Try For Free
  • 2-minute read
  • 29th June 2018

Chicago Referencing – Repeat Citations

If you have a useful source text, you may need to cite it more than once in your work. And the Chicago Manual of Style has specific rules for doing this! Here, then, is our guide to repeat citations in Chicago style referencing.

Footnote Citations

In Chicago footnote referencing, after giving full source information in the first footnote, you can shorten subsequent citations of the same source to prevent repetition. These shortened footnotes should include the author’s surname, a shortened title, and the page(s) cited:

1. Alan C. Jenkins, Wildlife in the City: Animals, Birds, Reptiles, Insects and Plants in an Urban Landscape (London: Holt & Company, 1983), 13.
2. Esther Woolfson, Corvus: A Life with Birds (London: Granta Publications, 2008), 234.
3. Jenkins, Wildlife in the City, 102.

If citing two people with the same surname in your work, make sure to include the initial of the person you are citing again as well as their surname.

When citing the same source repeatedly, you can shorten the citation even further to just the author’s name and a page number:

1. Alan C. Jenkins, Wildlife in the City: Animals, Birds, Reptiles, Insects and Plants in an Urban Landscape (London: Holt & Company, 1983), 13.
2. Esther Woolfson, Corvus: A Life with Birds (London: Granta Publications, 2008), 234.
3. Jenkins, Wildlife in the City, 102.
4. Jenkins, 112.
5. Woolfson, Corvus, 235.
6. Woolfson, 117.
7. Jenkins, Wildlife in the City, 84.

Find this useful?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

The key is making sure the source you’re citing is clear each time.

Author–Date Citations

Chicago referencing also has an author–date system, which uses in-text citations. To reference the same source more than once in this, all you have to do is give the same citation again:

Alan Jenkins (1983) describes how birds of prey survive in urban settings. He says that peregrine falcons are a “spectacular example of adaptive behavior” (Jenkins 1983, 13).

All you need to do with repeat author–date citations, then, is make sure they are consistent! And if you’d like any extra help making sure the referencing in your work is correct, we have expert proofreaders available. Sign up for a 500-word free trial to find out how our proofreading service works.

Comments (56)
Meghan
18th January 2020 at 20:07
Let's say you have multiple sources from the same author you're referencing. But you only use one source from that author for the entire beginning of your paper and don't mention the other ones until much later. Do you need to include the shortened title on all footnotes in between the original citation and when you mention the next source by that author or do you only have to afterward?
Reply
    Proofed
    21st January 2020 at 10:21
    Hi, Meghan. If you're using the standard referencing rules, you probably should include the title each time in that case. Alternatively, you could probably add a note to the first footnote along the lines of "Henceforth, I will refer to this text as [Shortened identifier]" and use that instead, especially if it's a text you're citing frequently. Clarity and simplicity are usually the most important factors.
    Reply
Erika
12th February 2020 at 08:41
Excuse me, but if I am using the same source for a different reference in my essay, how would I create the footnote for this? Especially, if this citation contains two authors?
Reply
    Proofed
    12th February 2020 at 10:05
    Hi, Erika. If you mean how do you cite the same source twice, the format is described in this post (you just need to include the surnames of both authors if it is a non-consecutive citation). If you mean citing two sources from the same container volume (e.g. two chapters from an edited book), then you treat them as separate citations, but you can cross-reference the container volume to avoid repetition. For instance: 1. William H. Keating, “Fort Dearborn and Chicago,” in Prairie State: Impressions of Illinois, 1673–1967, by Travelers and Other Observers, ed. Paul M. Angle (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967), 84–87. 2. Sara Clarke Lippincott, “Chicago,” in Angle, Prairie State, 362–70.
    Reply
Katya
7th March 2020 at 04:22
Good afternoon, I just wanted to ask regarding repeating citation in chicago style. Does using the format in this article only applicable if the citation you wanted to repeat is in the same page or does it also apply if you've already cited citation A in page 1 and wanted to cite it again in page 5 and page 7? Thank you.
Reply
    Proofed
    7th March 2020 at 10:26
    Hi, Katya. The shortened footnote format applies wherever you cite a source. However, if you've cited other sources in between, make sure to use the non-consecutive format (i.e. to include the source title as well as the author's surname and a page number).
    Reply
Bryony
11th March 2020 at 02:31
how would this work for citing a website?
Reply
    Proofed
    11th March 2020 at 09:53
    Hi, Bryony. Since a website doesn't have page numbers, you can usually just cite the author and/or title as required for repeat citations. For example: 1. Michael Wheeler, “Martin Heidegger,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, October 12, 2011, accessed September 8, 2016, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heidegger/. 2. Wheeler. Or... 1. Michael Wheeler, “Martin Heidegger,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, October 12, 2011, accessed September 8, 2016, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heidegger/. ... 7. Wheeler, “Martin Heidegger.”
    Reply
Mary
28th March 2020 at 01:07
How does this work for a movie?
Reply
    Proofed
    28th March 2020 at 12:37
    Hi, Mary. Repeat citations for a movie would usually repeat just the title of the work (plus a scene name/description as a pinpoint if required).
    Reply
Amina
6th April 2020 at 02:11
Hi! Suppose I have a whole paragraph from one source, how should I be citing it?
Reply
    Proofed
    6th April 2020 at 10:19
    Hi, Amina. While you may be better off paraphrasing or quoting selectively, you can cite longer passages in Chicago referencing as a block quote. We have more information about quoting sources here: https://proofed.com/writing-tips/quotations-in-chicago-referencing/
    Reply
Raphaël
6th April 2020 at 19:26
Hello, If use only one book for my essay and that I'm making a lot of consecutive in-text citation of the same page, do I still need to include the name of the author in parenthesis each time (for Chicago style) ? Can I just put the number of the page the other times ? E.g: balbalbalbalab (Machiavelli, 58). but also in balbalablabl (58). ablablabalbal (56)
Reply
    Proofed
    7th April 2020 at 12:20
    Hi, Raphaël. Chicago referencing does allow you to just give the page number in brackets for successive citations of the same source, so if the book is the only source you are citing in the essay you would only need to give a full citation once.
    Reply
Jamie
8th April 2020 at 00:46
What is the format for repeat citations of books or journals with multiple authors?
Reply
    Proofed
    8th April 2020 at 10:34
    Hi, Jamie. The citation format is the same as described in this post. For instance, if a source has two authors, you would just include both names in repeat citations. If you're referring to an edited collection, just cite the author(s) of the chapter or article you're referencing.
    Reply
Victoria
9th April 2020 at 05:03
Hi, What if I am referencing the same page for multiple sentences at a time, but not necessarily the entire paragraph? Would I have to create a citation and superscript for each sentence noting the same page for each one or can I just create the first sentence, give it a superscript and continue on with the understanding that the following paragraphs follow that citation as well. Thanks so much!
Reply
    Proofed
    9th April 2020 at 10:11
    Hi, Victoria. As long as it is clear that you are discussing the same part of the text in each case, you shouldn't need to repeat the citation. If there is ambiguity at any point, you might want to add an extra citation for clarity.
    Reply
Rachel
4th May 2020 at 15:55
Hi, If I am citing a source (Chicago endnotes style) in a paragraph where I'm just listing facts, is it ok to just put the postscripted number over the first fact that appears from that source, and write in the endnote "This fact, including every fact about ---- until the next footnote, is from this source" until I start referencing facts from the next source? Thank you in advance.
Reply
    Proofed
    4th May 2020 at 16:32
    Hi, Rachel. Chicago doesn't have strict rules about this, so as long as it is clear in the text or in an accompanying footnote that you are using a single source for each of the listed facts, a single citation should suffice. However, if you are quoting different parts of the source, you may need to provide a pinpoint citation on each occasion.
    Reply
Sharey
12th May 2020 at 07:29
Hi, I read on other websites that when using repeat citations (for websites), you shorten the title name. Is this true?
Reply
    Proofed
    12th May 2020 at 11:16
    Hi, Sharey. Yes, you should shorten source titles of more than four words in repeat footnote citations. This is simple if the sources has a short title already (e.g., in our examples above, we just drop the subtitle after the first citation). For longer titles, the key is to make the source easily identifiable without changing the order of words from the title (e.g., "The Use and Abuse of Game Theory in International Relations: The Theory of Moves" could be shortened to just "Game Theory in International Relations" or "Use and Abuse of Game Theory"). And to answer your other question, yes, if you are quoting another part of a video, it would be helpful to include a pinpoint citation.
    Reply
Sharey
12th May 2020 at 08:08
Hi, Also, if using repeat citations for a video do we put the time?
Reply
Crown
12th May 2020 at 20:12
Do you have a sample paper showing the repeating of footnote web source?
Reply
    Proofed
    13th May 2020 at 10:40
    Hi. We don't have sample papers available, but the post here includes an example of a repeat citation. The only difference for a website is that you would not usually need a pinpoint citation. If a website had no named author either, you would simply give a shortened title.
    Reply
Dave Black
23rd May 2020 at 19:05
If I have two different sources from the same author to cite in non-consecutive footnotes do I completely cite both as they are different sources (still the same author)? Example: Gropman, Alan L. Mobilizing U.S. Industry in World War II. Washington D.C.: National Defense University, 1996. 16. Alan Gropman, The Big "L": American Logistics in World War II: an Industrial College of the Armed Forces Study (Washington, DC, DC: National Defense Univ. Press, 1997), 152.
Reply
    Proofed
    24th May 2020 at 12:23
    Hi, Dave. Each source needs to be cited in full the first time you reference it. If you then need to cite either source again, you should include a shortened title to distinguish them in footnotes.
    Reply
Sam
12th June 2020 at 07:10
In Chicago, if I write a paragraph with each sentence paraphrasing the same page from the same source, do I have to do a superscript citation for each sentence or can I just do one superscript for the last sentence to represent the entire paragraph/the preceding sentences?
Reply
    Proofed
    12th June 2020 at 14:55
    Hi, Sam. A single citation should be fine as long as it's clear from the text that you're referring to the same source throughout the passage.
    Reply
Brianna
23rd June 2020 at 23:19
I am referencing information I got from a federal agency website (one specific page/link) in multiple sequential sentences. I am exclusively using footnote references. Do I add a citation indicator (the number thing) after each sentence and have identical footnote citations, or do I only have to cite it once?
Reply
    Proofed
    24th June 2020 at 10:54
    Hi, Brianna. As long as it is obvious the citation applies to the entire passage, and you're not citing other sources in between each citation of the website, you should be fine to cite it just the once.
    Reply
FH
25th August 2020 at 00:36
Hi! thanks for your work here. If i am recounting a history and am citing numerous texts to back a point up, how do i cite them when shortened? just an 'and' between the two?
Reply
    Proofed
    25th August 2020 at 10:03
    Hi, FH. If you mean citing multiple sources in a single footnote, whether full or shortened, you simply need to use a semicolon between each source. For instance: 1. Alan C. Jenkins, Wildlife in the City: Animals, Birds, Reptiles, Insects and Plants in an Urban Landscape (London: Holt & Company, 1983), 13; Esther Woolfson, Corvus: A Life with Birds (London: Granta Publications, 2008), 234.
    Reply
Ana
26th August 2020 at 12:33
Hello. How would I cite multiple entries from the same author and THEN another entry with THAT author and a coauthor. I know for many multiple entries I would just use a dash instead of the repeated name, but my question is if this one entry with this said author WITH a coauthor also receives a dash or must be written out in full? For example: Fenton, Edwin (ed.). Teaching the New Social Studies in Secondary Schools: An Inductive Approach. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966, pp. 41-45. Fenton, Edwin. The New Social Studies. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967. Fenton, Edwin and John M. Good. “Project Social Studies: A Progress Report.” Social Education, 29(4), 1965, pp. 206-208. Would it the third entry be " ---- and John M. Good", or "Fenton, Edwin and John M. Good"? Thank you very much
Reply
    Proofed
    26th August 2020 at 13:02
    Hi, Ana. The Chicago Manual of Style says that you should only use the 3-em dash for sources when the authors are "listed in the same order and no author appears for one source but not for the other." As such, we'd suggest writing both author names out for the third entry in your example.
    Reply
Ana
2nd September 2020 at 14:00
If I have multiple entries with one repeated author, some with two repeated authors, and one with a those repeated authors plus more, would I list the entries in my bibliography with an ascending number of like authors, or would I alphabetically sort the non-like co-authors. My example: 1. Nash, Gary B. “The History Standards Controversy and Social History.” Journal of Social History, 29 (issue supplement), November 1995, pp. 39-49. 2. Nash, Gary B. and Ross E. Dunn. “History Standards and Culture Wars.” Social Education, 59(1), 1995, pp. 5-7. 3. Nash, Gary B., Charlotte Crabtree, and Ross E. Dunn. History on Trial: Culture Wars and the Teaching of the Past. New York: Random House, 1997. My question mainly applies to the placement of 2 and 3 respective of each other. Thank you very much
Reply
Edouard
21st October 2020 at 16:00
Hi, Once I footnoted (1 has the full citation, 2 has the abbreviated one, 3 too, etc.) all my same multiples citations from a same website, how do I proceed to write my endnotes? could you give an example?
Reply
    Proofed
    22nd October 2020 at 10:08
    Hi, Edouard. If you mean the bibliography entry, we have a post about that here: https://proofed.com/writing-tips/chicago-citing-a-website/
    Reply
Nina
29th October 2020 at 16:36
Hello! What if I use the same source for subsequent/consecutive paragraphs? Do I still have to cite at the end of each one?
Reply
    Proofed
    29th October 2020 at 17:07
    Hi, Nina. As long as it's clear you're referring to the same source throughout, and you don't cite any other sources in the passage in question, you can just give one citation for the whole thing. If there's room for doubt or you're citing other sources in the same passage, a repeat citation is often wise.
    Reply
Aga
4th November 2020 at 17:42
Hello! If I'm citing an essay published in a collection, in a shortened footnote, should I only give the first words of the title of the essay, and I don't have to give the name of the collection in which it was published, OR do I shorten the name of the essay and then also provide the shortened version of the name of the collection? It seems problematic because the author of the essay is different than the euditors of the collection and I'm not sure whether it's clear for the readers where to look if they want to find the quotation to which the footnote refers.
Reply
    Proofed
    5th November 2020 at 11:12
    Hi there. Typically, you would only give a shortened version of the essay name for repeat citations of a chapter from an edited collection (or as much of the essay name as needed to make it identifiable, if you're shortening it). And as long as you've cited the essay and collection in full on the first citation, your reader should still be able to find it (either in the first footnote or in the bibliography). However, if you want to be extra sure, you can include a cross reference in repeat citations to point readers to the first footnote. For instance: 1. Alan C. Jenkins, Wildlife in the City: Animals, Birds, Reptiles, Insects and Plants in an Urban Landscape (London: Holt & Company, 1983), 13. 2. Esther Woolfson, Corvus: A Life with Birds (London: Granta Publications, 2008), 234. 3. Jenkins, Wildlife in the City, 102. ... 45. Jenkins, Wildlife in the City, 92 (see n. 1).
    Reply
zach sanzone
3rd December 2020 at 02:04
How do I cite a book a second time in footnotes? I see it above but that's for direct quotes. What if I want to cite the same book again? Is it just author, title, and year it was published? Or cite the full thing?
Reply
    Proofed
    3rd December 2020 at 09:54
    Hi, Zach. The instructions for repeat footnote citations in this post apply for all citations, not just direct quotes. You therefore need to cite the author's surname and page number(s), plus a shortened version of the title if the citation would be ambiguous without it. If you are citing a book in its entirety rather than something in the book, you can omit the pinpoint citation, but this would be unusual in most cases.
    Reply
Jodi
7th December 2020 at 20:31
For Chicago documentation, when writing a critical review of ONE source with multiple pages, can I use just the page number in the footnotes? If so, what would the formatting look like? (1. p. 234.) or (1. 234)
Reply
    Proofed
    8th December 2020 at 09:53
    Hi, Jodi. If you're citing one source repeatedly, Chicago offers a couple of options (citing it parenthetically instead, or abbreviating the footnote citation). We have a separate post on how this works here: https://proofed.com/writing-tips/frequently-cited-sources-in-chicago-footnote-referencing/
    Reply
Emily
2nd January 2021 at 15:56
My essay title (from my professor) is a long quote, with the attribution in brackets, to discuss. Do I need to footnote each time I refer to the quote or highlight a 'word' or 'number of words from it' within my text?
Reply
    Proofed
    4th January 2021 at 10:14
    Hi, Emily. You'd have to ask your professor to know for sure what they want, but if the title includes the attribution, and as long as it is clear when you're referring to the title quote (not, e.g., another passage from the same source), you shouldn't need to reference it each time.
    Reply
Raina
11th February 2021 at 05:47
Hi, what if I have a source from an old newspaper that doesn't have the author's name? How would I cite it multiple times in the Chicago style?
Reply
    Proofed
    11th February 2021 at 09:12
    Hi, Raina. When a source lacks a named author, you should use the title as the first piece of information in footnotes and the bibliography entry. Thus, for a newspaper article with no named author, you would use a shortened version of the article title in repeat citations each time.
    Reply
Kim Wooster
14th March 2021 at 20:22
Hello, what if I am only using 1 book as my only source. Does the Title need to be used at the start of each in-text citation or only the first one?
Reply
    Proofed
    15th March 2021 at 10:39
    Hi, Kim. If you're only citing one source, you can usually just cite it in full the first time with a note saying "Subsequent citations will be text references," and then just give a page number in brackets within the text for subsequent citations. We have a post about frequently cited sources in Chicago footnote referencing here: https://proofed.com/writing-tips/frequently-cited-sources-in-chicago-footnote-referencing/
    Reply
John Fink
27th May 2021 at 03:11
When citing a lecture in a footnote, do I need to include exactly where in the lecture (minute/second)? Also, if I cite the same lecture later in the paper, what is the proper format for that? Thank you.
Reply
    Proofed
    27th May 2021 at 10:00
    Hi, John. If you're referring to a video recording of a lecture, you can provide a timestamp, yes. We have information on how to do that here: https://proofed.com/writing-tips/online-video-chicago-footnote-referencing/ The repeat citation would then follow the rules set out here: i.e., you'd need to cite the video creator or speaker's surname, then a pinpoint citation, but you'd be able to omit other details (unless they're needed for clarity).
    Reply
Peter
2nd April 2023 at 04:42
Hello! Would I start this process over in my subsequent chapter where I use a source cited in the first chapter? In other words, if I cited the source in chapter 1, how would I cite the same source the first time in chapter 2? Full source or shortened? Thanks!
Reply
    Proofed
    15th April 2023 at 12:07
    Hi, Peter! Thanks for your question. The Chicago Manual of Style asks that, unless there is no bibliography for any reason (in which case you would repeat the full citation when it first appears in a new chapter), subsequent citations of sources already given in full should be shortened wherever possible. Use of full versus shortened citations can vary according to an institution’s/publisher’s style guide however, so it might be best to check what their preferences are.
    Reply

Discover More


Got content that needs a quick turnaround?

Let us polish your work.

Explore our editorial business services.

Discover More
More Writing Tips?
Read More On Our Blog
Trusted by thousands of leading
institutions and businesses

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.

Let's Get Started. Try for free!