How to Cite a Biography

Modern Language Association

• 1

  Give the author's last name, either in your sentence or in parentheses following the sentence to begin your in-text citation. For example:

  Hamilton sympathized with Major Andre (Chernow).

  or

  According to Ron Chernow, Hamilton sympathized with Major Andre.

• 2

  Write the page number you are taking your information from to complete your in-text citation.

  Hamilton sympathized with Major Andre (Chernow 142).

  or

  According to Ron Chernow, Hamilton sympathized with Major Andre (142).

• 3

  Give the biographer's last and first name separated by a comma, the biography's title, the city of publication and the publisher's name separated by a colon and the year of publication preceded by a comma.

  Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin, 2005.

• 4

  Put "Print" at the end of your citation to specify that you are accessing a print source.

  Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin, 2005. Print.

Chicago Manual of Style

• 5

  Number your footnote.

  1.

• 6

  Give the first name and last name of the biographer, the title of the biography in italics, the place of publication and publisher separated by a colon and the year of publication (all contained in parentheses) and the page number you are taking your information from to complete your footnote.

  1. Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton. (New York: Penguin, 2005), 143.

• 7

  Write "ibid" and the page number to cite the same biography again consecutively.

  1. Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton. (New York: Penguin, 2005), 143.

  2. Ibid, 156.

• 8

  Put the biographer's last name and first name separated by a comma, the biography's title in italics, the place of publication separated by a colon from the publisher and the year of publication to complete your bibliography entry.

  Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin, 2005.