How to Typically Format and Write a Chicago Style Paper

Format The Document 

• 1

  Center the title of your essay a quarter page down from the top. 

• 2

  Type your name centered in the middle of the title page.

• 3

  Insert your subject, instructor and date on consecutive double-spaced lines centered at the page bottom. 

• 4

  Click "Page Layout" and "Breaks" and insert a page break at the bottom of the page. Select "Different First Page" in the page layout preferences. 

• 5

  Click "Insert Tab" then "Header" and select "Blank" as your header design. Type your last name flush right. 

• 6

  Select the "Insert" tab and choose "Page Numbers." Click "Top of Page" and insert the page number flush right of your last name. 

• 7

  Add footnotes when writing your paper by selecting the "References" tab and clicking the "Insert Footnote" button next to the text to cite. 

Write The Essay

• 8

  Begin typing your paper on page two, including your thesis and thesis statement in the first paragraph. 

• 9

  Cite direct quotes, paraphrases and indirect references by inserting footnotes using Arabic numeral superscripts.

• 10

  Cite the source in the footnotes according to author's first and last name, title of publication in italics, publisher information in parentheses and the page number. For example,

  Diana Hacker, Rules For Writers, 5th Edition (Boston: Bedford Books, 2004), 400.