Chicago Style Guide - 17th Edition

Tips & Tricks for Citing Online Journals

• Cite an online journal the same as you would a print journal, but in addition, include the DOI (or the URL if the DOI is not available) at the end of the citation.
• The DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a unique alpha-numeric code given to individual online works. The DOI usually appears at the top of the article or in the database record for the article. At present, not all publishers provide DOIs.
• When citing a URL, use a stable url or permalink whenever possible.
• URLs should not be hyperlinked, underlined, or appear in a colour other than black.
• For articles retrieved from a library database (e.g. Cinahl, CBCA, Academic Search Complete), the DOI is preferred. If it is not available, the database name is cited rather than the URL.

Access Dates for Online Resources

The date accessed is not required in citations of formally published electronic sources. If an access date is required because of the publisher or instructor preferences, the access date should be included immediately preceding the DOI or URL. When included, dates of access should be separated by commas in notes and periods in bibliographies.

Publish Dates for Journals

When citing journal articles, you may include the month or season the work was published along with the year. For example, (November 2020) or (Spring 2021). If no month or season is specified, just include the year the article was published. E.g., (2020). 



FORMAT

Author's LastName, FirstName. "Title of Article: Subtitle of Article." Title of Journal volume, no. issue (Month Year): xx-xx. doi:10.xxxxxxxxx.

EXAMPLE

Tolmacz, Rami. “Concern and Empathy: Two Concepts or One.” American Journal of Psychoanalysis 68, no. 3 (August 2008): 257-275. doi:10.1057/ajp.2008.22.

FOOTNOTE FORM

18. Rami Tolmacz, “Concern and Empathy: Two Concepts or One,” American Journal Psychoanalysis 68, no. 3 (August 2008): 259, doi:10.1057/ajp.2008.22.

FORMAT

Author's LastName, FirstName Initial. "Title of Article: Subtitle of Article." Title of Journal volume, no. issue (Month Year): xx-xx. LibraryDatabaseName.

EXAMPLE

Sandage, Steven J. “Comparison of Two Group Interventions to Promote Forgiveness: Empathy as a Mediator of Change.” Journal of Mental Health Counseling 32, no. 1 (January 2010): 35-57. Academic Search Complete.

FOOTNOTE FORM

19. Steven J. Sandage, “Comparison of Two Group Interventions to Promote Forgiveness: Empathy as a Mediator of Change,” Journal of Mental Health Counseling 32, no. 1 (January 2010): 39, Academic Search Complete.

FORMAT

FirstAuthor's LastName, FirstName, SecondAuthor's FirstName LastName, and ThirdAuthor's FirstName and/or Initial. LastName. "Title of Article: Subtitle of Article." Title of Journal volume, no. issue (Month Year): xx-xx. DOI.

EXAMPLE

Chow, Brian, Hung Lin, and Patrick M. Biberger. “Understanding College Admissions in Taipei: Effects on Student Experience.” Journal of College Education 14, no. 1 (Spring 2017): 35–62. https://doi.org/10.1074/690238.

FOOTNOTE FORM 

2. Brian Chow, Chun-Hung Lin, and Patrick M. Biberger, “Understanding College Admissions in Taipei: Effects on Student Experience,” Journal of College Education 14, no. 1 (Spring 2017): 39–40, https://doi.org/10.1074/690238.

FORMAT

FirstAuthor's LastName, FirstName, SecondAuthor's FirstName LastName, ThirdAuthor's FirstName LastName, ForthAuthor's FirstName LastName, FifthAuthor's FirstName LastName and SixthAuthor's FirstName LastName. "Title of Article: Subtitle of Article." Title of Journal volume, no. issue (Month Year): xx-xx. DOI.

EXAMPLE

McGregor, Eileen, Teresa Hall, Patrick Brown, Peggy Harrington, Peter Lanning, and Robin Adare. “The Heritage Landscapes of West Irish Islands,” Celtic Naturalist 189, no. 6 (August 2017): 42–73. https://doi.org/10.1086/691233.

FOOTNOTE FORM

7. Eileen MacGregor et al., “The Heritage Landscapes of West Irish Islands,” Celtic Naturalist 189, no. 6 (August 2017): 46, https://doi.org/10.1086/691233.

MORE DETAILS

• In the bibliography, only the first author’s name is inverted, and a comma must appear both before and after the first author’s given name or initials.
• For works by or edited by four to ten people, all names are usually given in the bibliography. In the footnote, only the name of the first author is given followed by "et al." which means "and others."
• For works with more than 10 authors, only the first 7 authors should be listed in the bibliography, followed by "et al."

FORMAT

Author's LastName, FirstName. "Title of Article." Title of Journal volume, no. issue (Month Year): xx-xx. URL.

EXAMPLE

Ellingson, Terry. “The Technique of Chordal Singing in the Tibetan Style.” American Anthropologist 72, no. 4 (August 1970): 826-831. https://libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/login?url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/671659.

FOOTNOTE FORM

20. Terry Ellingson, “The Technique of Chordal Singing in the Tibetan Style,” American Anthropologist 72, no. 4 (August 1970): 829, https://libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/login?url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/671659.

NOTE

JSTOR provides stable URLs for its articles in three places: 1) on the database record for the article, 2) in the database's citation tool; 3) in the header of the first page of the article's PDF.

FORMAT

FirstAuthor's LastName, FirstName, and SecondAuthor's FirstName Initial. LastName. "Title of Article." Title of Journal volume, no. issue (Month Year): xx-xx. doi:10.xxxxxxxxx.

EXAMPLE

Testa, Bernard, and Lamont B. Kier. “Emergence and Dissolvence in the Self-Organisation of Complex Systems.” Entropy 2, no. 1 (March 2000): 1-25. doi:10.3390/e2010001.

FOOTNOTE FORM

21. Bernard Testa and Lamont B. Kier, “Emergence and Dissolvence in the Self-Organisation of Complex Systems,” Entropy 2, no. 1 (March 2000): 17, doi:10.3390/e2010001.

FORMAT

Author's LastName, FirstName Initial. "Title of Article." Title of Journal volume, no. issue (Month Year). URL.

EXAMPLE

Bean, Heidi R. “Carla Harryman’s Non/Representation and the Ethics of Dispersive.” Postmodern Culture 20, no. 1 (September 2009). http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/postmodern_culture/v020/20.1.bean.html.

FOOTNOTE FORM

22. Heidi R. Bean, “Carla Harryman’s Non/Representation and the Ethics of Dispersive,” Postmodern Culture 20, no. 1 (September 2009), http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/postmodern_culture/v020/20.1.bean.html.

FORMAT

Author's LastName, FirstName. "Title of Article." Title of Magazine, Month Date, Year, xx. LibraryDatabaseName.

EXAMPLE

Latimer, Joanne. “Well-Bred and Well-Heeled.” Chatelaine, February 2011, 114. CBCA Complete.

FOOTNOTE FORM

23. Joanne Latimer, “Well-Bred and Well-Heeled,” Chatelaine, February 2011, 114, CBCA Complete.

MORE DETAILS

• If the day of publication is available, include that information in your bibliographic entry and footnote. For example, February 14, 2020. If the date or month is not available, it is fine to include whatever information is available to you, such as February 2020, or 2020.

FORMAT

Author's LastName, FirstName. "Title of Article." Title of Magazine, Month Day, Year. DOI or URI.

EXAMPLE

Elliott, Justin. “What Sharia Law Actually Means.” Salon, February 26, 2011. http://www.salon.com/news/islam/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/02/26/sharia_the_real_story.

FOOTNOTE FORM

24. Justin Elliott, “What Sharia Law Actually Means,” Salon, February 26, 2011, http://www.salon.com/news/islam/index.html?story=/ politics/war_room/2011/02/26/sharia_the_real_story.

FORMAT

Author's LastName, FirstName. "Title of News Article." Title of News Publication, Month Day, Year, xx. LibraryDatabaseName.

EXAMPLE

Eustace, Chantal. “One Nail at a Time.” Winnipeg Free Press, February 26, 2011, G4. Canadian Newsstand.

FOOTNOTE FORM

25. Chantal Eustace, “One Nail at a Time,” Winnipeg Free Press, February 26, 2011, G4, Canadian Newsstand.

MORE DETAILS

• If the name of the newspaper starts with the word "the", omit the word (the) in the citation for both notes and bibliography. 
• News services, such as the Associated Press or the United Press International, are capitalized in citations, but not italicized.
• The names of news services often appear in the author position of the citation (when no author is listed).
• If no author or news service name is listed, the title of the newspaper stands in place of the author.