Chicago (18th ed.) Citation Style Guide: Websites

Citations of website content can often be limited to the notes; in works with no notes, they may be included in the bibliography (Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed., 14.103). It is often enough to describe webpage content in the text. If a more formal citation is required, you can cite it in Chicago Style format (see below).

We will provide an website example in both the footnote and the bibliographic form though you may decide to simply include your citation as a footnote.

When citing websites, "[i]nclude as much of the following as can be determined: the title or description of the specific page (if cited); the title or description of the site as a whole (see 14.103); the owner or sponsor of the site; and a URL" (Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed., 14.104). For dates to include:

• "Include a publication date or the date of the most recent update or revision (see also 13.16)
• if no such date can be determined, include an access date (see 13.15)
• for frequently updated resources, a time stamp may be included" (Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed., 14.104).

URLs and line breaks. "If a URL needs to be divided at the end of a line in a work published in print or as a PDF (or other format with fixed line breaks), the break should be made after an inital http:// or https:// (or, if necessary, after the initial colon); before a single slash (/), period, comma, colon (other than the first), hyphen, tilde(~), underscore ( _ ), question mark, number sign, or percent symple; or before or after an equals sign or an ampersand. Such breaks help to signal that the URL has been carried over to the next line. A hyphen should never be added to a URL to denote a line break" (Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed., 7.47).