Formatting Information and Resources
The Chicago Manual of Style recommends using the Turabian style to format a student paper. Your paper will include several components: a title page, the body of your paper, an endnotes list (if using endnotes), and a bibliography.
If your instructor has requested a different format or additional elements, use your instructor's preferences.
- Chicago Sample Paper Template (.docx)Download this Word template for a formatted Chicago paper that you can customize.
Title Page and Main Text
Step 1: Set the Margins to One Inch
Download a PDF with all the steps for formatting a Chicago title page and body
All directions are for the installed (desktop) version of Word. Word Online and Google Docs may have different steps.
Basics
The margins of the paper should be set to 1" (one inch) all around.
Step-by-Step Directions
- Go to the Page Layout or Layout tab
- Click Margins
- Select the Normal option
Step 2: Set the Spacing to Double
Basics
The line spacing for the paper should be set to double (2.0).
Step-by-Step Directions
- Go to the Home tab
- In the Paragraph box, click the icon that looks like two up/down arrows with text to the right
- Pick 2.0
- Alternate Method: You can also press the Control Key along with the number 2 to quickly double space.
Step 3: Set the Font
Basics
The font should be a standard size (such as 11 or 12 point) and an easy to read font, such as Times New Roman. If you have specific font guidelines from your instructor, use those.
Step-by-Step Directions
- Go to the Home tab
- In the Font box, change to Times New Roman and 12
Step 4: Create a Title for Your Paper
Basics
Your title should summarize the main topic of your paper. Try not to be too wordy or off-topic. 'Short but sweet' is the goal.
Example Titles
- Revolution and Reform: Political Upheaval in 19th-Century Europe
- The Evolution of Portraiture from the Renaissance to the Baroque Period
- How Roman Architecture Shaped the Western World
Step 5: Create the Title Page
Watch how to create a Chicago title page [no audio]
Basics
On the first page, you will include the following information, left aligned and double-spaced:
- Paper title/subtitle
- Your name
- Course number/name
- Due date
Step-by-Step Directions
- Press Enter about 5 times, to begin a third of the way down the page.
- Center your text.
- Type in the title of your paper, in bold, in slightly larger text (around 15-16 pt font).
- If you have a subtitle, place that on the next line.
- Press Enter around 7 times.
- On the next line, type your full name (in normal font, not bold).
- On the next line, type your course number, a colon, and your course name.
- On the next line, type the due date of the paper.
Step 6: Add Page Numbers
Basics
Add the page number in the header, right aligned, for all pages except the title page.
Step-by-Step Directions
- At the end of your title page, hit Control + Enter to add a new page.
- On the second page, go to the Insert tab
- Under Header, select Edit Header (at the bottom)
- Check the box for Different First Page
- Make sure that the font is still Times New Roman 12 (you may need to change it)
- Click Page Number
- Click Top of Page
- Click Plain Number 3
Step 7: Set Up the First Page
On the first line of the first page, type the word Introduction in bold and centered.
Begin your essay on the next line, left-aligned, and indent each paragraph. You can add additional section headings, formatted the same as the Introduction heading.
Bibliography
The bibliography should be on a new page, and should be the last section of your paper. You can press the Control key along with the Enter key to create a new page in Word.
Heading of Bibliography
The heading at the top should say Bibliography at the top, centered and in bold.
Hanging Indent
All citations should be formatted with a hanging indent. An example of a hanging indent is shown below:
George, Mary W. The Elements of Library Research: What Every Student Needs to Know. Princeton University Press, 2008.
To create a hanging indent in Word, you can press the Control key along with the letter T.
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Spacing
Line spacing in the bibliography should be single spaced. This is different from the rest of the paper, which is double-spaced. Place a single blank line between each citation.
Alphabetizing
When organizing your bibliography, alphabetize the citations by the first word of the citation, which is usually the author's last name. Go letter by letter and ignore spaces, hyphens, punctuation etc.
For multiple citations by the same author, use the title to further alphabetize them.
If a work has no author, use the title to alphabetize. You will use the first significant word to alphabetize; this means you skip words like the, a, and an.
Example of Proper Order:
- Alcott, Louisa May. Little Men.
- Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women.
- Anonymous. Beowulf...
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- "Etiquette in Florida."
- Grammar Girl.
- Johnson, Claude L., and Charles Tuite, editors.
- Johnson, Suzette.
- Oxford English Dictionary.
- "A Prescription for Health Care."
- United Nations.
Endnotes Page
If you are required to use endnotes (most students won't!), place this page after your essay and before the bibliography.
Heading
Center the title Notes in bold at the top of the page. Add two blank lines afterward.
Notes
List all notes in the order they are referred to in the paper. Use normal text with a period and space after each number, and use a regular half-inch indent for each note (not a hanging indent).
Notes
1. Denise Patry Leidy, et al., Treasures of Asian Art: The Asia Society Museum Collection, rev. ed. (Asia Society Museum, 2016), 38.
2. Alice Isabella Sullivan, “Two Embroideries Used as Liturgical Cuffs,” Metropolitan Museum Journal 53 (2018): 138, JSTOR.
3. Kehinde Wiley, Dogon Couple, 2008, oil on canvas, Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL.
4. Sullivan, “Two Embroideries,” 138.
5. Leidy et al., Asian Art, 120–21.
Figures and Illustrations
If you are including images, figures, illustrations, or graphs in your paper, place it either immediately before or after mentioning in the text. Place one blank line between your text and the figure.
Place a caption below, single-spaced, with either the same size font or slightly smaller. Begin the caption with Figure 1. for the first example, Figure 2. for the second example and so on. Place one blank line after the caption before returning to your text.
Self-Created Figures
If you created the figure, simply describe it in the figure caption. The caption does not need to end with a period.
Figure 1. Relationship between library visits per week and average course GPA
External Figures
For figures, images, charts, etc. that you did not create and that came from an external source, include a general description of the figure, and then add the source as the next sentence. While there is no specific template for the source, you can use elements from the footnote citation style as a good starting place. Since you will include both a description and the source, include periods. Here are some examples.
Figure 2. The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, 1907-08, oil on canvas. Original located in Österreichische Galerie. Image from Google Arts & Culture, https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-kiss-gustav-klimt/HQGxUutM_F6ZGg?hl=en.
Figure 3. University of Florida marching band members on Florida Field, 1959. Photograph from the University of Florida Digital Collections, https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00046411/00001/images.
Figure 4. Gallup poll results relating to how artificial intelligence will affect the job market. Graph from Tribune Content Agency Graphics, "Majority of People Polled Believe AI Will Hinder, vs. Help, American Workers' Job Prospects," 2023. Accessed through Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Figure 5. A young kitten on an outside porch. Photograph by Mathias Erhart (CC BY-SA 2.0)
For more examples and guidance, see Crediting Images at an Author Website from the CMOS Shop Talk blog.