How to Cite a Chapter in Chicago/Turabian
If you are writing a research paper, there’s a very good chance you’ll need to cite a specific chapter or other part of a book, especially if that book is an anthology or contains chapters written by different authors. In this guide, you’ll find what you need in order to create notes-bibliography style chapter citations according to the standards in the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.
Guide Overview
- General structure
- Chapter in a single-author book
- Chapter in a multi-author book
- Work in an anthology
- Introduction, preface, afterword, or similar part of a book
- Letters in published collections
General Structure
Citing a section of a book is similar to citing a complete book in Chicago style. When citing a section of a book, you include the author’s name followed by the title of the section or chapter enclosed in quotation marks. The italicized title of the complete work/book comes next after the word “in.” In a bibliography or reference list, you’ll need to include the page range or specific chapter number of the part of the book you are citing. However, you only include the page(s) you are citing in your footnotes or endnotes. Here’s a simple citation structure example for citing a chapter within a single-author book:
Bibliography:
Author Last Name, First Name. “Chapter Title.” In Book Title, edited by Editor First Name Last Name, page range of chapter. City: Publisher, Year.
Note:
1. Author First Name Last Name, “Chapter Title,” in Book Title, ed. Editor First Name Last Name (City: Publisher, Year), page(s) cited.
You don’t always need to cite the specific part of a book you are using. It’s often sufficient to just cite the work as a whole. If the article or chapter plays a large role in your paper, or if that chapter is written by a different author than the rest of the book, then it is a good idea to cite the specific part. Generally, you want to cite individual articles separately and chapters within a single-author book are more commonly cited as just the whole work.
Chapter in a Single-Author Book
If you use a chapter in a book that is particularly significant for your project, or if you only use one chapter within a book in your project, you may find it useful to cite just that chapter in the text and in your list of works cited. This shows anyone who is reading your paper that this chapter is very important for your research. You can check out CMOS 14.106 and Turabian 17.1.8.1 and 19.1.9.1 for more examples.
Bibliography:
Serviss, Garrett P. “A Trip of Terror.” In A Columbus of Space, 17-32. New York: Appleton, 1911.
Note:
1. Garrett P. Serviss, “A Trip of Terror,” in A Columbus of Space (New York: Appleton, 1911), 19.
Chapter in a Multi-Author Book
For articles in a multi-author book, you follow a similar format. One big difference is that you use the name of the author of the part in the main entry. After “in,” you then include the title of the work the part is in, as well as information on the editors or translators, followed by the page range.
Bibliography:
Oram, Richard W. “Writers’ Libraries: Historical Overview and Curatorial Considerations.” In Collecting, Curating, and Researching Writers’ Libraries: A Handbook, edited by Richard W. Oram and Joseph Nicholson, 1-28. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014.
Note:
1. Richard W. Oram, “Writers’ Libraries: Historical Overview and Curatorial Considerations,” in Collecting, Curating, and Researching Writers’ Libraries: A Handbook, ed. Richard W. Oram and Joseph Nicholson (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014), 15.
If you use multiple contributions in a multi-author work, you should include a citation to the entire work in your bibliography or reference list and then you can include a shortened form of each individual chapter (See CMOS 14.108; Turabian 17.1.8.2 and 19.1.8.2). Here’s an example:
Bibliography full citation:
Oram, Richard W., and Joseph Nicholson, eds. Collecting, Curating, and Researching Writers’ Libraries: A Handbook. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014.
Bibliography shortened form for a chapter in the multi-author work:
Oram, Richard W. “Writers’ Libraries: Historical Overview and Curatorial Considerations.” In Oram and Nicholson, Collecting, Curating, and Researching Writers’ Libraries, 1-28.
Note shortened form:
1. Richard W. Oram, “Writers’ Libraries: Historical Overview and Curatorial Considerations,” in Oram and Nicholson, Collecting, Curating, and Researching Writers’ Libraries, 1-28.
Work in an Anthology
For a work in an anthology, cite just as you would for a chapter of a multi-author book. The work title will be in roman in quotation marks. If the work in the anthology is book-length, the work title should be in italics, rather than roman.
Bibliography:
Dillard, Annie. “Living Like Weasels.” In Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: Work from 1970 to Present, edited by Lex Williford and Michael Martone, 148-51. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007.
Note:
1. Annie Dillard, “Living Like Weasels,” in Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: Work from 1970 to Present, ed. Lex Williford and Michael Martone (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 149.
Introduction, Preface, Afterword, or Similar Part of a Book
Some books include sections at the beginning or end that are not considered to be part of the main text, such as an introduction, preface, foreword, or afterword. These are also sometimes written by someone other than the main author. If you want to cite a part of a book that is one of these non-specific titles, you include the term used to describe the part in your citation. If the author of the part you are citing is the same as the author of the whole book, only include the citation of the book as a whole in the bibliography or references list. See CMOS 14.110 and Turabian 17.1.8.1 and 19.1.9.1 for more information and examples.
Bibliography:
Yeo, Geoffrey. Foreword to Archives: Principles and Practices, by Laura A. Millar, vii-x. New York: Neal-Schumann, 2004.
Note:
1. Geoffrey Yeo, foreword to Archives: Principles and Practices, by Laura A. Millar (New York: Neal-Schumann, 2004), viii.
Letters in Published Collections
Some books include collections of letters a single person has written or letters on a specific subject. You can cite individual letters similarly to citing a chapter. You begin your citation with the names of the sender and the recipient, then the date of the letter, followed by the information about the book the letter is published in. Only include the citation to the whole book in your bibliography or reference list. See CMOS 14.111 and Turabian 17.1.9 and 19.1.9.4 for more information.
Bibliography:
Meynell, Alice. The Selected Letters of Alice Meynell. Edited by Damian Atkinson. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.
Note:
1. Alice Meynell to Christiana Thompson, March 1, 1858, in The Selected Letters of Alice Meynell, ed. Damian Atkinson (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013), 14.
Bibliography
The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.7208/cmos17.
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018.
Written by Janice Hansen. Janice has a doctorate in literature and a master’s degree in library science. She spends a lot of time with rare books and citations.