How to Use Chicago Citation Generator

First things first, let’s get those eyeballs screwed into your head—you’re going to need them!  Why?  Simple—you need to input some data and you’ll want to pay close attention to what you’re inputting where, because the smallest mistake can throw off your citation completely.  So the first rule here is:  Pay attention!

Second, make sure you have everything you need.  Here is what we’re looking for specifically:   Author, Title of Work, Title of Media, Publisher, Publication Date, and Location of Media if web-based.  Gather that info together for all your sources and let’s get started.

Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1:  Select the source type by clicking on the blue box that identifies the media—i.e., book, newspaper, website, or video.  Yes, it makes a difference in terms of how the rest of the citation will be formatted, so don’t skimp on the details.  We put these options here for a reason, bro!

Step 2:  Who is the author, editor or translator?  Select the contributor using the dropdown menu, and then type in the contributor’s name.  Have more than one contributor per source?  No worries.  You’ll see a box to click that will allow you to add another contributor.  Click it if you have more than one and type in that person’s name as well.

Step 3:  Type in the title of the work you are citing in the Article Title box.

Step 4:  Type in the title of the source—i.e., the website (such as The New York Times or Forbes), the magazine, or the book.  This is the publisher.  So in a book, it would be found at the bottom of the title page.

Step 5:  Type in the date on which the source was published.

Step 6:  Hit that generate citation button and step back because you’re about to be hit with a brand new page where you can copy your automatically generated citation and paste it straight to your Bibliography.

Why a Chicago Citation Generator Helps

You’ve got to do a Bibliography, but citing your sources is not the highlight of your day.  Fortunately for you, it’s the highlight of ours.  We can’t think of anything better than formatting your Bib so you can sit back and take it easy. 

Plus, you can rest assured knowing that you’re getting top-notch citations, correctly formatted, using the data you put in.  That’s right, these are tailor-made just for you.  No more head-scratching or trying to find the difference between Turabian and Chicago method (there isn’t one). No more frustrated hours poring over the Chicago Manual of Citations.  We’ve got you covered. 

It also helps because once you get your citation from our generator all you have to do is copy and paste it right to your Bibliography.  It’s clean, instant, and pretty much all around awesome.  You’ll never worry about writing another Bibliography again because, well, basically you won’t have to.

But if you’re keen on learning a thing or two, you can scroll down this page and see how we do it.  That’s right, we’ve included lots of examples of how to cite all different sorts of sources using the Chicago style of citations.  Peruse those, take a gander, and get an understanding of how this style works.  Then use the citations we generate for you to fill out your Bib and see how each different type of media is formatted in a different way.  After using this generator a few times, we’re sure you’ll get the hang of it and be able to do your citations even faster than our generator in the future.  It’s all about the learning process, after all, and with us you’ll be on your way in no time. That’s why it helps, and that’s why we’re here!

Tips to Keep you on Your Game

The best way to make this process faster and even easier is to keep track of your sources as you use them.  And by that we mean this:  anytime you use a source from somewhere—whether from the Web or from a book—jot down on a separate piece of paper (or at the end of the document in Word that you’re working on) all the information you will need for this generator.  What info is that?  Let’s go over it again:  you’ll need the Author’s name, the Title of the Work you’re citing, the Title of the Media, the name of the Publisher, the Publication Date, and the Location of Media if web-based—i.e., the URL.  Keep track of that information and you’ll so yourself a whole load of trouble when it comes time to do the Bibliography.

Otherwise you’ll be fretting and searching frantically trying to recall the sources you used.  You’ll go back to re-read your essay, come across a quote with a page number and an author’s name, but realize you did not write down anywhere the necessary information for the source—and, worst of all, you can’t remember what the source was.  You’ll spend the next half hour going through your browser history trying to see if any of it looks like a clue. 

So take it from us.  If you’re quoting a source—stick in the quote and jot down the info about the source.  You will save yourself hours of manic recollection time at the end if you just take the time to do it when you use it. 

Conclusion

We’re making Bibliographies great again!  Use our Chicago citation generator to make your paper better than ever.  Throw out your Chicago manual and get on board.  This train is riding all the way to Bibliographyville and it’s not stopping.  Just plug in the information regarding your sources and clickety-clak, we’ll be spitting out citations for your Bib like nobody’s business.  You’ll not only save yourself a million headaches if you have a million sources, you’ll also likely learn how a correct citation is supposed to look.  So don’t worry about all the formatting rules and the constant conundrum of having to remember whether a book gets cited the same way as a website or what to do if you have more than one author.  We’re not sweating it, so you shouldn’t either.  We wrote the code for this generator and it works like a charm.  Put in the necessary tidbits and hit the blue button.  We’ll pop out the citation you need right as rain!