Music Citation Guide: Chicago Style (18th ed.)

This guide is designed to give you examples and tips for citing musical items and common items about music in Chicago style's newest 18th edition! The guide to the 17th edition is still available.

Each source example will include three formats:

1. Bibliography/Works Cited Entry
2. Footnote/Endnote
3. In-text Citation

Each format will have two models: one that labels the information needed for the citation and another that is a real example.

The 18th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style debuted in 2024. There are a few important updates to this recent edition:

• New guidance for multiple authors (CMOS 13.23; 13.107):
  • Up to six authors are now listed in a bibliography or reference list entry; if more than six, only the first three are listed, followed by “et al.” In a note or in an author-date text citation, up to two authors are now listed; if more than two, only the first is listed, followed by “et al.”
• Encouraging shortened citations rather than ibid. for repeated sources in notes (CMOS 13.37)
• Removing place of publication in book citations (CMOS 14.30)
• Removing month/season from journal article citations (CMOS 13.26)
• Discouraging 3 em-dashes in place of a repeated author name in the bibliography (CMOS 13.72; 13.113)
• Page range of an individually cited chapter within a book of essays no longer required (CMOS 14.8)
• Added guidance to citing AI-generated content (CMOS 14.112)

For a more comprehensive list of changes and clarifications within the 18th edition, see the CMOS "What's New in the 18th Edition" website.

We are happy to help you with your citation and paraphrasing questions at the Research Help Desk or during individual consultations.

• Our full citation guide provides online resources and citation examples.
• We have copies of the major citation styles manuals at the Research Help Desks in the Libraries.
• We support two citation management software, RefWorks and Zotero, which can help you to organize your references and create your citations.

The Oberlin College Writing and Speaking Center can also assist with writing your research paper and citations. They provide assistance with writing mechanics, including citation, developing a research question or thesis, developing an argument to support your thesis, reviewing your paper for sentence-level corrections, and editing for flow and clarity.

Ways to Get Help