How to Cite a Website in Chicago Style

Chicago style (18th edition) cites a webpage with the author, the page title in quotation marks, the website name, a publication or revision date, and the URL. This generator produces the bibliography entry together with the author–date in-text form.

The Chicago website format

The template for a bibliography entry is:

Author Last Name, First Name. “Title of the Webpage.” Name of the Website. Month Day, Year. https://www.example.com/page-address.

Author: the first author is inverted (surname first); any further authors appear in normal order. If no person is named, the organisation that runs the site can be the author — or the entry can start with the page title.
Page title: headline-style capitalisation, in quotation marks.
Website name: headline-style capitalisation, in roman type (not italic). If the site’s publisher or sponsor differs from the site name and matters for finding the page, it can be named before the date.
Date: the publication or last-revised date, month day, year. Only when a page gives no date at all do you add an access date instead: Accessed Month Day, Year.
URL: full address, ending the entry; a DOI is used instead whenever the content has one.

Worked examples

Webpage with an author and date (bibliography)
Garcia, Maria L. “Five Ways to Revise More Effectively.” Study Skills Hub. June 8, 2023. https://www.studyskillshub.org/revision-tips.

Organisation as author
City Public Library. “Local History Collections.” City Public Library. Accessed March 3, 2026. https://www.citypubliclibrary.org/local-history.

Magazine-style site article
Thompson, Rachel. “How Universities Verify Sources.” The Campus Review. September 2, 2025. https://www.thecampusreview.example.ac.uk/verify-sources.

Author–date in-text citations

The matching in-text form is the author and year in parentheses, with a page or paragraph reference for a quote where the page provides one: (Garcia 2023). An undated page uses the access year or “n.d.” as your institution directs: (City Public Library 2026).

Common mistakes

Adding an access date to a page that already carries a publication date — Chicago asks for it only when no date exists.
Putting the website name in quotation marks — the page title takes the quotes; the site name follows in plain roman type.
Using sentence case for the page title — Chicago uses headline-style capitalisation.
Dropping the organisation author and starting with the title when the organisation is clearly responsible for the page.

Generate it instead

Fill in the details once and copy the finished reference — formatted, with italics and hanging indent preserved.

Or open the full Chicago website citation generator.

Check your reference against your institution’s guidelines — lecturers sometimes vary the style.

Cite this page

Referencing this guide in your own work? Add it to your list exactly as a website source, formatted for you.