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Chapter 16
How Do I Use Footnotes and Endnotes?
They lard their lean books with the fat of others' work.
ROBERT BURTON
Footnotes and endnotes are another form of documentation used in research papers. According to the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), footnotes and endnotes are often used in business, the fine arts, and the humanities to indicate the source of materials in a research paper.
In this chapter, you'll learn when and how to use footnotes and endnotes.
What Are Footnotes and Endnotes?
Footnotes
A footnote is a bibliographic reference indicated by a number in the text. The complete citation is then placed at the bottom ("foot") of the same page.
Example:
Internal Documentation
Despite the increasing role of women in the workforce, most women remain in jobs traditionally defined as "women's work." Some employers see women as temporary fixtures in the labor force, predicting they will leave for reasons of marriage or child rearing. These employers tend to shuttle women into jobs where there is little or no room for advancement.
[Thompson 65]

 

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Footnote
Despite the increasing role of women in the workforce, most women remain in jobs traditionally defined as "women's work." Some employers see women as temporary fixtures in the labor force, predicting they will leave for reasons of marriage or child rearing. These employers tend to shuttle women into jobs where there is little or no room for advancement.1
1Roger Eggert, "Women's Economic Equality," Time 21 May 1995, 65.
Endnotes
An endnote is a bibliographic reference indicated by a number in the text. The complete citation is then placed at the end of the paper on a separate page labeled "Endnotes." An endnote is identical in form to a footnote, except that the full citation is placed at the end of the paper rather than at the bottom of the page.
Why Use Footnotes and Endnotes?
Use footnotes or endnotes in your research papers when you want to:
1. Document information without using internal documentation.
2. Add observations and comments that do not fit into your text.
As you learned in Chapters 14 and 15, most research papers in the humanities use internal documentation to give credit to sources. However, sometimes footnotes or endnotes are preferable to internal documentation. Use the method your audience or teacher prefers.
Using Footnotes / Endnotes to document sources
Examples:
The dramatic increase in women's labor force participation has generated a great deal of public interest, resulting in both social and economic consequences.1
1Gregory Brown, Women and Sex Roles: A Psychological Viewpoint (New York: Dutton, 1997), 126.

 

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As the women's movement gained momentum and two-income families became a necessity for attaining middle-class status, polls taken between 1972 and 1997 indicate that the approval of married women working outside the home has steadily increased.2
2Chris Siefert, ''A Woman's Place is in the House—and Senate.'' Ms., August 1997: 20.
Using Footnotes / Endnotes to Add Observations and Comments
Whether you use internal documentation or footnotes/endnotes to give credit to outside sources, either type of note is useful for adding commentary, material that your reader will find useful but that doesn't directly pertain to your thesis. The footnote/endnote functions as a parenthetical comment, maintaining the flow of your paper.
Example:
Text of Paper
Carlos Baker's biography of Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story depicts his subject as a man of great complexity—volcanic, mercurial, frequently tortured.18
Footnote or Endnote
18The Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature at Princeton University, Baker devoted seven years to the preparation of his acclaimed biography of Hemingway.
Guidelines for Using Footnotes/Endnotes
1. Method. Choose either endnotes or footnotes. Never use both in the same paper. In general, endnotes are easier to use than footnotes.
2. Numbering. Number footnotes or endnotes consecutively from the beginning to the end of your paper. Do not assign each source its own number or start with number 1 on each page. Use a new number for each citation even if several numbers refer to the same source.
3. Placement in the text. Place each citation number at the end of a direct or indirect quotation in the text.

 

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Footnotes are placed on the bottom of the page on which they appear.
Endnotes are placed on a separate sheet of paper headed "Endnotes" or "Notes" at the end of your research paper.
4. Format. The numbers are superscript Arabic numerals (the numbers are raised a little above the words). Many computer programs set superscripts automatically. Single space each footnote, but double space between entries.
5. Indenting. Indent the first line of the footnote or end-note the same number of spaces as other paragraphs in your paper, usually five spaces. The second and all subsequent lines are placed "flush left" (to the left margin).
6. Spacing. Leave two spaces after the number at the end of a sentence. Don't leave any extra space before the number.
Footnote and Endnote Format
Citing Books
The basic footnote/endnote citation for a book looks like this:
Footnote number. Author's First Name and Last Name, Book Title (Place of publication: Publisher, date of publication), page number.
Examples:
Book by One Author
6Phillip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint (New York: Random House, 1969), 231.
Part of a Book
4David Daiches, "Samuel Richardson," in Twentieth Century Interpretations of Pamela, ed. Rosemary Cowler (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1969) 14.
Encyclopedia
9Funk and Wagnalls, 12th edition, "New Brunswick."
Citing Periodicals
The basic footnote/endnote citation for a magazine, newspaper, or journal looks like this:

 

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Footnote number. Author's First Name and Last Name, "Article Title," Periodical Title, date, page number.
Examples:
Article in a Weekly or Monthly Magazine
3Trish Howard, "Babies Killing Babies," Newsweek, 16 July 1998, 23.
Review of a Book, Movie, or Play
5Nicole Padden, "Science Fiction or Science Fact?" Review of Armageddon (movie), The Los Angeles Times, 11 August 1998, 22A.
Signed Newspaper Article
To cite an unsigned newspaper title, begin with the title. Include all information that your reader might need to locate the source, such as the edition, section number or letter, and page number.
Example:
22Scott Sanders, "E-coli Poses Serious Threat to Travelers," Washington Post, 5 March 1998, Early City Edition, sec. 3, p. 6.
Citing Electronic Sources and CD-ROMS
At the end of the entry, include the URL that you used to find the source as well as the name of the network.
Example:
12Macbeth. In MIT Complete Works of Shakespeare. Available from http://mitshakespeare.edu ; INTERNET.
Citing Government Documents
The basic footnote/endnote citation for a government document looks like this:
Footnote number. Government agency. Subsidiary agency. Title of Document. Individual Author, if included. (Publication information), page numbers.
Example:
14United States Congressional House Subcommittee on Health and Education, Federal Policies Regarding Distribution of Aid to Dependent Children. 97th Congress. (Washington, DC: GPO, 1995), 63.

 

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Citing Lectures or Speeches
13Sharon Sorenson, "Addressing the Needs of the Learning-Disabled Middle-School Child" (Paper presented at the National Council of Teachers of English 1997 Annual Convention. Detroit, Michigan: 22 November, 1998).
Citing Interviews
16Meish Goldish, personal interview. 21 July 1998.
Citing Television or Radio Shows
6"AIDS Research," 20/20. Narr. Barbara Walters, Prod. O. P. Malhotra, WABC, New York, 14 February 1997.
You now realize the importance of correctly documenting your sources, whether through internal documentation or footnotes/endnotes. The next chapter covers the next step in the process—creating a Works Cited page for the end of your research paper.

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