Reviews of books, films, artworks, and other media can be a great resource when writing an essay. But how do you cite a review in your work? In this guide, we explain how to cite a review in Chicago author–date referencing.
Citing a Review in Chicago Author–Date Referencing
To cite a review in Chicago author–date referencing, give the author’s surname and the date of publication in brackets. However, make sure to cite the author and date of the review itself, not of the work being reviewed!
Here’s an example of an in-text citation for a film review by Ian Nathan:
The film was acclaimed for its compelling performances (Nathan 1994).
This citation will then point readers to an entry in your reference list.
If the reviewer is not named, though, cite the publisher instead:
The reviewer described the concert as ‘impeccable’ (BachTrack 2020).
The key thing is that the name in the citation matches the name at the start of the accompanying reference list entry. Speaking of which…
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Reviews in a Chicago Reference List
In the reference list at the end of your paper, provide full details for any source you cited in the main text. For a review, this should include:
Reviewer’s surname, first name. Year of review. ‘Title of Review’, review of Title of Reviewed Work by Creator(s), location and date of performance (if applicable). Title of Periodical/Website, day and month of review, edition/section information. URL (online sources only).
The entry for the first review cited above, for instance, would look like this:
Nathan, Ian. 1994. Review of The Shawshank Redemption, directed by Frank Darabont. Empire, 17 February. https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/shawshank-redemption-review/.
As in the citations, if a review does not have a named author, you can use the publisher’s name in its place. For instance:
BachTrack. 2020. ‘Spiritually Uplifting Bach from the Bach Collegium Japan’, review of concert performance by Bach Collegium Japan, National Concert Hall, Dublin, 10 March 2020. BachTrack.com, 10 March, Concert reviews. https://bachtrack.com/review-bach-suzuki-bach-collegium-japan-dublin-march-2020.
We hope this has helped you with citing a review using Chicago author–date referencing. Would you like more help checking your referencing, though? If so, our team of proofreading experts can help!