How-to

How to Use Chicago Style in LaTeX

The fix

For Chicago style in LaTeX, use biblatex-chicago. Load \usepackage[authordate]{biblatex-chicago} for author-date, or [notes] for notes-and-bibliography (footnote) style, add \addbibresource{refs.bib}, cite with \autocite, and print with \printbibliography. Compile with biber.

Example

% Author-date:
\usepackage[authordate,backend=biber]{biblatex-chicago}
\addbibresource{references.bib}
Text \autocite{smith2020}.
\printbibliography

% Footnote style: use [notes] instead of [authordate].

Frequently asked questions

Chicago has two styles — which do I pick?

Chicago offers author-date (parenthetical, common in the sciences) and notes-bibliography (footnotes, common in the humanities). Load biblatex-chicago with [authordate] or [notes] accordingly.

How do I make footnote citations in Chicago?

Use the notes style: \usepackage[notes,backend=biber]{biblatex-chicago}, then \autocite{key} places a formatted footnote automatically.

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