▷ APA vs Chicago: Key Differences Explained with Examples (2026)

Your professor said «use Chicago» and you’ve been formatting APA papers all semester. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, mixing these two styles is one of the fastest ways to lose points on a paper — and the differences run deeper than most students realize. This guide breaks down APA vs Chicago in plain English, with side-by-side examples so you know exactly what to do.

APA vs Chicago: The Core Difference in One Sentence

APA uses author-date parenthetical citations and is built for social sciences. Chicago uses footnotes (or author-date, depending on the system) and is built for history, literature, and the humanities. Everything else flows from that fundamental split.

Quick Comparison Table

Feature	APA 7th Edition	Chicago 17th Edition (NB)
In-text citation	(Smith, 2024, p. 45)	Footnote superscript¹
Bibliography name	References	Bibliography
Title page	Required (student format)	Required
Abstract	Usually required	Rarely required
Running head	Not for student papers	Not required
Page numbers	Top right corner	Top right corner
Font	Times New Roman 12pt	Times New Roman 12pt
Margins	1 inch all sides	1 inch all sides
Primary disciplines	Psychology, education, social sciences	History, philosophy, arts, humanities
Two systems?	No (one system only)	Yes: Notes-Bibliography OR Author-Date

Which Disciplines Use APA vs Chicago?

Use APA when your course is in psychology, education, nursing, social work, sociology, criminal justice, communications, or business. The American Psychological Association publishes the style guide, and it dominates the social sciences globally.

Use Chicago when your course is in history, philosophy, political theory, literature, art history, music, theology, or interdisciplinary humanities. Chicago’s Notes-Bibliography system is particularly dominant in history departments at US universities.

Chicago also has an Author-Date system — used in some social science and natural science disciplines — which looks more like APA. If your professor says «Chicago Author-Date,» see the author-date section below.

APA vs Chicago: In-Text Citations Side by Side

APA In-Text Citations

APA puts the author’s last name and year in parentheses. For direct quotes, add the page number.

Paraphrase: (Smith, 2024)
Direct quote: (Smith, 2024, p. 45)
Author in sentence: Smith (2024) found that…
Two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2024)
Three or more: (Brown et al., 2023)

Chicago Notes-Bibliography (NB) In-Text Citations

Chicago NB uses superscript numbers in the text. A matching footnote at the bottom of the page gives the citation details. The first time you cite a source, write the full citation. Every time after that, use a short form.

In-text: Historians have long debated this point.¹

Footnote — first citation:
1. Jane Smith, Advanced Research Methodology (New York: Routledge, 2023), 45.

Footnote — subsequent citation (short form):
3. Smith, Advanced Research, 78.

Chicago Author-Date In-Text Citations

Chicago Author-Date looks almost identical to APA, with one key difference: no comma between author and year.

Chicago AD: (Smith 2024, 45)
APA: (Smith, 2024, p. 45)

The comma placement is a quick tell. Chicago AD uses a comma only before the page number; APA uses a comma after both the author and the year.

APA vs Chicago: Reference List / Bibliography

Journal Article

APA:
Brown, T. (2023). Cognitive flexibility and academic resilience. Journal of Educational Psychology, 115(4), 812–829. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000000

Chicago NB — Bibliography:
Brown, Tom. «Cognitive Flexibility and Academic Resilience.» Journal of Educational Psychology 115, no. 4 (2023): 812–829. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000000.

Key differences: APA uses initials (Brown, T.) and puts the year immediately after the author. Chicago uses the full first name and puts the year near the end. APA uses sentence case for article titles; Chicago uses title case. APA formats volume and issue as 115(4); Chicago writes «115, no. 4».

Book

APA:
Smith, K. (2024). Introduction to research design (3rd ed.). American Psychological Association.

Chicago NB — Bibliography:
Smith, Karen. Introduction to Research Design. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 2024.

Key differences: APA omits the publisher’s city; Chicago requires it. APA uses sentence case for book titles; Chicago uses title case. APA puts the edition in parentheses; Chicago puts it without parentheses.

Website

APA:
Smith, J. (2024, October 15). Understanding cognitive biases. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/example

Chicago NB — Bibliography:
Smith, John. «Understanding Cognitive Biases.» Psychology Today. October 15, 2024. https://www.psychologytoday.com/example.

APA vs Chicago: Document Format

Title Page

APA student paper: Paper title (bold, centered), your name, department, institution, course name and number, instructor’s name, and due date. All centered and double-spaced. No running head for student papers.

Chicago student paper: Paper title centered roughly one-third down the page. In the lower third, centered: your name, course name and number, instructor’s name, institution, and date. The title page is not numbered.

Footnotes vs. No Footnotes

This is the most practical formatting difference. APA has no footnotes for citations — all citations are parenthetical. APA footnotes exist only for supplementary content notes.

Chicago NB requires footnotes for every citation. These appear at the bottom of the page, single-spaced at 10pt, with a separator line above them. If you’re switching from APA to Chicago, this is the change that requires the most adjustment in how you write — you can no longer just drop a citation at the end of a sentence and move on. Footnotes encourage you to cite more precisely and often.

Headings

APA has a formal five-level heading system with specific bold/italic/indent rules for each level. The introduction never has the heading «Introduction» — the paper title on the first body page serves that function.

Chicago does not prescribe a specific heading system for student papers. Most history and humanities professors expect minimal headings (or none at all) for shorter papers. For longer work, Chicago headings are typically centered and bold for major sections, left-aligned for subsections — but the exact style varies by institution.

The Insight Most Guides Miss: Chicago NB Encourages Richer Scholarship

Here’s something most APA-vs-Chicago comparisons don’t explain: the footnote system isn’t just a different way to cite — it’s a different way to think about scholarship.

In APA, a citation is a parenthetical interruption. In Chicago, a footnote is an opportunity. Historians routinely use footnotes to engage with historiographical debates, add caveats, cite primary sources, or point readers to related scholarship — all without breaking the flow of the main text. A well-footnoted Chicago paper is often a richer, more layered document than its APA equivalent.

If you’re writing in history or philosophy for the first time, don’t treat footnotes as a burden. Treat them as a second track of conversation with your reader.

Common APA vs Chicago Mistakes

Using parenthetical citations in a Chicago NB paper — Chicago NB requires footnotes, not parenthetical citations. Putting (Smith, 2024) in a Chicago paper is a style error.
Capitalizing article titles in APA — APA uses sentence case for article and book titles in the reference list. Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized. Chicago uses title case for everything in the bibliography.
Omitting the publisher’s city in Chicago — APA dropped the city requirement in the 7th edition. Chicago still requires it: New York: Routledge, not just Routledge.
Using «References» instead of «Bibliography» in Chicago — APA calls it References. Chicago’s NB system calls it Bibliography. Chicago’s Author-Date system calls it References.
Repeating the full footnote after the first citation — In Chicago, after the first full footnote, use the short form: Last Name, Short Title, page. Never repeat the full citation in subsequent footnotes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Chicago harder than APA?

For most students, yes — initially. The footnote system has two formats (first citation and short form) where APA has one. You also need to manage footnotes in Word, which adds a small technical layer. But once you understand the logic, Chicago is intuitive: you cite in footnotes, list everything alphabetically in the bibliography, done.

Can I use Chicago Author-Date instead of Chicago NB?

Only if your professor specifies it. Chicago Author-Date is used in some social science disciplines. If your professor says «Chicago style» without qualification in a history, philosophy, or humanities course, they almost certainly mean Notes-Bibliography. Confirm with your professor if unsure.

Do APA and Chicago have different word count expectations?

No — neither style manual specifies a word count for papers. That’s set by your professor or the journal you’re submitting to. However, Chicago papers in humanities often run longer than equivalent APA papers because the footnote apparatus adds pages and the writing tradition tends toward more sustained argumentation.

Get the Free Templates

Download pre-formatted Word templates for both styles so you never have to set up margins, footnotes, or heading styles from scratch:

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