How to Cite a Website in Chicago Style
Step-by-step citation format for a website in Chicago style with examples.
The basics of Chicago for a website
Chicago style, from the University of Chicago, is common in history and the arts. It is known for its footnotes and endnotes, though it also has an author-date option used in the sciences. When you cite a website in Chicago, the goal is to give a reader enough detail to find the exact source you used, in the order the style expects.
The tricky part is not the rules themselves but the small choices: what goes in italics, where the year sits, and how to handle missing pieces like an absent author or date. This guide walks through those decisions one at a time so you do not have to guess.
Before you start, gather the details about your source. Chicago follows a predictable structure for a website, so once you have the pieces, the citation mostly assembles itself.
Build the citation in Chicago
- 1Collect the source details
Open a website and note down each piece of information you can find: author, title, date, publisher, and any identifier. Writing them out first saves you from scrolling back and forth later.
- 2Put them in the Chicago order
Arrange the pieces in the order Chicago expects. The author comes first, then the date or title depending on the style, then the publishing details.
- 3Format the italics and punctuation
In Chicago, the title of the larger work usually goes in italics, while smaller pieces like article titles stay in plain text. Match the punctuation exactly, since the style is strict about periods and commas.
- 4Add the in-text reference
Inside your paper, point to the source using Chicago's in-text style, which is a raised footnote number in the text that points to a full note at the bottom of the page. Place it right after the idea or quote that came from the source.
- 5Sort and check the final list
Drop the finished entry into your reference list and check that it follows the style's ordering rule. Proofread the author names and dates, since those are the most common source of mistakes.
Chicago often gives a full citation in the first note and a shortened version each time after that, with a bibliography at the end. Keep this in mind as you build each entry, because the list-level rules matter as much as the formatting of any single citation.
What to include for a website
| Piece of information | What it means and where to find it |
|---|---|
| Author | The person or organization that wrote the page. If none is listed, start with the page title instead. |
| Page title | The headline of the specific page you are citing, not the whole site name. |
| Site name | The name of the website or publisher that hosts the page. |
| Publication or update date | When the page was posted or last changed. If only a year is shown, use that. |
| URL | The full web address, copied exactly as it appears in your browser. |
| Access date | When you viewed the page, useful if the content is likely to change. |
Common problems and how to handle them
- No author is listed, so you are unsure what to put first.
- The page shows only a year, or no date at all.
- The site name looks identical to the page title.
- The URL is very long or contains session parameters that break.
- When in doubt, favor the details a reader needs to actually find the source over strict rule-following that omits key facts.
A citation exists so a reader can retrace your steps. If someone could not find a website from your reference alone, the citation is not finished, no matter how clean the formatting looks.
Why details matter
The AI Humanizer Lab Citation Checker reviews your references against the rules of each major style and flags the fields you missed. Run your list through it before you submit so a missing date or a misplaced period does not cost you points.
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