Create a spot-on reference in Chicago 17 and 16
How to give authors' names in a bibliography
According to Chicago Style – author-date, any bibliographic reference should begin with the name of the source’s author – the individual, entity, public authority, etc. who created it.
The names of the persons can be given either in full or with initials, depending on how they are indicated in the source itself. This being said, the first author's name should be given using the following template:
Last Name, First Name Middle Name
All subsequent authors' names are given with a different order of elements:
First Name Middle Name Last Name
Examples of references with one author:
Rowling, J. K. 2012. The Casual Vacancy. New York: Little, Brown.
UNICEF. 1990. We, the Children. New York: W. W. Norton.
If a source has multiple authors (from 2 to 10) – either individuals or organisations – their names are separated by commas, and the conjunction 'and' is put before the last author's name:
Jenkins, Catherine, Nadine M. Orenstein, and Freyda Spira. 2019. The Renaissance of Etching. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
For a source with more than 10 authors, only the first 7 authors' names are given in the reference, followed by 'et al.':
Mohri, Ikuko, Keiichi Kadoyama, Takahisa Kanekiyo, Yo Sato, Kuriko Kagitani-Shimono, Yuko Saito, Kinuko Suzuki, et al. 2007. "Hematopoietic Prostaglandin D Synthase and DP1 Receptor Are Selectively Upregulated in Microglia and Astrocytes Within Senile Plaques From Human Patients and in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer Disease." Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology 66 (6): 469–80. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.jnen.0000240472.43038.27.
If a source has no credited authors, the reference can begin with the names of editors, compilers, or translators. If this is the case, the particular person's role in the publication is also given: ed(s)., comp(s)., trans., etc.
Peate, Ian, and Elizabeth Gormley-Fleming, eds. 2015. Fundamentals of Children's Anatomy and Physiology: A Textbook for Nursing and Healthcare Students. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
If there are no contributors credited, the title of the source is put at the beginning of the reference – before the year.
The rules of indicating authors' names in bibliographic references under the 'author-date' system are the same as in the other Chicago Style system – notes and bibliography.
How to give authors' names in in-text citations
The in-text citation should be concise, and therefore all data of authors except last names is omitted. Also, less authors are to be credited in an in-text citation compared to a bibliographic reference. For more details, see the article on in-text citations in Chicago Style – author-date (17th ed.).