Most historians and many scholars in the humanities use the style of footnotes or endnotes recommended by The Chicago Manual of Style. Historians base their work on a wide variety of primary and secondary sources, all of which must be cited. The Chicago note system has the virtue of being relatively unobtrusive; even when a paper or an article is thick with citations, readers will not be overwhelmed. In the text of the paper, only a raised number appears. Readers who are interested can consult the accompanying numbered note, which is given either at the foot of the page or at the end of the paper.
TEXT
Historian Albert Castel quotes several eyewitnesses on both the Union and the Confederate sides as saying that Forrest ordered his men to stop firing.7
NOTE
7. Albert Castel, “The Fort Pillow Massacre: A Fresh Examination of the Evidence,” Civil War History 4, no. 1 (1958): 44-45.
The Chicago system gives as much information as the MLA or APA system, but less of that information appears in the text of the paper.
Related topic:
Chicago footnote/endnote style