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  • 2-minute read
  • 15th January 2018

Repeat Citations in Chicago Referencing

If you’re writing an essay and you have a useful source, you may want to cite it more than once. However, some referencing systems have special rules for repeat citations, including the Chicago Manual of Style.

In this post, then, we’re going to look at how to format repeat citations when using Chicago referencing in your written work.

Footnote Citations

The first footnote citation for a source in Chicago referencing should include full publication information. However, if you then cite the same source again, you can shorten the citation to just the author’s surname, a shortened version of the source title and any relevant page numbers:

1. Neil Hannon, Misadventures in the Embassy: A Memoir (London: Random House, 2012), 34.
2. Charlotte Glasson, ‘Clerical Error Causes Embarrassment in the UK Embassy’, The Australian, 28 November 2011, 18.
3. Hannon, Misadventures in the Embassy, 140.

Here, the third citation is for the same source as the first, which we can see from the name and title. If you cite sources by more than one author with the same surname, though, make sure to include an initial as well.

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

1. Neil Hannon, Misadventures in the Embassy: A Memoir (London: Random House, 2012), 34.
2. Charlotte Glasson, ‘Clerical Error Causes Embarrassment in the UK Embassy’, The Australian, 28 November 2011, 18.
3. Hannon, Misadventures in the Embassy, 140.
4. Hannon, 200.
5. Glasson, ‘Clerical Error Causes Embarrassment’, 19.
6. Glasson, 18.
7. Hannon, Misadventures in the Embassy, 84.

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

Author–Date Citations

Finally, repeat citations in Chicago’s author–date system are much simpler than the footnote version, as all you need to do to cite the same source twice is use the same in-text citation each time. For example:

The ambassador reported being ‘acutely embarrassed’ (Hannon 2012, 34) by the event in question. A year later, he even described it as ‘the worst mistake’ he had ever made (Hannon 2012, 140).

Here, for example, the basic citation remains the same in both cases. The only change is the page number in the second one, but this is only required here because we are quoting the source directly.

If you’d like any extra help making sure the referencing in your work is correct, though,we have expert proofreaders available. Sign up for a 500-word free trial to find out how our proofreading service works.

Comments (20)
Naomi Lakritz
6th February 2019 at 23:08
What if the same source is cited several times in a text, in author/date style, but no page numbers are available? I was told that these should be labelled a, b, c, etc., to alert the reader to the fact that it's the same source. However, I've also read that multiple sources by the author in the same year should be referenced a, b, c in the Reference List. I can't have it both ways in a paper as it will get extremely confusing with all the a, b, c and what each one means. So how do I handle one-source/multiple citations/no page number in the text itself? Thanks,
Reply
    Proofed
    7th February 2019 at 09:15
    Hi, Naomi. The letters are only used for multiple sources by one author from the same year in Chicago referencing. So if you're only citing one source by the author in question, you would simply use the (Name Year) citation each time. The reader will still know that it's the same source each time as long as it is the only source by that author from that year in your reference list. As for page numbers, if a source does not have any, you do not need to include anything. However, Chicago referencing allow you to either give a section title (if applicable) to indicate which part of a long text you are citing. For instance: This is an 'example sentence' (Smith 2001, 'Section Title'). Alternatively, if you are quoting a source and want to show that it has no pages, you can use the abbreviation 'n.p.': This is an 'example sentence' (Smith 2001, n.p.). Both of these are optional, though. So you could just write: This is an 'example sentence' (Smith 2001). And that would be fine as well. Hope that helps.
    Reply
nazshabs
10th May 2019 at 18:38
Hi, what if the same source cited several times from the website article (no page) ? can you please help me? Thank you.
Reply
    Proofed
    11th May 2019 at 09:54
    Hi there. You would not usually need to cite page numbers for a website, so you don't need to cite them in repeat citations either. If you are quoting an especially long or complicated article and need to indicate which part of it you're citing, you could use a paragraph number or section title.
    Reply
876567
25th June 2019 at 09:07
what if you have cited the same source again, including the same page number, but in combination with a different resource? ie. multiple sources where the first is a repeat from the previous footnote. Would you still use Ibid. ? Thankyou.
Reply
    Proofed
    25th June 2019 at 09:22
    Hi there. I don't think the Chicago style guide has specific instructions for that scenario; all it says is to list the sources in order, using a semicolon to separate them. You could therefore use 'Ibid.' for the first source, but it might be clearer to give a name + title + page number citation.
    Reply
Sally
22nd August 2019 at 12:19
What if you are, in two consecutive footnotes, citing two different papers from the same author? Should the second footnote contain just the paper's title, but not repeat the author's name?
Reply
    Proofed
    22nd August 2019 at 14:48
    Hi, Sally. In that case, if it is the first citation for both papers, you would cite each source in full in the footnotes (including the author's name). However, you would omit the author's name for each source after the first in the bibliography, using three em dashes instead. E.g., McWriter, Author. A Book: Words on Paper. Oxford: OUP, 2001. ———. An Ebook: The Rise of Digital Writing. New York: Penguin Press, 2008.
    Reply
      Sally
      23rd August 2019 at 01:05
      Thank you!
EDWIN
19th April 2020 at 19:50
Hi, How about if you would like to cite from the same source (book) but from different pages into one footnote/citation? Can I write, Last Name, Book Title, x, y, z? Or should I just write Last Name, Book Title, x-z? Thank you.
Reply
    Proofed
    20th April 2020 at 11:53
    Hi, Edwin. The conventions for page numbering are the same in full and shortened citations: use a comma for non-consecutive pages (e.g. 10, 14, 220) or a dash for consecutive pages (e.g. 8–10, 134–49). This is assuming you're citing multiple pages in a single citation as support or the same point/argument, though; if not, you should consider providing a separate citation for each point you are seeking to support.
    Reply
EDWIN
20th April 2020 at 20:21
Thank you for your straightforward answer.
Reply
Dia
12th May 2020 at 04:28
Hey ! what if I want to intext reference multiple sources in one set of brackets ?
Reply
    Proofed
    12th May 2020 at 11:08
    Hi, Dia. In Chicago author–date referencing, you can cite multiple sources by the same author by adding additional publication years separated by a comma: This is an example (Smith 2001, 2004, 2019). Alternatively, you can cite multiple sources by different authors by adding a semicolon between each citation: This is another example (Smith 2001; Lazné 2010). The order of citations within brackets is up to you, but alphabetical or chronological are the most common styles.
    Reply
Ayesha
15th January 2021 at 22:16
thank you. this is useful information. I understand that we simply write (author, year) if the source is referenced multiple times in text. But do we mention the source only once in the bibliography?
Reply
    Proofed
    16th January 2021 at 10:41
    Hi, Ayesha. Yes, you only need to list each source once in the bibliography, no matter how many times you've cited it in the text.
    Reply
pixel
27th September 2021 at 16:25
What if I am citing a different pages of the same website? For example, I am using ONE online dictionary and citing multiple entries. Should it be: (NameoftheDictionary, n.d., a) ... (NameoftheDictionary, n.d., b), etc...?
Reply
    Proofed
    27th September 2021 at 17:34
    Hi, Pixel. Yes, you will need separate entries in the reference list for each page if you're citing multiple definitions. However, you should find that there is a year of copyright you can use instead of 'n.d.' for at least most online dictionaries, and the letters distinguishing the years should follow the date in citations directly, not after a comma.
    Reply
lil
14th July 2022 at 00:16
What if I am citing the same text in two sentences that are right next to each other. Do I have to put the footnote on both sentences, or do I just put it on the last one?
Reply
    Proofed
    14th July 2022 at 08:57
    Hi, Lil. A single citation should be fine in that situation as long as the same part of the source text is relevant to both sentences (if you're citing two parts of the same text to back up a different point in each sentence, it would be better to use separate citations).
    Reply

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