Websites & Webpages: How to Cite in Chicago Style (Notes & Bibliography)

Websites and webpages are ubiquitous sources of information in contemporary research, ranging from academic project sites and organizational pages to news articles and blogs. Due to their dynamic nature—content can be changed, updated, or removed—citing them accurately in the Chicago/Turabian Notes and Bibliography (NB) systemrequires careful attention to authorship, titles, publication or revision dates, and, crucially, access dates and URLs.

This section provides detailed guidelines on how to format citations for various types of web content, including examples for full notes, shortened notes, and bibliography entries. Chicago style offers some flexibility, particularly regarding whether to include websites in a bibliography, but consistent and thorough documentation is key.

Core Elements for Citing Websites & Webpages

  • Author(s): The individual author(s) or the organization/corporation responsible for the content. If no personal author is identified, the owner or sponsor of the website may be considered the author. If no author can be determined, the citation begins with the title of the webpage.
  • "Title of the Webpage or Document": The specific title of the page, article, or document you are citing. Enclose it in quotation marks and use headline-style capitalization. If the webpage has no formal title, provide a descriptive phrase (not in quotation marks).
  • Title of the Overall Website: The name of the larger website, italicized, using headline-style capitalization. This serves as the main container.
  • Publisher or Sponsor of the Website: Include the publisher or sponsoring organization if it is different from the author or the website title and is significant for identification or credibility. This element may be omitted if the website title essentially identifies the publisher (e.g., The New York Times for an article on nytimes.com).
  • Publication Date or Last Modified/Updated Date: Provide the date the specific content was published or last updated. If no publication or modification date is available, the access date becomes the primary date indicator.
  • URL (Uniform Resource Locator): The full web address for the specific page being cited. Ensure it's as stable and direct as possible.
  • Access Date: Chicago style highly recommends including an access date for all websites because web content can change or disappear. The access date indicates when you viewed the content. Format: "accessed Day Month Year" in notes; "Accessed Day Month Year." at the end of bibliography entries.

A. Webpage with an Individual Author

Full Note (N):

Priya Sharma, "Traditional Indian Textile Weaving Techniques," Crafts of India Archive, last modified July 15, 2024, accessed May 28, 2025, http://www.craftsofindiaarchive.org/textiles/weaving-techniques.html.

Shortened Note (SN): 2. Sharma, "Traditional Indian Textile."

Bibliography Entry (B):

Sharma, Priya. "Traditional Indian Textile Weaving Techniques." Crafts of India Archive. Last modified July 15, 2024. Accessed May 28, 2025. http://www.craftsofindiaarchive.org/textiles/weaving-techniques.html.

Note on Including Websites in a Bibliography

The Chicago Manual of Style suggests that if you cite a large number of websites, or if the websites are informal or only tangentially relevant (like brief mentions or sources for common knowledge), you might cite them only in the notes and omit them from the bibliography to avoid clutter.
However, for websites that are crucial to your argument, formal publications (like online journals or reports), or when fewer web sources are cited, they should be included in the bibliography.
For student papers, it's generally a good practice to include all cited websites in the bibliography unless your instructor specifies otherwise.

Additional Considerations

  • Undated Webpages: If a webpage has no publication or last modified date, the access date is essential and serves as the primary date indicator.
  • Frequently Updated Content: For content that changes often (like home pages or dynamic data), the access date is particularly critical to show the state of the content when you viewed it.
  • PDFs and Other Online Documents: If a document on a website is a PDF, Word document, etc., cite it as you would any other webpage, noting the format if relevant (e.g., "(PDF document)" after the title or in the note).

Further Resources