Footnote Generator: Chicago, Turabian, Oxford, OSCOLA

Pick Chicago, Turabian, Oxford or OSCOLA on the left of the tool. The full footnote set appears under the citation with FreeCitation PRO; the pricing page has the plans. For APA, MLA and Harvard the same panel gives the parenthetical, narrative and quotation forms instead.

How footnote citations work

Note styles keep the reference out of your sentence. You put a superscript number where you use the source, and the note at the foot of the page says what it is. The first time you cite a source, the note is complete: author, title, publication details and the page you used. Every later note for the same source is shorter, because the reader has already seen the full version. At the end of the paper, the bibliography lists every source once, alphabetically.

That gives each source three forms, and a paper usually needs all three. Getting them to agree is where students lose marks: a name in a different order, a title capitalised one way in the first note and another way in the short note, a page range in a footnote where a single page belongs.

The same two sources in four styles

A journal article (DOI 10.1038/nature14539) and a book (ISBN 9780199535569), as the tool gives them. The page number 437 stands in for the page you cite; the tool leaves it as [page] for you to fill, and in OSCOLA (n 4) points back to footnote 4, where the full reference was given.

Chicago 18th edition

First noteYann LeCun et al., “Deep Learning,” Nature 521, no. 7553 (2015): 436–44, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539.

Shortened noteLeCun et al., “Deep Learning,” 437.

BibliographyLeCun, Yann, Yoshua Bengio, and Geoffrey Hinton. “Deep Learning.” Nature 521, no. 7553 (2015): 436–44. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539.

Book, first noteJane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (Oxford University Press, 2008).

Turabian 9th edition

First noteYann LeCun, Yoshua Bengio, and Geoffrey Hinton, “Deep Learning,” Nature 521, no. 7553 (May 2015): 436–44, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539.

Shortened noteLeCun, Bengio, and Hinton, “Deep Learning,” 437.

BibliographyLeCun, Yann, Yoshua Bengio, and Geoffrey Hinton. “Deep Learning.” Nature 521, no. 7553 (May 2015): 436–44. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539.

Book, first noteJane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).

Oxford (footnotes)

First footnoteYann LeCun, Yoshua Bengio, and Geoffrey Hinton, ‘Deep Learning’, Nature, 521/7553 (2015), 436–44, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539.

Shortened noteLeCun, Bengio, and Hinton, ‘Deep Learning’, 437.

BibliographyLeCun, Y., Y. Bengio, and G. Hinton, ‘Deep Learning’, Nature, 521/7553 (2015), 436–44, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539.

Book, first footnoteJane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (Oxford, 2008).

OSCOLA 5th edition

First footnoteYann LeCun, Yoshua Bengio and Geoffrey Hinton, ‘Deep Learning’ (2015) 521 Nature 436 <https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539>.

Later footnoteLeCun, Bengio and Hinton (n 4) 437.

BibliographyLeCun Y, Bengio Y and Hinton G, ‘Deep Learning’ (2015) 521 Nature 436 <https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14539>

Book, first footnoteJane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (Oxford University Press 2008).

Where the four styles differ

NamesEvery style gives the author as First Last in a footnote and Last, First in the bibliography. OSCOLA and the Oxford Guide shorten given names to initials in the bibliography, and OSCOLA drops the comma after the surname.

Quotation marksChicago and Turabian put article titles in double quotation marks with the comma inside. Oxford and OSCOLA use single marks with the comma outside.

Publication detailsChicago 18 no longer asks for the place of publication of a book. Turabian 9, which follows Chicago 17, still does, and so does the Oxford Guide, which gives the place without the publisher. OSCOLA gives the publisher and the year with no comma between them.

Et al.Chicago 18 notes switch to the first author plus et al. at three authors. Turabian and Oxford wait until four, and OSCOLA writes and others instead of et al.

Later referencesChicago and Turabian repeat a short form: author plus a short title of up to four words. OSCOLA points back to the footnote that gave the full reference, with (n 4).

Final full stopFootnotes end with a full stop in all four styles. An OSCOLA bibliography entry does not.

The author limits for et al. in each style are set out in full in our guide to et al. rules in every citation style, and the changes the 18th edition made to Chicago are in Chicago 18th edition changes.

Which style to pick

Chicago is the usual choice in history, art history and much of the humanities, and the Chicago generator covers its bibliography rules in more depth. Turabian is Chicago in student form; when a course hands you Turabian's Manual for Writers, use the Turabian generator. Oxford footnotes are common in UK humanities departments and their house guides vary, so check yours against the Oxford referencing page. OSCOLA is the standard for law in the UK; cases and statutes have their own forms, and the tool reads legislation.gov.uk links directly, as the OSCOLA generator explains.

Questions

What is the difference between a footnote and a bibliography entry?

A footnote cites a source at the point you use it, with the author's name in normal order and the page you used. The bibliography lists every source once at the end, alphabetically by surname, with the full page range of an article. Chicago, Turabian, Oxford and OSCOLA expect both.

Should I use ibid.?

Chicago has preferred a shortened note to ibid. since the 17th edition, and the 18th edition moves further away from it, so the shortened note is the safer choice in Chicago and Turabian. OSCOLA has its own cross reference for later citations, (n 4), which points to the footnote with the full reference. If your guide is silent, the shortened note is never wrong.

Where does the footnote number go?

After the punctuation, at the end of the clause or sentence that uses the source, as a superscript: after a full stop, comma or closing quotation mark, but before a dash. In Word use References, Insert Footnote, or Ctrl+Alt+F. In Google Docs use Insert, Footnote, or Ctrl+Alt+F. On a Mac, use Cmd+Option+F in both.

Is the footnote generator free?

The citation generator makes the bibliography entry. The footnote set for a source, with the first note, the shortened note and the bibliography entry side by side, comes with FreeCitation PRO, together with the in-text forms for APA, MLA and Harvard and Word export with hanging indents.

Which edition of Turabian does it follow?

The 9th edition of Kate Turabian's Manual for Writers, which follows the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. The Chicago option follows the 18th edition from 2024. If your course says Chicago but uses Turabian's student handbook, pick Turabian.

Footnotes for Chicago, Turabian, Oxford and OSCOLA