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Common questions

Learn how to handle tricky Chicago Note 18 citations and references. Get clear tips for academic writing and referencing at Federation University.

Sometimes, the source you are referencing may not fit neatly into the footnote or bibliography templates. When this happens, use these tips to adjust your footnotes and bibliography list entries while staying consistent with Chicago Note 18 guidelines.

Avoid indirect or secondary citations wherever possible. Only use them when you are unable to find and read the original (primary) source.

Only use an indirect or secondary citation if you're using a direct quotation or if there is significant importance to the original source. Reading the original source is good academic practice; it gives you the full context without any reinterpretations. Consult the reference list provided in the secondary source to identify the original source so that you can find it - ask a librarian if you need help with this.

If you're unable to access the original source, you need to list both the original and secondary source.

Footnotes

Citation format Example
Full note 1 Fiona Hilferty, “Teacher Professionalism and Cultural Diversity: Skills, Knowledge and Values for a Changing Australia,” Australian Educational Researcher 35, no. 3 (2008): 58, quoted in Kathryn Meldrum and Jacqui Peters, Learning to Teach Health and Physical Education: The Student, the Teacher and the Curriculum (Pearson Australia, 2012), 109.  
Subsequent note 3 Hilferty, “Teacher Professionalism.”  

Bibliography

Reference format Example
Bibliography entry

Hilferty, Fiona. “Teacher Professionalism and Cultural Diversity: Skills, Knowledge and Values for a Changing Australia.” Australian Educational Researcher 35, no. 3 (2008): 58. Quoted in Kathryn Meldrum and Jacqui Peters, Learning to Teach Health and Physical Education: The Student, the Teacher and the Curriculum, Pearson Australia, 2012.  

Occasionally you’ll need to create citations and references when key information is missing. In such cases, there are several solutions you can use to adapt the reference.

The following examples illustrate how to reference a website post or page when some reference information is unavailable. For guidance on referencing other materials such as books or journal articles, please refer to the specific section in FedCite dedicated to those materials.

Missing element Footnote Bibliography
Nothing missing # First Name Last Name, Title (Source, Year), Page

1 Ransom Patterson, “Textbook reading for ultra-efficient learning.” College Info Geek, last modified July 2, 2021. https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.

Last Name, First Name. Title. Source, Year.

Patterson, Ransom. “Textbook reading for ultra-efficient learning.” College Info Geek. Last modified July 2, 2021. https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.

 

 
No author

# Title of Document (Source, Year), Page

or

“Title” (Source, Year), Page.

1 Textbook Reading for Ultra-Efficient Learning. College Info Geek, last modified July 2, 2021. https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.

 

  • Substitute title of document for Author.
  • Full title in italics and headline style
  • Smaller works (chapters, articles) in double quotation marks, no italics.
  • Follow instructions for shortened repeated notes.
 Title of Document. Source, Year.

 

Textbook Reading for Ultra-Efficient Learning. College Info Geek. Last modified July 2, 2021. https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.

Substitute title for Author; then provide Source and date. List alphabetically by the first word in the title
No date

First Name Last Name, Title (Source, n.d.), Page.

1 Ransom Patterson, “Textbook reading for ultra-efficient learning.” College Info Geek, accessed October 13, 2021, https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.  

Substitute n.d. for no date.

Author, Last Name, First Name. Title of Document. Source, n.d.

Patterson, Ransom. “Textbook reading for ultra-efficient learning.” College Info Geek. Accessed October 13, 2021. https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.

Substitute n.d. for no date if no Year can be found on the Source.
No title

First Name Last Name, “Description of document” (Source, Year), Page

1 Ransom Patterson, “How to read a textbook.” College Info Geek, accessed October 13, 2021, https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.  

  • If there is no title, give a descriptive phrase.
  • Enclose descriptive phrase in “double quotation marks”.

Author, Last Name, First Name. Description of document. Source, Year.

Patterson, Ransom. How to read a textbook. College Info Geek. Last modified July 2, 2021. https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.  

  • If no title is shown, give a brief descriptive title
  • No italics or quotation marks.
No author and date

Description of document (Source, Year), page

1“How to read a textbook”. College Info Geek, last modified July 2, 2021. https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.  

Substitute description of document for Author.

Title of Document (Source, Year), page

“Textbook reading for ultra-efficient learning.” College Info Geek. Accessed October 13, 2021. https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.  

Substitute title of document for Author, then Source, and n.d. for no date in round brackets, then page range.
No date and title

First Name Last Name, “Description of document” (Source, n.d.), page

1 Ransom Patterson, “How to read a textbook.” College Info Geek, accessed October 13, 2021, https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.  

  • Provide Author first name and last name, description of the document, the provide Source and n.d. for no date in round brackets, then page range.
  • Enclose a descriptive phrase in double quotation marks.

Patterson, Ransom. How to read a textbook. College Info Geek, accessed October 13, 2021. https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.  

Provide Author, description of document, Source and, n.d. for no date.

No author, date and title

*Citing from a source with so few credentials may not be suitable in a piece of academic writing.

“Description of document” (Source, n.d.), page

1“How to read a textbook”. College Info Geek, accessed October 13, 2021. https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.  

  • Substitute description of document for Author, then Source and n.d. for no date, the page range.
  • Enclose a descriptive phrase in double quotation marks (" ”).

Description of document. Source, n.d.

How to read a textbook. College Info Geek, accessed October 13, 2021. https://collegeinfogeek.com/how-to-read-a-textbook/.

Substitute description of document for Author, then Source, and substitute n.d. for no date
No pagination If page numbers are not given, use a paragraph or other section numbers if you need to be specific.     Skip for bibliography if not present.  

It can often be difficult to find elements of the reference on a web page or document, as they are all arranged and formatted differently.

Web document

First, identify the type of source you are looking at. If it doesn’t fit a particular category, reference it as a web document.

Author

  • Authors of web documents can be individual people or group authors such as an organisation.
  • The authors can often be found on the front page of the document. If they are not there, the next couple of pages often have the details about the document and the authors may be found there.
  • If you are not sure who the authors are, see if there is a suggested citation or reference and use the authors given there.

Date

  • Even if the publication date is in the title of the document, (e.g. in annual reports), check for the date in the document information, as sometimes a document is published before this date. For example, strategic plans are usually published before the date they apply to.
  • The date is usually on the first couple of pages in the information about the report. It may be a copyright date, or in very small font.
  • Sometimes the date is in the header or footer on each page.
  • If you cannot find a date anywhere, use '(n.d.).' for no date.

Title

The title is usually on the first page of the document.

Publisher

If there is a group author, this is usually the publisher, and so this element is not required in the reference.

URL

  • Give the URL of the actual document.
  • If the link you used to access the document downloaded it, use the link for the webpage you accessed it from.

Web pages

Author

  • The author of a web page could be a person or a group, such as an organisation or government department.
  • The author information can sometimes be in the ‘About’ section of the website.
  • It may be under the web page title, or sometimes at the bottom of the page.
  • A group author can often be found at the very top of the page. Sometimes they will have a logo with organisation’s name.

Date

  • The date can sometimes be particularly difficult to find.
  • The best date to use for a webpage is the date it was last updated.
  • Otherwise look for the date it was originally published.
  • This information can sometimes be found under the title of the page, but is often down the very bottom of the page and can be in very small text.
  • If there is no date you can find, use '(n.d.).' for no date.

Title

  • The title is the specific title of the web page you are referencing.
  • Sometimes it may be on the web page menu.
  • This may be the main heading on the web page.

Website name

  • This is usually at the very top of the web page and is the same for each page on the website.
  • If it is the same as the author, (e.g. if it is a group author), leave this element out.

URL

Copy and paste the URL from the browser bar.