Research Guides: Citation Style Guide: Chicago

What's New in the 18th Edition?

The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition by The University of Chicago Press
Call Number: NYU Bobst Reference Collection Z253 .U69 2024
ISBN: 9780226817972
Publication Date: 2024-09-19
Much has happened in the years since the publication of the seventeenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style. Every chapter has been reexamined with diversity and accessibility in mind, and major changes include updated and expanded coverage of pronoun use and inclusive language, revised guidelines on capitalization, a broader range of examples, new coverage of Indigenous languages, and expanded advice on making publications accessible to people with disabilities.The Manual's traditional focus on nonfiction has been expanded to include fiction and other creative genres in coverage of topics such as punctuation and dialogue, and the needs of self-published authors receive wider attention.

The citation chapters have been thoroughly reorganized for the benefit of new and experienced users alike, and the key concepts for editing mathematics have been integrated into the chapters where they will be most useful to generalists. Evolving technologies--from open-access publishing models to AI--are covered throughout. And naturally, there are some well-considered updates to familiar rules, including changes intended to align the Manual's recommendations more closely with real-world usage.

You can find an electronic version of the 18th edition in the NYU Libraries catalog.

Below is a selection of what has been changed, clarified, and expanded, with direct links to the paragraph numbers in the 18th edition. There are quite a few changes that can't all be listed here. For more details on changes and expansions to the Chicago Style Manual, check out the "What's New" section of the Chicago Style website.

1.47, 1.65. Chicago now prefers placing acknowledgments in the back matter rather than in the front matter for most types of books (CMOS itself is an exception).
3.28. New guidance on writing alt text for images.
3.29. New guidance on ensuring accessibility for math.
3.38. New guidance on citing AI-generated images.
5.51, 5.266. Chicago now endorses generic singular “they” as an option for referring to a person whose gender is unknown or unspecified or concealed for reasons of privacy.
6.67. The first letter of a complete sentence following a colon is now capitalized.
8.22. Personal titles used before a name are now capitalized even when modified by an adjective (e.g., “former President Carter”).
8.39. The adjective “Indigenous” is now capitalized when referring to people. “Black” is also usually capitalized, and “White” may be capitalized if a particular author or publisher prefers.
8.159, 8.160. “Headline style” and “sentence style” are now referred to as “title case” and “sentence case,” respectively.
14.30. A place of publication is no longer required in citations of books.
In lieu of a separate chapter on math, the 18th edition features information designed to help general editors, some of it adapted from chapter 12 in the 17th edition.
Expanded glossary, including more than fifty new terms, most of them related to editing.
New sections on inclusive language and accessibility.

Two Chicago Systems

The Chicago Manual of Style presents source citations in two varieties:

The notes and bibliography system.
The author-date system.

Choosing between the two often depends on subject matter and nature of sources cited, as each system is favored by different groups of scholars. If you are unsure what system you should use for your paper, please ask your professor, teaching assistant, or publisher which you should follow.

You must choose to use either the notes and bibliography system ([N] and [B]) or the author-date system ([T] and [R]). Do not mix the two systems. Again, ask your professor if you are unsure which is preferred.

Notes and Bibliography System

The notes and bibliography system is preferred by many in literature, history, and the arts. Sources are cited in numbered footnotes or endnotes. Each note corresponds to a raised (superscript) number in the text. Sources are also usually listed in a separate bibliography.

Author-Date System

The more concise author-date system is typically used by those in the physical, natural, and social sciences. In this system, sources are briefly cited in the text, usually in parentheses, by author’s last name and date of publication. The short citations are amplified in a list of references, where full bibliographic information is provided. other cited components. Follow the links at the top of this page to see examples of some of the more common source types cited in both systems.

For more information and examples:

The two systems share the same style for authors’ names, titles of works, and other components. For examples of how to cite various types of sources in both systems, see chapter 13 of The Chicago Manual of Style. You can find the most recent version of the Chicago Manual of Style (Eighteenth Edition) through the NYU Libraries catalog, electronically, and in print in the Bobst Library Reference Collection (Z253 .U69 2024).