Prepared by Bowdoin Library, BL, 4 April 2018 10
DISCUSSION
This guide is based on the citation elements in the Notes and Bibliography system of the 15th edition of The Chicago
Manual of Style (henceforth CMOS15).
However, in this guide, that style is updated to reflect the “look and feel” and the
recommendations for URLs and access dates of the current 17th edition of the The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS17).
Many of the examples and quoted text in this guide are taken from CMOS15. Quick Guides are also available at HL Library
Research Help Desk at Bowdoin College and online at Bowdoin Library’s list of “Style and Citation Guides”.
Best practices
Author-Date system. CMOS15 states that the Author-Date system is “generally inappropriate for citing public
documents”. (CMOS15, 17.291) See also CMOS15, 17.276.
More examples. See CMOS15, 17.290-17.359.
Legal style. For examples using a legal style based on Bluebook and ALWD, see CMOS15, 17.275-17.289.
Nonlegal works. “In nonlegal works, the rules [for legal works based on Bluebook and ALWD] may be adjusted to the
style of the surrounding documentation; providing adequate information to help readers find a source is more important than
slavishly following prescribed forms of abbreviation and the like.” (CMOS15, 17.275. See also CMOS15, 17.289)
Common sense. “Discretion and common sense should dictate how much information is necessary for a reader to locate
the material and, if both notes and a bibliography are used, which elements may be omitted from the notes.” (CMOS15,
17.294)
Long titles. “An extremely long title or subtitle may be shortened in a bibliography or note. Enough information should
be given to allow readers to find the full title in a library or publisher’s catalog.” (CMOS15, 17.62)
Government Publishing Office. Many U.S. government documents are published by the Government Publishing Office,
formerly the Government Printing Office. Consistently use one of the following appropriate variants (cf. CMOS15, 17.295):
▫ GPO
▫ Government Printing Office
▫ Government Publishing Office
▫ U.S. Government Printing Office
▫ U.S. Government Publishing Office
Publisher; place and date of publication. Include the “publisher, if different from the issuing body”. (CMOS15, 17.293)
“These facts of publication are often omitted when other identifying data are given, such as the data for congressional
documents.” (CMOS15, 17.295)
Omitting “U.S.” “In notes, where alphabetical order does not apply, ‘U.S.’ is usually omitted.” (CMOS15, 17.298)
However, “U.S.” is not omitted in the examples in this guide so that notes and bibliographic entries are more similar to each
other, facilitating finding entries in the bibliography from the notes.
Omitting “Congress”. Bibliographic entries for congressional materials “usually begin with ‘U.S. Congress,’ followed
by ‘Senate’ or ‘House’; committee and subcommittee, if any”, etc. “Since ‘Congress’ is usually understood, a listing may
simply begin ‘U.S. Senate’ or ‘U.S. House’.” (CMOS15, 17.298) “Congress” is not omitted in the examples in this guide.
Best practices from CMOS17
URLs. When citing an online source, include a URL, preferably (1) a DOI-based URL (beginning with “https://doi.org/”)
or a Handle-based URL (beginning with “https://hdl.handle.net/”); (2) otherwise, a URL labelled as persistent or stable or a
permalink; (3) otherwise, a standard URL. (CMOS17, 14.6, 14.8, 14.9) To create a URL from a DOI such as
“doi:10.1086/679716”, append that DOI to “https://doi.org/” to create a URL of the form “https://doi.org/10.1086/679716”.
(CMOS17, 14.8) ◊ “For a source consulted via a library or other commercial bibliographic database and available only
through a subscription or library account, it may be best to name the database in lieu of a URL. [...] A URL that leads to
information about the source, if not full access to it, is safe to use.” (CMOS17, 14.11) ◊ The domain name, e.g.
https://books.google.com/, or name of the database may be substituted for a very long URL for “formally published
resources” such as Google Books. (CMOS17, 14.10)
Access dates. “Chicago does not [...] require access dates in its published citations of electronic sources unless no date of
publication or revision can be determined from the source.” (CMOS17, 14.12) Nevertheless, some publishers, disciplines, or
professors may require access dates.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. (Main Ref Desk Z253 .U69 2003). We recommend
the use of CMOS15 for government documents because the 16th and 17th editions do not include guidance for the creation of bibliographic
entries for those resources, but rather recommend following The Bluebook or ALWD.
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017. (Main Ref Desk Z253 .U69 2017).
https://library.bowdoin.edu/research/citation-guides.shtml.