Ever found yourself staring at a webpage, knowing you need to credit it in your paper, but feeling a bit lost on how to do it right? You're not alone. Citing websites in Chicago style, while straightforward once you get the hang of it, can feel like deciphering a secret code at first. But think of it less like a code and more like a friendly handshake with your reader, clearly indicating where your information came from.
At its heart, Chicago style wants to give credit where credit is due and allow anyone reading your work to find that same information. When you're citing a website, the key is to gather a few crucial pieces of information. If you can find the author of the specific page – their name, not just the organization – that's a great starting point. Then, what's the title of that particular page or article? Following that, you'll want to identify the larger website it belongs to, who owns or sponsors that website, and of course, the all-important URL. Don't forget to note the date the page was last updated or revised, or if that's not available, the date you actually visited and consulted the page.
Chicago style offers two main pathways for citations: the Notes-Bibliography system and the Author-Date system. They serve the same purpose but look a little different.
The Notes-Bibliography Approach
In this system, you'll use footnotes or endnotes for your in-text citations. For a basic webpage, your note might look something like this: the author's first and last name, followed by the title of the webpage in quotation marks, then the website's title, the date it was posted, and finally, the URL. For example, if you were citing an article about writing argumentative essays on Chegg, it might appear as:
- Kelsey Wort, “How to Write an Argumentative Essay,” Chegg, August 17, 2020, https://www.chegg.com/writing/guides/writing-types/write-an-argumentative-paper/.
Later, in your bibliography, you'd list it slightly differently, usually with the author's last name first:
Wort, Kelsey. “How to Write an Argumentative Essay.” Chegg, August 17, 2020. https://www.chegg.com/writing/guides/writing-types/write-an-argumentative-paper/.
What if there's no individual author? No problem. You can use the organization's name as the author. And if you're citing an entire website, rather than a specific page, the format is similar, but you might include an access date if the content is likely to change frequently.
The Author-Date System
This system uses parenthetical citations within your text and a reference list at the end. For a basic webpage, your in-text citation would typically include the author's last name and the publication year. So, if Kelsey Wort wrote that article in 2020, your in-text citation might be (Wort, 2020).
In your reference list, it would look much like the bibliography entry in the Notes-Bibliography system:
Block, Andrew. “How to Write an Informative Essay.” Chegg, September 7, 2020. https://www.chegg.com/writing/guides/writing-types/write-an-informative-essay/.
This system is often favored in the sciences and social sciences, but either is acceptable in Chicago style.
Citing Social Media
Social media presents its own unique challenges. For a tweet, for instance, you'd include the Twitter handle, the full text of the tweet in quotation marks, the platform name (Twitter), the date it was posted, and the URL. It looks something like this:
@Chegg. “We’re proud to be on @Comparably’s 2020 Best Companies for Diversity list.” Twitter, December 20, 2020. https://twitter.com/Chegg/status/1339986432031563777.
In the Author-Date system, you'd use the Twitter handle in your parenthetical citations, like (@Chegg).
Ultimately, the goal is clarity and accuracy. Whether you're citing a lengthy article, a quick blog post, or a fleeting tweet, Chicago style provides a framework to ensure your sources are properly acknowledged. Think of it as building a bridge between your ideas and the vast ocean of information out there, making it easy for your readers to follow your intellectual journey.
