How Do You Cite A Treaty In Chicago Style
🤣 Keep Calm and Cite That Treaty: A Total Boss Guide to Chicago Style Citation! 📜
Hey there, academic hustlers and research road warriors! Got a heavy-duty, world-changing international treaty chilling on your desk and that dreaded deadline looming? You're sweating the small stuff, aren't you? Specifically, how to make that epic piece of global paperwork look all spiffy and proper in your Chicago-style footnotes and bibliography. It’s a whole vibe, man. Legal documents can feel like a labyrinth designed by a bored historian, but chill out. We’re gonna break this down so it’s easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy. Think of me as your citation hype-person. We’re not just citing a treaty; we’re giving it a red-carpet, VIP entrance into your paper. Let’s get this bread!
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| How Do You Cite A Treaty In Chicago Style |
Step 1: 🧐 Get Your Ducks in a Row (The Treaty Intel)
Before you can even think about commas and periods, you gotta gather the need-to-know deets about your treaty. It's like collecting Pokémon, but instead of little monsters, you're gathering crucial data points. Missing one of these? Your citation is gonna be a total flop.
1.1 The Official Title (It's a Big Deal!)
Every treaty has a formal, official name. It's usually super descriptive, like the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Don't go shortening it for your citation—that's a rookie mistake.
1.2 The Signatory Parties (Who’s Who in the Zoo)
This means the countries, organizations, or international bodies that agreed to the treaty. This is key for context, showing the scale of the agreement.
1.3 The Date of Signing/Adoption (The Big Day)
You need the specific date the treaty was signed or adopted. Not just the year—we're talking Month, Day, Year. Get granular, people! This is often way different from the date it went into effect.
1.4 The Publication Source (Where It Lives Now)
Treaties are usually published in official collections, which are critical for citation. The most common ones you'll run into are:
QuickTip: Reread tricky spots right away.
United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (U.S.T.)
United Nations Treaty Series (U.N.T.S.)
International Legal Materials (I.L.M.)
You’ll need the Volume Number, the Source Abbreviation (like U.N.T.S.), and the Page Number where the treaty begins. This is the treaty's official address.
Step 2: 📝 Footnotes (Notes) – The Instant Gratification Citation
In Chicago's Notes and Bibliography style, the footnote is where you first drop the full citation bomb. It's your first impression, so make it count. This is how you tell your professor, “Hey, I found this awesome treaty, and here’s exactly where it’s from!”
2.1 The Full Note Format (The Whole Enchilada)
The full footnote is a comma party, not a period party. Everything flows together, separated by commas, and is enclosed in parentheses for the publication source.
Template for the Full Note ():
. Title of Treaty, Parties Involved, Date of Signing/Adoption, Volume Number Source Abbreviation Page Number.
Example:
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, July 1, 1968, 729 U.N.T.S. 161.
Pro-Tip: Notice that the treaty title is in Roman type (not italics!) and capitalized headline-style. This isn't a book; it's a legal rockstar.
2.2 Shortened Note Format (The Quick Hello)
After the first full note, you can use a shortened version. No need to keep repeating the whole darn thing. This is for when you cite it multiple times in your paper—you're basically on a first-name basis now.
Template for the Short Note ():
. Shortened Title of Treaty, Volume Number Source Abbreviation Page Number.
Example:
QuickTip: Pause to connect ideas in your mind.
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation, 729 U.N.T.S. 165.
Hot fire: If you're referring to a specific article or section, you add it to the end of your short or full note with "art." or "sec." For example: 729 U.N.T.S. 165, art. IV.
Step 3: 📚 The Bibliography Entry – Alphabetical Glory
The bibliography is the grand finale, the alphabetical listing of all your sources. It’s a different beast than the footnote, using periods instead of commas, and generally no parentheses for the publication info.
3.1 The Bibliography Format (The Period Power-Up)
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The goal here is a clean, scannable list. We start with the treaty title, since there isn't a single "author" like a person.
Template for the Bibliography (B):
B. Title of Treaty. Parties Involved. Date of Signing/Adoption. Volume Number Source Abbreviation Page Number.
Example:
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. July 1, 1968. 729 U.N.T.S. 161.
Don't sleep on this: The bibliography entry uses periods to separate the major elements, and you'll typically use a hanging indent format—that means the second and subsequent lines of the entry are indented. It looks slick!
3.2 What If It's a U.S. Treaty? (The Home Game)
If you're citing a U.S. treaty, the format is mostly the same, but the source abbreviation changes:
Example (Bibliography):
Treaty of Peace between the United States and Spain. December 10, 1898. 30 Stat. 1754.
Reminder: Take a short break if the post feels long.
Side Quest: The "Stat." in that example stands for United States Statutes at Large. It's another official publication spot, sometimes used before the U.S.T. series. It’s all about the official source!
Step 4: 💻 Citing an Online Treaty (The Digital Domain)
Sometimes you find your treaty online, which is totally legit, but you gotta cite it correctly. You still follow the same core structure but tack on the URL at the end.
4.1 Online Treaty Citation (Notes)
You just add the URL to the end of your full note, separated by a comma.
Example (Full Note):
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, July 1, 1968, 729 U.N.T.S. 161,
. https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%20729/volume-729-i-10485-english.pdf
4.2 Online Treaty Citation (Bibliography)
For the bibliography, you add the URL at the end, followed by a period. No comma before the URL here!
Example (Bibliography):
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. July 1, 1968. 729 U.N.T.S. 161.
. https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%20729/volume-729-i-10485-english.pdf
🥳 You Nailed It!
There you have it! You’re no longer a citation zero; you’re a citation hero! Go forth and let your well-cited work shine! Now, go grab some coffee—you've earned it!
QuickTip: Stop scrolling, read carefully here.
FAQ Questions and Answers
How to cite a treaty that has no official publication number in Chicago style?
If the treaty is super new or not yet in an official series (like U.N.T.S.), you should cite the official government or international organization website where you found the text. Use the website name and the URL as your publication information. For example, cite the UN’s website or a specific country’s foreign ministry page.
How to use ibid. when citing a treaty repeatedly in a footnote sequence?
Ibid. is kind of old school now in Chicago style (17th edition), and it's recommended to use the shortened note format instead. However, if your professor is strict about it, ibid. replaces the information that's identical to the previous note. If only the page/article number changes, you'd use Ibid., art. V.
How to cite an article within a treaty in Chicago style?
When citing a specific part, you include the abbreviation for the section type, like art. (for article), sec. (for section), or para. (for paragraph) immediately before or after the page number in both your full and short notes. For example: 1. Treaty of Versailles, June 28, 1919, 225 Consol. T.S. 188, art. 231.
How to handle multiple dates (signing, entry into force) for a treaty?
In Chicago style, you should prioritize the date of signing or adoption for your main citation. If the date the treaty entered into force is highly relevant to your discussion, you can mention it in the text of your paper but use the signing date in the official citation itself.
How to cite a US treaty that is only published in Statutes at Large?
Use the abbreviation Stat. for Statutes at Large in place of U.S.T. or another series abbreviation. The format remains: Title of Treaty, Date, Volume Number Stat. Page Number. For example: 30 Stat. 1754. This is a perfectly legitimate publication source for US treaties.
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