A footnote is the citation to a source within the body of your paper. The purpose of footnotes is to help your reader find the source of the information you're using in your paper so that they can find and read the source themselves.
You cite sources within the text of your paper when you paraphrase information from a source and when you use a direct quote from a source. A paraphrase is a re-wording of a passage, where you explain someone else's ideas in your own words. A direct quote is when you take information word for word from a source.
The first time you cite a source, use a full footnote. If you cite a source again later in your paper, use a shortened note. A shortened note consists of the author's last name, a shortened version of the title, and the page number(s) where the information you cited comes from.
In academic writing, full footnotes require the use of full URLs or DOIs for your sources when these are available, such as for academic journals or websites. These URLs and DOIs are not meant to be read but may be printed or used to link directly to your sources.
In the Chicago style notes and bibliography system, sources are cited in numbered footnotes or endnotes. Each note corresponds to a raised (superscript) number in the text. Sources are also usually listed in a separate bibliography. In text, the footnote citation looks like this:
...in order to copyright your composition.3
Note number. Author Family Name, First Name, Title of Work: Capital Letters for Words in the Subtitle (Publisher Name, Year of publication), page.
1. Stephen Hong Sohn, Inscrutable Belongings: Queer Asian North American Fiction (Stanford University Press, 2018), 227-28.
Note number. Author Family Name, Shortened Title, page.
2. Hong Sohn, Inscrutable Belongings, 255.
Note number. Author Family Name, First Name, Title of Work: Capital Letters for Words in the Subtitle, edition number (Publisher Name, Year of publication), page.
3. Bobby Borg and Michael Eames, Introduction to Music Publishing for Musicians: Business and Creative Perspectives for the New Music Industry, 2nd ed. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025), 22.
Note number. Author Family Name, Shortened Title, page.
4. Borg and Eames, Introduction to Music Publishing, 47.
Author Family Name, First Name, Title of Work: Capital Letters for Words in the Subtitle (Publisher Name, Year of publication), page number, DOI or Database Name.
5. Andrés Espinoza Agurto, Salsa consciente: Politics, Poetics, and Latinidad in the Meta-Barrio (Michigan State University Press, 2022), 52, EBSCO eBook Collection.
6. Carolyn McCaskill et al., The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its History and Structure (Gallaudet University Press, 2011), 70, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2rcnmqw.
Note number. Author Family Name, Shortened Title, page.
7. Espinoza Agurto, Salsa consciente, 111-12.
8. McCaskill et al., The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL, 89.
Note number. Author Family Name, First Name, “Title of Chapter,” in Title of Book: Subtitle of Book, ed. First Name Family Name and First Name Family Name (Publisher, Year of publication), page number.
9. Carol R. Rempp, "Generosity, Fortitude, Respect, Wisdom: Using Popular Culture to Teach Traditional Culture," in Voices of Native American Educators: Integrating History, Culture, and Language to Improve Learning Outcomes for Native American Students, ed. Sheila T. Gregory (Lexington Books, 2012), 136-37.
Note number. Author Family Name, "Shortened Title," page number.
10. Rempp, "Generosity, Fortitude, Respect, Wisdom," 140.
Note number. Author Family Name, First Name, “Title of Article,” Journal Title vol. #, no. # (Publication Year): page number, DOI or stable URL.
11. Mayowa T. Babalola et al., "Bringing Excitement to Empirical Business Ethics Research: Thoughts on the Future of Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics 180, no. 3 (2022): 908, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05242-7.
Shortened Footnote
Note number. Author Family Name, "Shortened Title," page.
12. Babalola et al., "Bringing Excitement," 911-12.
Note number. Group or Author Name, "Title of Website, " Date of publication, revision, or access, URL for website.
13. University of Northern Colorado, "About UNC," Last updated August 13, 2025, https://www.unco.edu/about/.
14. City of Greeley Museums, "Hazel E. Johnson Research Center," Accessed July 3, 2025, https://greeleymuseums.com/locations/greeley-history-museum/hazel-e-johnson-research-center/.
Note number. Group or Author Name, "Title of Website."
15. University of Northern Colorado, "About UNC."
16. City of Greeley Museums, "Hazel E. Johnson Research Center."