Chicago Style in Google Docs: Complete 2026 Guide
Set up footnotes, endnotes, a bibliography, and clean page formatting in Google Docs — without fighting the editor or losing points to a misplaced superscript.
Chicago style is the formatting system most commonly required in history, literature, and the humanities — and it confuses more students than MLA and APA combined. The main reason is that Chicago has two distinct systems: Notes-Bibliography (used in history and the arts) and Author-Date (used in the social sciences). Pick the wrong one for your assignment and the entire citation structure is wrong, even if every detail is accurate.
This guide covers both systems but focuses heavily on Notes-Bibliography, which is what most students mean when an instructor says “use Chicago style.” Every step is written for Google Docs specifically, because Chicago's footnote requirements interact with Google Docs settings in ways that aren't immediately obvious.
1. Document Setup: Font, Margins, and Spacing
Start with a blank Google Doc. Templates frequently use outdated Chicago editions or apply formatting that's hard to undo later. A blank doc gives you a clean baseline to build from.
Font and size
Press Ctrl+A (Windows) or Cmd+A (Mac) to select everything, then set your font to Times New Roman, 12 pt. Chicago's 17th edition recommends a legible serif font at a consistent size — Times New Roman 12 pt satisfies that requirement and is what virtually every instructor expects. If your instructor specifies something different, follow their guidance.
Margins
Go to File > Page setup and set all four margins to 1 inch. Chicago requires 1-inch margins on all sides. Some Google Docs templates default to 1.25 inches — check before you start writing, not after.
Line spacing
- Go to Format > Line & paragraph spacing > Double.
- From the same menu, click Remove space before paragraph and Remove space after paragraph.
Chicago requires double-spaced body text. The footnotes themselves are single-spaced (Google Docs handles this automatically). The extra-space-after-paragraph setting that Google Docs enables by default makes the paper look wrong and needs to go before you write a single line.
Setup checklist
- Times New Roman, 12 pt, applied to the whole document
- 1-inch margins on all four sides
- Double-spaced body text
- No extra space before or after paragraphs
2. Notes-Bibliography vs. Author-Date: Which One Do You Need?
Before you touch a single citation, confirm which Chicago system your instructor requires. Using the wrong one means redoing every citation from scratch.
| System | Common disciplines | In-text citation | End-of-paper list |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notes-Bibliography | History, literature, arts, philosophy | Superscript number pointing to a footnote or endnote | Bibliography |
| Author-Date | Social sciences, natural sciences | (Last name, year, page) | References |
If your instructor said “Chicago footnotes,” you're in the Notes-Bibliography system. If they said “Chicago author-date,” you follow the parenthetical pattern similar to APA. When in doubt, ask — the two systems are not interchangeable.
3. Adding Footnotes in Google Docs
Footnotes are the defining feature of Notes-Bibliography. Google Docs handles them well, but there are a few settings to check before you start inserting them.
Insert a footnote
- Place your cursor immediately after the punctuation at the end of the sentence you're citing — after the period, not before it.
- Go to Insert > Footnote (or press Ctrl+Alt+F on Windows / Cmd+Option+F on Mac).
- A superscript number appears in the body and a matching number appears at the bottom of the page.
- Type your citation in the footnote area at the bottom.
Google Docs automatically numbers footnotes sequentially and re-numbers them when you add or remove a note. Never type a footnote number manually.
Footnote formatting
Chicago footnotes are single-spaced with the first line indented 0.5". Google Docs usually applies single-spacing to footnotes automatically. To add the indent, click into a footnote, press Tab once at the beginning of the note text — this gives you the standard 0.5" indent.
Check the footnote font. If it defaulted to something other than Times New Roman 12 pt, select all footnote text, and re-apply your font and size. Inconsistent fonts in footnotes are one of the most common Chicago formatting errors.
What goes in the footnote
Chicago footnote citations follow a specific format. Here are the patterns you'll use most:
Book (first citation):
1. David McCullough, The Wright Brothers (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015), 47.
Book (subsequent citation, same source):
2. McCullough, Wright Brothers, 112.
Journal article:
3. Sarah Johnson, “Memory and Narrative in Postwar Fiction,” American Literary History 34, no. 2 (2022): 198.
Website:
4. National Archives, “Declaration of Independence: A Transcription,” accessed June 20, 2026, https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript.
Notice the difference between first and subsequent citations for the same book. The first time you cite a source, give the full citation. Every time after that, use the short form: author's last name, shortened title (if the book has a subtitle), and page number. The old “Ibid.” practice is still acceptable but many instructors now prefer the short-form system — check your assignment guidelines.
Footnote checklist
- Superscript number placed after punctuation, not before
- First-line indent of 0.5" on every footnote
- Single-spaced footnote text, same font as the body
- Full citation on first use, short form on subsequent uses
- Numbers are auto-generated, not typed manually
4. Endnotes as an Alternative
Some instructors allow or require endnotes instead of footnotes. Endnotes contain the same citation information but appear on a dedicated “Notes” page at the end of the paper rather than at the bottom of each page.
Google Docs does not have a built-in endnote feature. The workaround is straightforward: use footnotes while writing, then convert them to endnotes manually before submitting. To do this, go to each footnote at the bottom of a page, copy the text, delete the footnote, and paste the text into a numbered list on your Notes page at the end of the document.
If your instructor is flexible, footnotes are easier to manage in Google Docs. If endnotes are required, do the conversion as the very last step — after all content is finalized — so you don't have to re-number entries when you edit.
5. The Bibliography Page
Notes-Bibliography papers end with a Bibliography that lists every source cited in the footnotes. The Bibliography is similar to an MLA Works Cited page but uses different formatting and a different entry order within each citation.
Start on a new page
Use Ctrl+Enter / Cmd+Enter to insert a page break after your last paragraph. Center the word Bibliography at the top of the new page in plain Times New Roman 12 pt — no bold, no underline. Then return to left alignment before adding entries.
Bibliography vs. footnote format
The same source looks different in a footnote and in the Bibliography. The key differences:
| Element | Footnote | Bibliography |
|---|---|---|
| Author name | First name first: David McCullough | Last name first: McCullough, David |
| Separators | Commas between most elements | Periods between major elements |
| Page numbers | Specific page cited (e.g., 47) | Full page range for articles (e.g., 190–215) |
| Indent | First line indented 0.5" | Hanging indent — first line flush left, subsequent lines indented 0.5" |
Sample Bibliography entries
Book:
McCullough, David. The Wright Brothers. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015.
Journal article:
Johnson, Sarah. “Memory and Narrative in Postwar Fiction.” American Literary History 34, no. 2 (2022): 190–215.
Website:
National Archives. “Declaration of Independence: A Transcription.” Accessed June 20, 2026. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript.
Apply hanging indents
- Type or paste all bibliography entries, one per paragraph, double-spaced.
- Highlight all entries.
- Go to Format > Align & indent > Indentation options.
- Under Special indent, choose Hanging and set it to 0.5 in.
- Click Apply.
Alphabetize entries by the author's last name. If an entry has no author, alphabetize by the first significant word of the title (ignoring “The,” “A,” and “An”).
Bibliography checklist
- Starts on a new page with a real page break — not blank lines
- “Bibliography” centered, plain text, at the top
- Double-spaced with no extra space between entries
- Hanging indent of 0.5" on every entry
- Last name first for each author
- Periods between major elements, not commas
- Entries alphabetized by last name
- Every entry matches at least one footnote in the paper
6. Common Chicago Style Mistakes in Google Docs
| Mistake | What it looks like | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Footnote number before punctuation | The argument is clear1. → should be clear.1 | Place the cursor after the period, then insert the footnote |
| Wrong author order in Bibliography | David McCullough (footnote format) used in Bibliography | Bibliography entries always start with last name: McCullough, David |
| Missing hanging indent on Bibliography | Every line of each entry starts flush left | Apply via Format > Align & indent > Indentation options > Hanging 0.5" |
| Footnote not indented | Footnote text starts at the left margin with no indent | Click into the footnote and press Tab at the start |
| Using “Ibid.” incorrectly | “Ibid.” used after citing a different source in between | “Ibid.” is only valid when the immediately preceding footnote cites the same source |
| Extra paragraph spacing in the body | Visible gaps between paragraphs that look like section breaks | Format > Line spacing > Remove space after paragraph |
7. Page Numbers and the Header
Chicago style requires page numbers but is more flexible about their position than MLA or APA. The most common placement is the top right corner of every page, starting from the first page of the body (not the title page, if you have one).
- Go to Insert > Headers & footers > Header.
- Right-align the cursor (Ctrl+Shift+R / Cmd+Shift+R).
- Go to Insert > Page numbers and choose the top-right position.
If your paper has a title page, open the header, check Different first page, and delete the page number from the title page header only. Your body text should begin on page 1, or page 2 if counting from the title page — confirm with your instructor.
Chicago does not require a running header with your name or title. Just the page number is enough unless your instructor specifies otherwise.
8. Final Submission Checklist
Before you export or upload, run through this list in Print layout view (View > Print layout):
- Times New Roman, 12 pt throughout body and footnotes
- 1-inch margins on all four sides
- Double-spaced body, no extra space between paragraphs
- Page numbers in top-right header, auto-generated
- First-line indent on every body paragraph (Tab key)
- Footnote superscripts placed after punctuation
- Footnotes indented 0.5", single-spaced
- First citations use full format; subsequent citations use short form
- Bibliography starts on a new page with a real page break
- “Bibliography” centered and plain at the top
- Hanging indents applied to all bibliography entries
- Bibliography alphabetized by last name
- Every bibliography entry appears as a footnote at least once in the body
Submit as PDF unless your instructor requires .docx: File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf). Open the PDF and scroll through it. Footnotes at the bottom of each page, the bibliography's hanging indents, and page numbers should all look exactly as they did in the editor. If something shifted, fix it in the Doc and re-export.
One More Thing: The Writing Behind the Citations
Getting every footnote and bibliography entry right is necessary, but it doesn't protect you from AI detection flags in the body of the paper. Instructors in history and the humanities are particularly attuned to voice — and AI-generated prose in those disciplines tends to sound like a textbook summary rather than original analysis.
AuraWrite AI rewrites AI-assisted drafts so the prose sounds like your own argument, not a model's output — preserving the evidence and logic while bringing the detection score back into the human range. Run your draft through the humanizer before you add footnotes and bibliography, then apply the Chicago formatting to the cleaned-up text. The citation structure is the same; what changes is the analysis underneath.
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Conclusion
Chicago style in Google Docs is manageable once you know where the settings live. Lock in Times New Roman 12 pt, 1-inch margins, and double-spaced lines first. Confirm whether you need Notes-Bibliography or Author-Date. Then add footnotes using the Insert menu, format them with a Tab indent, and build your bibliography on a fresh page with real hanging indents and real page breaks.
The most common mistakes — footnote number before the period, wrong author order in the bibliography, missing hanging indents — are all easy to catch if you do a slow read-through in Print layout view before submitting.
Last updated: June 20, 2026