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Chicago Style Guide


Creating a Note Using Shortened Form

When creating your notes, you should provide a complete citation the first time you use a source, and use a shortened form for subsequent notes. This only applies to footnotes or endnotes - in the bibliography you will create one citation for each source you used. Below are a few examples. You can find other examples for short form under the header "Subsequent Note" on the source pages on this guide.

Examples: Using Short Form

Ibid. is an abbreviation for ibidem, meaning "in the same place." Use Ibid. as shortened form when you have cited a source in the preceding note. Don't forget the period at the end.

First Note

1. Doug Fine, Farewell My Subaru: an Epic Adventure in Social Living, ((New York: Villard, 2008), 45.

Next Note, Same Source, Same Page

2. Ibid.

Next Note, Same Source, Different Page

3. Ibid., 36.


Pay attention to the punctuation! Since Ibid. is an abbreviation, it needs both a period and a comma before the page number.

First Note

1. Doug Fine, Farewell My Subaru: an Epic Adventure in Social Living, ((New York: Villard, 2008), 45.

Next Note, Same Source, Same Page

2. Ibid.

Several Notes Later

6. Fine, Farewell My Subaru, 46.

First Note

1. "Barack Obama on Budget & Economy," September 4, 2011, On the Issues, http://www.issues2000.org

Several Notes Later

4. "Barack Obama on Budget & Economy."