5.1.1 Elements of Citation

As a general rule, publication information should be given in a consistent order, adjusted as needed for the type of source being cited. The usual sequence is:

  1. author or editor;
  2. title of chapter, essay, or article;
  3. title of book or periodical;
  4. editor, compiler, or translator;
  5. edition statement, if not the first edition;
  6. volume information;
  7. eries title and number;
  8. publication details;
  9. page or section references; and
  10. electronic source information, when applicable.

Not every citation will require every element. The purpose is to give readers enough information to identify and locate the exact source being used, while also crediting the authors, editors, translators, and others whose work is directly relied upon. In journal citations, a colon mark precedes page numbers. In book citations, a colon mark separates volume and page numbers, while a comma separates the book title and its publication information from the page reference.

Following the footnote style of CMS17, §2.22, the basic facts of publication—city, publisher, and date—are placed in parentheses in notes. Secondary publication details, such as edition, volume, series, editor, or translator information, remain outside the parentheses. The examples in §5.2–5.5 show how this pattern works in practice.