Chicago Referencing – Citing an Online Video (Footnotes)

Chicago Referencing can be frustrating for those who prefer their referencing systems to have well-defined rules for every occasion. Take the case of citing an online video from a site like YouTube, for example, which Chicago classes in the broad category of ‘multimedia’.

Good thing we’re here to help, then! Before citing YouTube in your written work, check out our guide to referencing an online video in Chicago footnote referencing.

Footnote Citations for an Online Video

As with all Chicago footnote citations, you need to give full publication information the first time you cite an online video source.

The details to include in the first footnote citation are therefore:

• Name of the subject or creator, such as a presenter or director
• The words ‘interviewed by’ and the name of the interviewer (if applicable)
• Video title in quote marks
• Video format and length
• The uploader (if different from creator)
• Date of upload
• URL
• Date of access (if required)

Some of the above will depend on how much information is available for the video you’re citing. The important thing is that anyone who reads your work can find the video cited. For example, if we wanted to cite a video from the University of Queensland YouTube channel, we could do it as follows:

1. Rochelle Soo, ‘Dr Rochelle Soo’, YouTube video, 1:22, The University of Queensland, April 12, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NCJ9DcUmkI.

Here, we’ve included the name of the subject of the video as the creator, the title of the video, its length, the channel it was uploaded to, the date it was uploaded, and the URL.

If you then need to cite the same source again, simply shorten the citation as you would any other. If you are quoting a video source, moreover, include a time stamp in the citation.

Missing Information

As shown above, it does not necessarily matter if you can’t find every single detail about an online video when citing it in your work. However, you should try to include as much information as possible.

One issue that we’re sometimes asked about is what to do if a video doesn’t have a named creator or presenter to cite in the first position. You have two main options here:

1. Cite an organisational author (e.g. the company that made the video)
2. Give the title as the first piece of information in the footnote

You will then use the same format in the reference list to ensure clarity.

Reference List

The format for an online video in a Chicago reference list is similar to the first footnote. The only real differences are the punctuation and that the creator’s names are inverted. For instance:

Soo, Rochelle. ‘Dr Rochelle Soo’. YouTube video, 1:22. The University of Queensland, April 12, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NCJ9DcUmkI.