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How to Cite an Unpublished Manuscript in Chicago Style

Chicago treats a standalone unpublished paper, a numbered working paper, and a medieval codex as unpublished sources: titles go in quotation marks, and you must say what the item is and where a reader can find it. This guide follows the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition (2024), §§14.114–14.116 (unpublished manuscripts, papers presented at meetings, and working papers), plus §§14.75–14.76 for forthcoming articles and preprints. It is the how do I cite a draft, a working paper, or a shelfmark? page. For letters, diaries, and named archival collections, use How to cite archives in Chicago. For a filed dissertation, use How to cite a dissertation in Chicago. For a talk that was only delivered, use How to cite a conference paper in Chicago.

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Quick Answer: How to Cite an Unpublished Manuscript in Chicago

Put the title in quotation marks, not italics. Add the words unpublished manuscript and the date of the version you read. For a Word or Google Docs file, a last-saved or last-modified date is enough. End with the format. In a note those facts sit in parentheses; in the bibliography they do not. If nobody else can obtain the file, CMOS 18 usually keeps it in a note and leaves it out of the bibliography.

CMOS 18 templates

Notes-Bibliography first note:

First Name Last Name, "Title of Unpublished Manuscript" (unpublished manuscript, Month Day, Year), Microsoft Word file.

Notes-Bibliography shortened note:

Last Name, "Shortened Title."

Notes-Bibliography bibliography:

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Unpublished Manuscript." Unpublished manuscript, Month Day, Year. Microsoft Word file.

Author-Date in-text:

(Last Name Year)

Author-Date reference:

Last Name, First Name. Year. "Title of Unpublished Manuscript." Unpublished manuscript, Month Day, Year. Microsoft Word file.

The University of Queensland CMOS 18 notes-and-bibliography guide reprints the handbook's wording for §14.114:

Chicago Manual of Style 18, §14.114

Titles of unpublished manuscripts, like the titles of other unpublished works, appear in quotation marks. Include the words unpublished manuscript and the date of the version consulted, if known; for electronic files, a last-saved or last-modified date may be appropriate. End the citation with an indication of format.

CMOS 18 also tightened the bibliography rule for drafts nobody else can see. The Press's What's New in the 18th Edition note on §14.114 is:

Chicago Manual of Style 18, §14.114 (availability)

Unpublished manuscripts that are unavailable for others to consult may be mentioned in the text or in a note but are not usually included in a bibliography or reference list.

Which Chicago System to Use

History, literature, art history, and medieval studies expect Notes-Bibliography: a numbered footnote, a shortened note after the first full citation, and a bibliography. Economics, some sociology, and education journals expect Author-Date, especially for working papers. Turabian is the student handbook built on Chicago. Turabian 9th still describes itself against CMOS 17; Turabian 10 is announced, not the live student book. The unpublished-manuscript punctuation — quotation marks, unpublished manuscript, version date, format — is the same pattern CMOS 18 kept. Do not mix footnotes with parenthetical author-date citations in one paper.

Typical Chicago system when the source is unpublished
Kind of unpublished sourceUsual systemWhy
Medieval or early modern shelfmarkNotes-BibliographyThe note can carry city, repository, shelfmark, and folio without breaking the sentence.
Author draft in a literary archiveNotes-BibliographyReaders expect a collection-level bibliography entry, not a fake publication date.
Standalone draft or student paperNotes-Bibliography or Author-DateMatch the rest of the paper. If the file is not available to readers, keep it in a note.
Working paper or preprintAuthor-Date in economics; either system elsewhereThe year and series number or server ID are how readers retrieve the file.

Pick the Right Status Label

Students lose points when they treat unpublished, forthcoming, ahead of print, preprint, working paper, and conference paper as synonyms. CMOS 18 gives each label its own section. Use the one that matches the file you actually opened.

CMOS 18 status labels for work that is not yet a finished book or journal article
LabelWhat it meansCMOS 18 sectionUse this page?
Unpublished manuscriptNot accepted, not in a numbered series, not on a preprint server§14.114Yes
ForthcomingAccepted by a publisher; no official date yet§14.45 / §14.75Yes, for the label only
Ahead of printThe journal posted the version of record before volume, issue, or pages exist§14.75Yes, then switch to the journal guide once pagination exists
PreprintPosted to a server such as arXiv, bioRxiv, or PsyArXiv§14.76Yes
Working paperNumbered series from NBER, a bank, or a department§14.116Yes
Conference paper or posterDelivered at a meeting; not yet a proceedings chapter§14.115No — use conference papers in Chicago
Archival letter or folderItem inside a named collection with a finding aid§§14.119–14.129No — use archives in Chicago
Filed dissertation or thesisDegree document deposited with a university or ProQuest§14.113No — use dissertations in Chicago

Unpublished Manuscripts You Can Circulate

A paper that is not in a named archival collection, not yet accepted by a journal, and not posted to a working-paper series is an unpublished manuscript. University of Toronto's CMOS 18 music-citation guide reprints the handbook's electronic-file example:

CMOS 18 unpublished manuscript (Toronto reprint of §14.114)

Note:

Jan MacLean, "Circulation Policies and Procedures" (unpublished manuscript, last modified September 10, 2015), Microsoft Word file.

Bibliography:

MacLean, Jan. "Circulation Policies and Procedures." Unpublished manuscript, last modified September 10, 2015. Microsoft Word file.

Cite your own earlier unpublished essay the same way, in the third person, then refer to it in the first person in the prose. The CMOS Q&A on citing your own work (written for 17th-edition §14.216, now §14.114) gives this model:

CMOS Q&A, unpublished student paper

Smith, Jamelle. "Bartleby's Refusal as Gen X Flex." Unpublished manuscript, August 3, 2021.
In "Bartleby's Refusal as Gen X Flex," I suggest that . . . [not Smith suggests that]

If the draft lives only in your inbox or on a classmate's laptop, follow the §14.114 availability rule: mention it in a note, skip the bibliography, and do not invent a repository. A paper already accepted by a journal is forthcoming, not unpublished. A file you uploaded to a preprint server is a preprint. A numbered NBER or departmental paper is a working paper. A filed dissertation is not an unpublished manuscript.

Forthcoming, Ahead of Print, or Preprint

These three labels are not interchangeable. CMOS 18 §14.45 covers a book or article that has been accepted but has no publication date yet: write forthcoming in place of the year. §§14.75–14.76 split the online cases. Ahead of print means the journal has posted the version of record before volume, issue, or page numbers exist. A preprint is a version posted to a server such as arXiv, bioRxiv, or PsyArXiv before formal publication. A file that never left your hard drive remains an unpublished manuscript. Monash University's CMOS 18 Author-Date guide is explicit: articles not posted to a preprint server are best treated as unpublished manuscripts.

Status labels (use the one that matches the file you read)

Forthcoming note (template):

First Name Last Name, "Title of Article," Journal Title, forthcoming.

Forthcoming bibliography (template):

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Journal Title. Forthcoming.

Author-Date in-text for forthcoming:

(Last Name, forthcoming)

Monash's CMOS 18 Author-Date guide reprints this ahead-of-print pattern from §14.75. The DOI is real. When Monash captured the sample, The Biological Bulletin had posted the article without volume, issue, or pages. The same DOI now resolves to volume 244, no. 1 (February 2023): 63–69. If you read the paginated article, cite the journal article and drop ahead of print.

Official Monash CMOS 18 ahead-of-print sample (Mullan et al.)

Mullan, Ryan, Alex D. Davis, Tracey T. Sutton, and Sönke Johnsen. 2023. "An Investigation into the Mechanism Mediating Counterillumination in Myctophid Fishes (Myctophidae)." Biological Bulletin, ahead of print, April 5. https://doi.org/10.1086/724803.

Same DOI after pagination (cite this if you read vol. 244):

Mullan, Ryan, Alex D. Davis, Tracey T. Sutton, and Sönke Johnsen. 2023. "An Investigation into the Mechanism Mediating Counterillumination in Myctophid Fishes (Myctophidae)." Biological Bulletin 244, no. 1 (February): 63–69. https://doi.org/10.1086/724803.

A preprint keeps the server name, the posted date, and a DOI. Cite the version you read. The arXiv record for Attention Is All You Need was submitted on 12 June 2017 (v1) and last revised on 2 August 2023 (v7). CMOS 18 lists the first three names when there are more than six authors. If you read the later NeurIPS proceedings chapter, cite that published paper instead of the preprint.

Preprint (real arXiv record, version of 12 June 2017)

Note:

Ashish Vaswani et al., "Attention Is All You Need" (preprint, arXiv, 12 June 2017), https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1706.03762.

Bibliography (CMOS 18 lists the first three names when there are more than six authors):

Vaswani, Ashish, Noam Shazeer, Niki Parmar, et al. "Attention Is All You Need." Preprint, arXiv, 12 June 2017. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1706.03762.

Working Papers

A working paper is not a private draft. It has a series name, a number, and an issuing institution, and readers can retrieve it. CMOS 18 §14.116 is the working-paper section. Name the series and the number. Add a DOI when the series supplies one. Do not relabel a numbered NBER, World Bank, or departmental paper as an unpublished manuscript.

The National Bureau of Economic Research prints its preferred citation on each abstract page:

NBER preferred citation (Working Paper 26137)

Joshua D. Angrist, Parag A. Pathak, and Román Andrés Zárate, "Choice and Consequence: Assessing Mismatch at Chicago Exam Schools," NBER Working Paper 26137 (2019), https://doi.org/10.3386/w26137.

The CMOS working-paper pattern keeps that title, number, and DOI, and names the institution in the genre phrase:

Same NBER paper in CMOS 18 form

Note:

Joshua D. Angrist, Parag A. Pathak, and Román Andrés Zárate, "Choice and Consequence: Assessing Mismatch at Chicago Exam Schools," Working Paper 26137 (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2019), https://doi.org/10.3386/w26137.

Bibliography:

Angrist, Joshua D., Parag A. Pathak, and Román Andrés Zárate. "Choice and Consequence: Assessing Mismatch at Chicago Exam Schools." Working Paper 26137. National Bureau of Economic Research, 2019. https://doi.org/10.3386/w26137.

Author-Date in-text:

(Angrist, Pathak, and Zárate 2019)

Author-Date reference:

Angrist, Joshua D., Parag A. Pathak, and Román Andrés Zárate. 2019. "Choice and Consequence: Assessing Mismatch at Chicago Exam Schools." Working Paper 26137. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w26137.

That working paper later appeared as Joshua D. Angrist, Parag A. Pathak, and Roman A. Zarate, "Choice and Consequence: Assessing Mismatch at Chicago Exam Schools," Journal of Public Economics 223 (July 2023): 104892, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2023.104892. If you read the journal article, cite the article and drop the working-paper number. If you read the NBER file, keep the working-paper citation and do not pretend you used the later article number.

Do Not Treat a Conference Paper as an Unpublished Manuscript

CMOS 18 §14.115 is a different rule. A paper, poster, or set of slides presented at a meeting is cited with the sponsorship, location (or the word virtual), and date after the title — and those details are no longer wrapped in parentheses. University of Queensland reprints the handbook's wording:

Chicago Manual of Style 18, §14.115

Details of the sponsorship, location, and date of the meeting at which a speech was given or a paper, slides, or poster presented follow the title. In previous editions of Chicago this information was put in parentheses. This is no longer the case. If the information is available online, include a URL.

UQ and SNHU both note that live conference citations are usually limited to the text or a note. A paper later printed in proceedings is a book chapter; a paper later printed in a journal is a journal article. Worked conference examples live on How to cite a conference paper in Chicago. Do not force unpublished manuscript onto a talk that has a conference name and a date.

Medieval and Early Modern Shelfmarks

A medieval or early modern manuscript is cited by repository and shelfmark, not as a modern unpublished paper with an author-date. Copy the official designation from the library catalog. The British Library now shelves the Pearl / Gawain volume as Cotton MS Nero A X/2 — not "MS Cotton Nero A.x." The catalog uses a modern pencil foliation for ff. 41–130.

British Library Cotton MS Nero A X/2 (real shelfmark)

First note:

London, British Library, Cotton MS Nero A X/2, fol. 94v.

Shortened note:

BL, Cotton Nero A X/2, fol. 95r.

Bibliography:

London. British Library. Cotton MS Nero A X/2.

Folio 94v is the opening miniature of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the Library's modern pencil sequence; the poem then runs through fol. 130r. Pearl occupies ff. 41r–59v. Spell out the repository on first mention. A later note can use BL if you have already introduced that abbreviation. Do not invent folio 42r as a stand-in for Gawain: fol. 42r in this volume is a Pearl miniature.

A music manuscript uses the same city–repository–shelfmark order. Toronto's CMOS 18 music guide names the Old Hall Manuscript as the historical contrast to a modern draft. The British Library shelves that choirbook as Add. MS 57950 (purchased in 1973; earlier kept at St Edmund's College, Old Hall Green). Cite the official Additional-manuscript number, not only the popular name.

British Library Add. MS 57950 (Old Hall Manuscript)

First note:

London, British Library, Add. MS 57950 (Old Hall Manuscript).

Bibliography:

London. British Library. Add. MS 57950.

Folio, recto, and verso

Medieval books are counted by leaf, not by modern page. CMOS's Q&A on folio abbreviations prefers the singular fol. for one leaf, including both of its sides:

CMOS Q&A, folio abbreviations

fol. 1r (the recto of folio 1, or one page)
fol. 1r–v (the recto and verso of folio 1, or two pages)
fols. 1r–2v (the recto and verso sides of folios 1 and 2, or four pages)

Write r for the front of the leaf and v for the back. Do not convert those to "p. 94" or "pp. 94–95." If the catalog records two foliation sequences — Cotton Nero A X/2 has an older ink sequence and a modern pencil sequence — say which one you are using, or follow the catalog you cite.

A digitized medieval manuscript

Cite the manuscript first, then a stable catalog or project URL. After the British Library cyber-attack, the Library's own catalog record for Cotton MS Nero A X/2 is the https address that still resolves. That record names the University of Calgary Cotton Nero A.x. Project for images of ff. 41–130 and warns that some Library viewers are offline. Do not paste a retired manuscripts.bl.uk link.

Shelfmark plus digital facsimile

Note:

London, British Library, Cotton MS Nero A X/2, fol. 94v, British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue, https://searcharchives.bl.uk/catalog/040-003316720.

Literary Manuscripts in a Named Repository

An author's draft that lives in a manuscript collection follows the archival rule in CMOS 18 §§14.119–14.120: the note starts with the item; the bibliography usually lists the collection once. That punctuation is taught in full on the archives guide. This page's job is the literary case students actually search for — a famous draft whose finding aid you can check.

Princeton's finding aid for the F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers, C0187 records The Great Gatsby autograph manuscript, circa 1924–1925, in Box 4, and prints this preferred citation:

Princeton preferred citation (Fitzgerald Papers, C0187)

The Great Gatsby – Autograph Manuscript; F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers, C0187, Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Same item in CMOS note and bibliography form

Note:

F. Scott Fitzgerald, autograph manuscript of The Great Gatsby, circa 1924–1925, Box 4, F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers, C0187, Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Bibliography (the collection, unless this is the only item cited):

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Papers. C0187. Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Do not invent a folder number the finding aid does not print. If you read the 1925 Scribner book, cite the book. If you read the autograph manuscript, cite the manuscript. The digitized images Princeton released are a copy of that manuscript, not a separate publication.

Private Collections

CMOS 18 §14.129 covers letters and papers that are not in a public repository. Cite the item, then write private collection or in the author's possession. Do not name the owner unless you have permission. The archives guide has the collection-level pattern; use the template below only when the document is genuinely private.

Private-collection template (no invented owner)

Note:

First Name Last Name, "Title or Description," Day Month Year, manuscript, private collection.

Note if the owner must stay anonymous:

Description of item, Day Month Year, private collection.

Author-Date for Unpublished Work

Author-Date moves the year next to the author and keeps every other element. For a circulating unpublished file, the year is the version date. For a working paper, it is the series year. For a forthcoming article, write forthcoming in place of the year and add a comma after the name in the parenthetical: (Last Name, forthcoming).

Author-Date recap

Unpublished manuscript (MacLean, official example):

MacLean, Jan. n.d. "Circulation Policies and Procedures." Unpublished manuscript, last modified September 10, 2015. Microsoft Word file.

In-text for that entry:

(MacLean, n.d.)

Working paper:

(Angrist, Pathak, and Zárate 2019)

Toronto's CMOS 18 guide uses n.d. in the year slot for MacLean because the only date is a last-modified stamp, not a publication year. If you have a clear year, put that year after the author and keep the fuller date in the unpublished-manuscript phrase.

Failure Modes Students Actually Hit

  • Page numbers on a foliated book. Medieval and early modern manuscripts use fol. 94v, not p. 94. CMOS prefers fol. 1r–v for both sides of one leaf.
  • A catalog shelfmark rewritten for style. Use Cotton MS Nero A X/2 if that is what the British Library prints. Do not tidy it into "Cotton Nero MS" or drop the /2 after the 1964 split.
  • Unpublished, forthcoming, preprint, working paper, and conference paper used as synonyms. Unpublished means not accepted and not in a numbered series. Forthcoming means accepted. A preprint has a server and a date. A working paper has a series and a number. A conference paper has a meeting name — and CMOS 18 no longer wraps that meeting data in parentheses.
  • A private draft in the bibliography. CMOS 18 §14.114 keeps unavailable manuscripts in the note.
  • A fake box number. Fitzgerald's Gatsby autograph is Box 4 in C0187. "Box 1, Folder 3" on that draft was an invented location.
  • Citing the later book or article as if it were the draft. Cite the version you read. Mullan et al. is no longer ahead of print. Angrist, Pathak, and Zárate 2019 is the NBER file; the 2023 Journal of Public Economics article is a different source.
  • A dead manuscripts.bl.uk URL. Prefer the current catalog record or a project URL the catalog itself names.
  • Treating a named collection as a standalone manuscript. If the item has a collection, box, and repository, use the archives guide.
  • *Forcing unpublished manuscript onto a talk.* A paper presented at a meeting is CMOS 18 §14.115. Use the conference guide.

How This Page Differs from Nearby Guides

This URL is the Chicago format guide for shelfmarks, circulating unpublished papers, working papers, and preprints. How to cite archives in Chicago is the collection, finding-aid, and NARA page — it already sends medieval shelfmarks here. How to find archives for research is the search-and-reading-room guide. How to cite a dissertation in Chicago is only for a filed thesis. How to cite a conference paper in Chicago is only for talks and posters. History citation and literature citation are discipline overviews, not shelfmark manuals.

Recording What You Saw

Photograph or download the catalog record, the finding-aid header, and the folio or page in front of you before you leave the desk. Write down the official shelfmark, both foliation sequences if the catalog mentions two, the collection ID, and any access or quotation restriction. Permission to see a manuscript is not always permission to publish a photograph of it. Describe script, damage, or illumination in your prose, not by stuffing those details into the citation.

Generate the Chicago citation, then check the catalog

Use the Notes-Bibliography generator for history and literature papers. Use Author-Date only when your department named that system. Then compare the formatted note with the library catalog or finding aid — the generator cannot invent a shelfmark the catalog does not print.

Notes-Bibliography generator →Author-Date generator →

Frequently asked questions

How do you cite an unpublished manuscript in Chicago style?
In a note: First Name Last Name, "Title of Unpublished Manuscript" (unpublished manuscript, Month Day, Year), Microsoft Word file. In the bibliography, reverse the author name and remove the parentheses. If other readers cannot obtain the file, CMOS 18 §14.114 says to mention it in a note and omit it from the bibliography. See CMOS 18 §14.114.
Are unpublished titles italicized in Chicago?
No. CMOS 18 puts unpublished manuscript titles — and dissertation titles — in quotation marks. Italics are for a published book. If the draft later became a book and you read the book, italicize that book title and drop unpublished manuscript.
What is the difference between unpublished and forthcoming in Chicago?
Unpublished means the work has not been accepted by a publisher. Forthcoming means it has been accepted and you are waiting for the official date. Do not write forthcoming to make a seminar paper look more finished. Ahead-of-print is a posted journal version of record that still lacks volume or page numbers; a preprint is a server deposit such as arXiv.
How do I cite a working paper in Chicago?
Treat it as CMOS 18 §14.116, not as a private manuscript. Include the author, title in quotation marks, the words Working Paper (or the series name), the number, the institution, the year, and a DOI when there is one. NBER's own line for Working Paper 26137 is Joshua D. Angrist, Parag A. Pathak, and Román Andrés Zárate, "Choice and Consequence: Assessing Mismatch at Chicago Exam Schools," NBER Working Paper 26137 (2019), https://doi.org/10.3386/w26137.
How do you cite a medieval manuscript in Chicago?
Give city, repository, official shelfmark, and folio: London, British Library, Cotton MS Nero A X/2, fol. 94v. Use fol. / fols. and r / v, not modern page numbers. Copy the shelfmark from the catalog, including a /2 or an Additional-manuscript number if the library uses one.
Do I put a private draft in the Chicago bibliography?
Usually no. CMOS 18 §14.114 says unpublished manuscripts that others cannot consult belong in a note or in the text, not in the bibliography or reference list. A working paper, preprint, or archival collection that readers can request does belong in the list.
Should I cite the manuscript or the later published book?
Cite the version you read. If you used Fitzgerald's 1925 The Great Gatsby, cite the book. If you used the autograph manuscript in Princeton C0187, Box 4, cite the manuscript and the collection. The same split applies to an NBER working paper that later appeared as a journal article, and to an ahead-of-print article that later gained volume and pages.
Does Turabian cite unpublished manuscripts the same way as Chicago?
Yes. Turabian is the student handbook built on CMOS, and the quotation-marks-plus-unpublished manuscript pattern is the same. Turabian 9th still tracks CMOS 17; Turabian 10 is announced. Your instructor may still require a particular note style or a title page that Turabian specifies for class papers.
How do I cite a digitized manuscript in Chicago?
Cite the manuscript as if you had the volume, then add a stable catalog or project URL. Example: London, British Library, Cotton MS Nero A X/2, fol. 94v, British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue, https://searcharchives.bl.uk/catalog/040-003316720. Prefer an https URL the library still maintains.
When should I use the archives or conference guide instead of this one?
Use How to cite archives in Chicago when the item sits in a named collection with a finding aid — a letter, diary, memorandum, or photograph in a box. Use How to cite a conference paper in Chicago for a talk or poster. Use this page for a circulating unpublished paper, a numbered working paper, a preprint, or a medieval shelfmark that is the whole source.