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.