A Research Guide for Students
By I. Lee
Chapter 7. How to Write Footnotes and Endnotes
Citation examples in this Chapter are based on the MLA (Modern Language Association)
style.
Footnotes and Endnotes are used to give credit to sources of any material borrowed, summarized or paraphrased. They are intended to refer readers to the exact pages of the works listed in the Works Cited, References, or Bibliography section.
The main difference between Footnotes and Endnotes is that Footnotes are placed numerically at the foot of the very same page where direct references are made, while Endnotes are placed numerically at the end of the essay on a separate page entitled Endnotes.
If you are still using a typewriter, a superscript number is typed half a space above the line after the last word of the citation, e.g., "The Information Superhighway is giving way to a Commercial Superhighway."1 If you are using a word processor, you can access the superscript function. To type a Footnote citation, the same superscript number is put at the beginning of the Footnote at the bottom of the same page where the citation occurs.
When mentioning a work for the first time, a full and complete Footnote or Endnote entry must be made.
NOTE: Only ONE "sentence" is used in a Footnote or Endnote citation, i.e., only ONE period or full stop is used at the end of any Footnote or Endnote citation. In a Bibliography, each citation consists of a minimum of THREE statements or "sentences", hence each entry requires a minimum of THREE periods, e.g., a period after the author statement, a period after the title statement, and a period after the publication statement (publication/publisher/publication date).
First Footnote or Endnote example:
2 Elizabeth May, At the Cutting Edge: The Crisis in Canada's Forests (Toronto: Key Porter Books Limited, 1998) 24.
Bibliography example:
May, Elizabeth. At the Cutting Edge: The Crisis in Canada's Forests. Toronto: Key Porter Books Limited, 1998.
For Footnote or Endnote citations, some writers still use ibid. (abbreviated from the Latin ibidem meaning "there the same") for the second mention of the same work with no intervening entries:
3 Ibid. 12-15.
More commonly, author and page numbers are now used instead of ibid., e.g.:
4 May 45.
For second or later mention of the same work with intervening entries, where previously op. cit. was used, now:
5 May 62.
[Tab] or indent Footnote and Endnote entries 5 spaces from the left margin. Leave one space between the superscript number and the entry. Generally, it is not considered to be an error if no space is left provided the writer is consistent. Do not indent second and subsequent lines. Double-space between entries. Number Footnotes and Endnotes consecutively using a superscript, e.g., 7.
For Endnotes, you must use the same superscript number (as in your text) at the beginning of each Endnote in your Endnotes list. Start your list of Endnotes on a new page at the end of your essay. Remember to put the Endnotes page before the Bibliography, or Works Cited, or References page.
Examples of first Footnotes or Endnotes, subsequent Footnotes or Endnotes, and listings on Works Cited or References page:
Reference from the Bible, Catechism, or Sacred Texts:
Example in text:
An interesting reference was made to the picking of corn on the Sabbath.8
Example of Footnote citation, long form:8 Matthew 12:1-8.Example of Footnote citation, short form:
8 Mt 12:1-8.List under Works Cited:
The New Jerusalem Bible: Reader's Edition. New York: Doubleday, 1990.
Example in text:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "Because of its common origin the human race forms a unity, for 'from one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth.'"9
Example of a first Footnote or Endnote citation for the above quote from Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part I, Section 2, Chapter 1, Article 1, Paragraph 6I, Reference #360, Page 103, would be:9 Catechism of the Catholic Church (New York: Doubleday, 1994) 360.Subsequent citation of this same quote:
10 Catechism 360.Citation of a different quote from the same book:
11 Catechism 1499.List under Works Cited:
Catechism of the Catholic Church. New York: Doubleday, 1994.Examples of other Footnote or Endnote citations:
12 Pius XII, encyclical, Summi Pontificatus 3. 13 Roman Catechism I, 10, 24.
Do not confuse Footnote and Endnote citations with explanatory Notes which some authors refer to as "Endnotes." These Notes are not considered to be citations but are used to add comments, explanations, or additional information relating to specific passages in the text.
Last modified: 1 October 1999
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Chapter 8. First Footnotes and Endnotes -
Examples in MLA Style
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Plagiarism and How to Avoid It
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