on Writing: The Implications of James Zull’s The Art of Changing the Brain for the Writing Classroom.” Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, CA, March 2009.
Recorded speech
Morrison, Toni. “Nobel Lecture.” December 7, 1993. Grand Hall of the Swedish Academy, Stockholm, Sweden. MPEG-4, 33:18. https://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/.
Snodgrass, Melinda M, writer. Star Trek: The Next Generation. Season 2, episode 9, “The Measure of a Man.” Directed by Robert Scheerer, featuring Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, and Whoopi Goldberg. Aired February 13, 1989, in broadcast syndication. Paramount, 2012.
Gates, B. [@BillGates]. (2019, September 7). Today, it's difficult for researchers to diagnose #Alzheimers patients early enough to intervene. A reliable, easy and accurate diagnostic would [Thumbnail with link attached] [Tweet]. X. https://twitter.com/BillGates/status/1170305718425137152
World Health Organization. "The top 10 causes of death." 2018, May 24. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death
Web page (unknown author)
"Illinois Governor Wants to 'Fumigate' State's Government.” CNN online. January 30, 2009. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/30/illinois.governor.
Liu, Jessica. “How to Write a Strong Essay Conclusion.” YouTube video, 3:50. February 8, 2021. https://youtu.be/2UElC_YZ0Eo.
About the Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) is a style guide for American English that is used in the humanities (e.g. literature, history, arts). The library has an online subscription, and a print copy located on a wooden stand next to the reference collection on the first floor of the Hatfield Library. The examples have been adapted from this manual and demonstrate how to document common source materials.
Chicago Manual of Style Online
The Chicago Manual of Style presents two basic documentation systems: the humanities style (notes and bibliography) and the author-date system.
The humanities style is preferred by many in literature, history, and the arts. This style presents bibliographic information in notes and often a bibliography. It accommodates a variety of sources, including esoteric ones less appropriate to the author-date system.
The more concise author-date system has long been used by those in the physical, natural, and social sciences. In this system, sources are briefly cited in the text between parentheses, including the author’s last name and date of publication. The short citations are included in a list of references, often at the end of the paper, where full bibliographic information is provided and is arranged alphabetically.
About Zotero
Zotero is a free citation app that collects, manages, cites, and shares your research sources. The browser extension saves the citation info about articles, books, and more, then connects with the desktop Zotero to create citations and work with Google Docs (you need both desktop and browser extension).
More info at https://libguides.willamette.edu/zotero
For Zotero help, contact:
Bill Kelm, bkelm@willamette.edu or
John Repplinger, jrepplin@willamette.edu
