How to Cite a Multi-Volume Set Using the Chicago Manual of Style

“The Chicago Manual of Style” originated with the composing staff at the University of Chicago Press in 1891. They wanted to consistently define a formatting style for documents printed by the company. College professors and students use the manual today to determine a uniform style for research papers and manuscripts. The manual provides formatting instructions for citing resources such as a multi-volume set referenced in a research paper.
  1. Humanities Bibliographic and Reference List Format

    • When citing a resources located in a multi-volume book set, list the author with the last name first, a comma, the first name, a period, the italicized title of the multi-volume set followed by a period, the volume number and the italicized title of the volume followed by a period. Bookend the publisher city followed by a colon, the publishing company followed by a comma and the publication year in parenthesis and follow the ending parenthesis with a period. Add the page numbers and end the citation with a period. The citation should appear as “Smith, John. Annuls of American Fiction. Volume 3, Authors from 1900 – 1940. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985). 167.”

    Humanities Notes Format

    • When citing a multi-volume set in footnotes or endnotes, begin the note with a numeral, a period and a single space prior to the citation. Transpose the author’s name so the first name appears first, such as “John Smith,” and follow it with a comma. Italicize book title followed by a comma, the volume number with a comma, followed by the italicized volume title and end with a period. Place the publisher location, publishing company and the publication year in parenthesis and follow with a comma and the appropriate page number. Your citations should appear as “John Smith, Annuls of American Fiction, Volume 3, Authors from 1900 – 1940 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), 167.” Replace all but the ending period with commas for this format. Superscript the number for the note in the text.

    Author-Date System Citations

    • Scientific and social science papers prefer the author-date system. The date of the work follows the last and first name of the author in the author-date system, such as “Roberts, John, 2007.” Follow the author and date with the italicized series title, the volume number and the italicized volume title. The publisher city and company name end the citation in the bibliography. Use only the last name of the author, the publishing date and the page numbers in a parenthetical text citation such as "(Roberts, 2007, 52)."

    More About Authors and Editors

    • When citing a multi-volume set with no known author, begin with citation with the title. If there are two or more authors, list the authors’ full names such as “Green, Carol and Carver, Mary” or “Johnson, Peter, Jones, Mabel and Thomas, April.” When your citation includes four or more authors, list the name of the first author and designate the remaining authors as “et al.” If the book set has an editor, follow the volume title with “edited by” and name of the editor and the page numbers.

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