how to use footnotes in a research paper

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Endnote Note citing a particular source or making a brief explanatory comment placed at the end of a research paper and arranged sequentially in relation to where the reference appears in the paper.

Footnote Note citing a particular source or making a brief explanatory comment placed at the bottom of a page corresponding to the item cited in the corresponding text above.

Fiske, Robert Hartwell. To the Point: A Dictionary of Concise Writing . New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2014.

Structure and Writing Style

Advantages of Using Endnotes

• Endnotes are less distracting to the reader and allows the narrative to flow better.
• Endnotes don't clutter up the page.
• As a separate section of a research paper, endnotes allow the reader to read and contemplate all the notes at once.

Disadvantages of Using Endnotes

• If you want to look at the text of a particular endnote, you have to flip to the end of the research paper to find the information.
• Depending on how they are created [i.e., continuous numbering or numbers that start over for each chapter], you may have to remember the chapter number as well as the endnote number in order to find the correct one.
• Endnotes may carry a negative connotation much like the proverbial "fine print" or hidden disclaimers in advertising. A reader may believe you are trying to hide something by burying it in a hard-to-find endnote.

Advantages of Using Footnotes

• Readers interested in identifying the source or note can quickly glance down the page to find what they are looking for.
• It allows the reader to immediately link the footnote to the subject of the text without having to take the time to find the note at the back of the paper.
• Footnotes are automatically included when printing off specific pages.

Disadvantages of Using Footnotes

• Footnotes can clutter up the page and, thus, negatively impact the overall look of the page.
• If there are multiple columns, charts, or tables below only a small segment of text that includes a footnote, then you must decide where the footnotes should appear.
• If the footnotes are lengthy, there's a risk they could dominate the page, although this issue is considered acceptable in legal scholarship.
• Adding lengthy footnotes after the paper has been completed can alter the page where other sources are located [i.e., a long footnote can push text to the next page].
• It is more difficult learning how to insert footnotes using your word processing program than simply adding endnotes at the end of your paper.

Things to keep in mind when considering using either endnotes or footnotes in your research paper :

1.    Footnotes are numbered consecutively throughout a research paper, except for those notes accompanying special material (e.g., figures, tables, charts, etc.). Numbering of footnotes are "superscript"--Arabic numbers typed slightly above the line of text. Do not include periods, parentheses, or slashes. They can follow all punctuation marks except dashes. In general, to avoid interrupting the continuity of the text, footnote numbers are placed at the end of the sentence, clause, or phrase containing the quoted or paraphrased material. 2.    Depending on the writing style used in your class, endnotes may take the place of a list of resources cited in your paper or they may represent non-bibliographic items, such as comments or observations, followed by a separate list of references to the sources you cited and arranged alphabetically by the author's last name. If you are unsure about how to use endnotes, consult with your professor. 3.    In general, the use of footnotes in most academic writing is now considered a bit outdated and has been replaced by endnotes, which are much easier to place in your paper, even with the advent of word processing programs. However, some disciplines, such as law and history, still predominantly utilize footnotes. Consult with your professor about which form to use and always remember that, whichever style of citation you choose, apply it consistently throughout your paper.

NOTE:   Always think critically about the information you place in a footnote or endnote. Ask yourself, is this supplementary or tangential information that would otherwise disrupt the narrative flow of the text or is this essential information that I should integrate into the main text? If you are not sure, it's better to work it into the text. Too many notes implies a disorganized paper.

Cermak, Bonni and Jennifer Troxell. A Guide to Footnotes and Endnotes for NASA History Authors . NASA History Program. History Division; Hale, Ali. Should You Use Footnotes or Endnotes? DailyWritingTips.com; Tables, Appendices, Footnotes and Endnotes. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Lunsford, Andrea A. and Robert Connors. The St. Martin's Handbook . New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989; Saller, Carol. “Endnotes or Footnotes? Some Considerations.” The Chronicle of Higher Education 58 (January 6, 2012): http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2012/01/06/endnotes-or-footnotes-some-considerations/.

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MLA Endnotes and Footnotes

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Because long explanatory notes can be distracting to readers, most academic style guidelines (including MLA and APA, the American Psychological Association) recommend limited use of endnotes/footnotes. However, certain publishers encourage or require note references in lieu of parenthetical references.

Bibliographic Notes

MLA discourages extensive use of explanatory or digressive notes. MLA style does, however, allow you to use endnotes or footnotes for bibliographic notes , which refer to other publications your readers may consult. The following are some examples:

To cite a lengthy string of sources.

¹See Said, Culture and Imperialism and Orientalism ; Serres, The Natural Contract ; Foucault, The Foucault Reader , esp. Part II.

²For more material related to Postcolonial Studies and Technology, see McClintock, Imperial Leather ; De Landa, War in the Age of Intelligent Machines.

To explain an unusual documentation practice.

³Italicised words denote translations for which there are no clear equivalents in the original Chinese.

To flag editions and translations used. Editions and translations usually require a note only when more than one edition or translation is cited. This can be done by placing a note in the text where the work is first referenced. Alternatively, an initial and unnumbered note may be created.

⁴Citations of The Odyssey refer to Emily Wilson’s translated version unless otherwise noted.

⁵Translations are provided by Emily Wilson unless otherwise noted.

Content Notes

You can also use endnotes/footnotes for occasional explanatory notes (also known as content notes), which refer to brief additional information that might be too digressive for the main text:

To amplify.  Writers may feel that amplifying certain sections of their content will allow readers to better understand the context which affected/affects the following circumstances. 

¹Kujou and Yanagi are often confused by their misinterpretation of each other’s words, actions, and interactions with others.

²Beach considers Readicide to be a necessary read for all incoming Student Teachers, including it in recommended words for all his students.

³Culler makes it clear that “Literature” is “an institutional label that gives us reason to expect that the results of our reading efforts will be ‘worth it’” (28).

To explain word choice.

⁴She refers here to a branch of physiological research.

⁵He chose to translate the verb (first translated by Yang as “to feel”) as “to understand” to point to the character development.

To justify the scope of your study. Justifying the scope of your study can help readers better understand what to expect from reading your work by specifically pointing to what will or will not be explored, and why.

⁶Whether or not Beowulf as a character is justified in his actions is not relevant to my point.

⁷The efforts of decolonization are beyond the extent of my essay, but I point readers to Garvey’s work.

To provide more examples.

⁸Readers can think about Atwood’s inclusion of insects in her literary work

⁹This same idea applies to queer youth, as Chelsea Monheim’s “Percieved social norms and acceptance of transgender students in gendered restrooms” addresses.

To provide counterexamples.

¹⁰Bankfeld (99-102) calls for an alternative call to action.

To identity of comment on allusions.

¹¹The reference to ‘Westword’ in Iron Man 3 recalls the 1973 movie Westworld, starring Yul Brynner as a killing cyborg.

To point to an area of future research.

¹²More extensive research remains to be done on this subject. 

To identify authors whose names appear as et al. in documentation.

¹³The contributing authors of Teaching Literature to Adolescents are Deborah Appleman, Bob Fecho, and Rob Simon.

To acknowledge.

¹⁴Anna Turner, from a local veterinary clinic, brought distinctions between small and large animal care to my attention.

Numbering endnotes and footnotes in the document body

MLA notes may be styled either as footnotes or endnotes. Endnotes and footnotes in MLA format are indicated in-text by superscript Arabic numbers after the punctuation of the phrase or clause to which the note refers:

Note that when a long dash appears in the text, the footnote/endnote number appears before the dash:

Do not use asterisks (*), angle brackets (>), or other symbols for note references. The list of endnotes and footnotes (either of which, for papers submitted for publication, should be listed on a separate page, as indicated below) should correspond to the note references in the text.   Do not use the abbreviation ibid. in a note to refer readers to the information provided in the note right above it.

Placement of Notes in the Text

Use parentheses around page numbers when page numbers interrupt a sentence or are given at the end of a sentence. Similar to parenthetical citations within text, citations in notes are usually placed at the end of a sentence. Alternatively, parenthetical citations may be placed mid-sentence.

¹As Danes (45) and Gilmore (151) argue, caffeinated beverages play a vital role in American business environments.

²Gilmore considers the relationship between caffeine, productivity, and success (151).

Do not place parentheses around page numbers if the note is utilized to direct readers to the location of information. For example:

³See Gilmore 151.

Notes in MLA format are typically indicated in-text by superscript Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, …) after the punctuation mark of the phrase or clause to which the note refers. Whenever possible, place the superscript numbers at the end of sentences. Keep in mind that word processing programs will likely style note numbers in the text and notes section as superscript by default .

Audience members generally responded positively to the racial representation in the musical.¹

Marquis de Lafayette uses a stereotypical White American accent to say the word “anarchy.”²

Aaron Burr advises a young Alexander Hamilton to “talk less, smile more” (16).³ 

Note that when a dash appears in the text, the note number appears before the dash.

After finding out about her daughter’s passion for music, Cho⁴—surprised, impressed, and a little confused—purchased a piano and allowed her daughter to take lessons.

If a note number must be placed somewhere other than at the end of a sentence or a sentence requires more than one note, the note number should be placed in the least distracting unambiguous spot. For instance: 

Placement of a note mid-sentence, for clarity of citations.

Despite the awareness from her past mistakes,⁵   Britney “did it again” and thus continued to face the consequences of her actions (203).

Placement of more than one note in a sentence.

Crystal’s love of farmers markets—especially those located in their hometown (which they support by “getting up at 7am every Saturday to go to” [Webb 21]⁶)—has become apparent even on social media platforms.⁷  

Formatting endnotes and footnotes

Endnotes Page

MLA recommends that all notes be listed on a separate page entitled Notes (centered). Title the page Note if there is only one note. The Notes page should appear before the Works Cited page. This is especially important for papers being submitted for publication.

The notes themselves should be double-spaced and listed by consecutive Arabic numbers that correspond to the notation in the text. The first line of each endnote is indented five spaces, and subsequent lines are flush with the left margin. Place a period and a space after each endnote number, and then provide the appropriate note after the space.

Footnotes (below the text body)

The ninth edition of the MLA Handbook states that notes may be styled either as footnotes or endnotes. See the  MLA Style Center   for additional guidance on this topic and follow your instructor's or editor's preferences.

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / APA Format / How to do APA footnotes

How to do APA footnotes

Footnotes are a way for the author to provide additional content to their papers without distracting the reader from the text. The information in footnotes is different from the information provided in APA annotated bibliographies . Footnotes can be content based, providing a little more insight on an idea you raise in the text, or they can be used to provide copyright attribution for long quotes and passages.

Properly formatted APA footnotes can be placed at the bottom of the page. Alternatively, you can put them on their own page after the references. This guide on footnotes, end notes, and parentheticals provides information about the differences between these different types of notes. Either way, it’s important to know how to use footnotes properly.

In this guide, students can learn about the different uses for footnotes as well as how to format footnotes according to APA Style. All of the information here comes straight from the 7th edition of the Publication Manual .

Why use footnotes? What information goes into them?

There are two primary reasons why an author would use footnotes:

1. Using a footnote for content

As mentioned above, there are a few different ways to use footnotes. The more common way is when an author wants to provide extra insight on an idea without disrupting the flow of the text. This is called a content footnote.

In this case, you would write a a couple sentences about the extra insight. For example:

______________________

1 This data refers to the situation in 2010, and it includes emissions from industrial processes. Emissions from the latter are released during the physical and chemical transformation of materials like clinker production. Since these industrial production processes are also consumers of energy, here we made the choice to combine them with CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion.

2. Using a footnote for copyright attribution

When you are reproducing a portion of a copyrighted work, like an extended passage from a book or journal, it is necessary to provide copyright attribution. This can be done inside a footnote. The footnote is used instead of a parenthetical in-text citation, and you will still need to add the source as an entry in the reference list.

If it is an image or graph you are reproducing, copyright attribution can go in the figure note or table note.

A copyright footnote should start with “ From ” or “ Adapted from ” and the format will change slightly depending on the source.

Here is a template for copyright attribution for a website followed by two examples:

1 From  Webpage title , by Group Author OR Author FirstMiddleName Initials. Author Surname. Year Published, Website Name (URL).

*Note: If the Group Author and Website Name are the same, omit the Website Name slot.

2 From  First images from the James Webb Space Telescope , by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2022 (https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages).

3 From  Question of what now for Syria remains as vexed as ever , by M. Chulov. 2022, The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/19/question-of-what-now-for-syria-remains-as-vexed-as-ever).

Endnotes vs. footnotes: What’s the difference?

According to APA Style, the author may choose to place the footnotes on the bottom of the page on which the callout appears or at the end of the paper on their own page(s).

“Endnotes” is a function on many word processors that inserts callouts and place the notes at the end of the document. While this is the same idea as footnotes, APA calls for a specially-formatted footnotes page.

To place the footnotes at the end of your document, check the preferences of the footnote function. You should be able to select “End of Document” instead of “End of Page.”

How to format APA footnotes

Always use the footnotes function of your word processor to insert footnotes. This will make it much easier to keep track of everything even as page content changes.

How to format footnotes correctly:

• Always use the footnotes function.
• The callout should be in superscript, like this. 1
• The callout should come after the punctuation, like this. 2
• If there’s a dash 3 —the callout comes before the punctuation, not after.
• All callouts should appear in numerical order, like this. 4

APA footnotes example

Now let’s have a look at what properly formatted APA footnotes look like in action.

Here is an example of a concise, relevant, and properly formatted footnote from “The role of renewable energy in the global economy transformation,” published in Energy Strategy Reviews.

. . . A transition away from fossil fuels to low-carbon solutions will play an essential role, as energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions represent two-thirds of all greenhouse gases (GHG). 1

In this example, the footnotes function automatically created a dividing line at the bottom of the document. It has also reduced the font size by 1pt, which is neither required nor discouraged by APA.

The reason this is a good example, however, is because the footnote provides supplemental information that is both relevant and substantive.  The information would have been too distracting to appear in the main text, but it provides helpful insight on the author’s research method.

Published October 28, 2020.

APA Formatting Guide

APA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Multiple Authors
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Parenthetical Citations
• Reference Page
• Sample Paper
• APA 7 Updates
• View APA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all APA Examples

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You can include more than one footnote on the same page in APA style. There is no restriction on the number of footnotes to be included on a page. Depending upon the number of footnotes on the page, the text area of the page will be automatically adjusted to fit the footnotes.

Footnotes in APA are used to provide the reader some additional information about the idea or the element being discussed. Footnotes are used in all types of publications such as journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers.

Two types of footnotes are used in APA style: content footnotes and copyright attribution footnotes. A content footnote provides additional explanation or information about something mentioned in the text, while a copyright attribution footnote provides copyright information for lengthy content that has been reprinted in the text. For both types, the in-text citation remains the same. Remember the following guidelines when you want to cite a footnote:

• Footnotes (whether content footnotes or copyright attribution footnotes) are numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text.
• Use superscript Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) to designate a footnote callout.
• This is a footnote. 1
• In this footnote, 2 the author tries to clarify the idea.
• A footnote callout—unlike in-text reference citation 3 —is simple to add.
• You should not add space before the footnote callout.
• If you want to refer to the same footnote again in the text, do not add any superscript Arabic numeral. Instead, write “see Footnote 3.” In this case, the footnote description need not be given again.

Note that a footnote should have only one idea. If you want to add more information, it is advisable to add the content in the text or create an appendix.

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How to Format Your Research Paper

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How to Create Footnotes

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What Are They

Footnotes are short numbered notes that are placed at the bottom of the page in an essay or article. They are used for a variety of reasons including, citing materials, providing notes on a source or topic, and to acknowledge copyright status. 

Although you will find footnotes in many journal articles, they are not typically required in APA or MLA formatted essays. They are most heavily used when applying the CMOS style. 

For information on footnotes in the  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association  see section 2.13 "Footnotes.". For information on using footnotes with MLA see the " Using Notes in MLA Style " article from the MLA Style Center .  For information on footnotes in  The Chicago Manual of Style  see Chapter 14 "Notes and Bibliography."

Using Google Docs:

• Cómo incorporar notas al calce en Google Docs Vea éste video en español.

Using Microsoft Word:

• Cómo incorporar notas al calce en Microsoft Word Vea éste video en español.
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To cite this LibGuide use the following templates:

APA : Northern Essex Community College Library. (Date updated). Title of page . Title of LibGuide. URL

MLA : Northern Essex Community College Library. "Title of Page." Title of LibGuide, Date updated, URL.