Footnotes and Endnotes
GENERAL RULE: WHEN IN DOUBT ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT YOU NEED A CITATION FOR SOMETHING, CITE IT.
Historians use Turabian or the Chicago Manual of Style, both of which provide guidelines for the format of the footnote/endnote citations. See the excellent Turabian/Chicago Manual of Style online guides (for print and electronic resources) prepared by the UMW Library staff by clicking here.
PLACEMENT OF THE FOOTNOTE/ENDNOTE ON THE PAGE
Most word processing programs are already set to correctly place footnotes at the bottom of the page or endnotes at the end of your paper. However, you should check to see that the default settings match the discipline’s rules. (For example, MS Word conflicts with the Chicago Manual of Style rules on endnote numbering.)
PLACEMENT OF THE SUPERSCRIPT IN THE TEXT
Leave no space between the superscript (note number) in the text and the word or mark of punctuation it follows. Place the superscript before a dash but after all other marks of punctuation.
SPACING OF FOOTNOTES AND ENDNOTES
Indent the first line of each note 5-8 spaces (depending on indentation you are using for paragraphs in the text).
Subsequent lines start at the left margin.
Leave no space between the superscript and the first word in the note.
Or type the number on the same line; follow it with a period, two spaces, and the note.
REMEMBER!! Single-space within notes; double-space between notes.
LOCATION OF ENDNOTES
Endnotes should be placed in a separate section entitled Notes (not Endnotes) at the end of the entire paper and immediately preceding the bibliography.
Page numbers of text continue running consecutively through Notes. For example, if the last page of text is page 8, then the first page of endnotes is page 9.
Endnotes should use Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4), not Roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv), which is MS Word’s default for endnotes.
SECONDARY SOURCE OF QUOTATION
IF YOU ARE QUOTING SOMEONE WHO IS QUOTED IN ANOTHER SOURCE, YOU MUST CITE BOTH SOURCES IN YOUR FOOTNOTE/ENDNOTE.
2. William M. Tredway, Recollections of the Confederate Veterans of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, ed. Maud Carter Clement (Danville, VA: United Daughters of the Confederacy, Rawley Martin Chapter, 1960), 13-14; quoted in G. Howard Gregory, 53rd Virginia Infantry and 5th Battalion Virginia Infantry (Lynchburg, VA: H. E. Howard, 1999), 8-9.
3. Roger Pitman and Scott Orr, “Psychophysiologic Testing for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Forensic Psychiatric Application,” Bulletin of American Academy Psychiatry and Law 21 (1993): 38; quoted in Kathleen Lynn Gorman, “When Johnny Came Marching Home Again: Confederate Veterans in the New South” (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Riverside, 1994), 194-196.
For more information, see Turabian 8.148 and 11.31.
USE OF IBID.
When you have two consecutive references to the same work, whether the reference is to the same page or a different page, historians generally use the latin word “Ibid.” followed by the page number, if a different page.
4. Maxine Janusson, The Way of Things (Boston: Littleman Press, 1989), 67.
5. Ibid. [a second reference to the same book, same page immediately following the first reference]
6. Ibid., 98. [a third reference to the same book, different page]
For more information, see Turabian 8.85.
SHORTENED REFERENCE
When you make a later reference to a work cited earlier, but with references to other sources in between, use a shortened reference that includes the author’s last name, a shortened title of the work, and the page number.
4. Maxine Janusson, The Way of Things: Studying the Beginning of Time (Boston: Littleman Press, 1989), 67.
5. Larry Lipton, Gone Far Away: A Study of Space and Time (Los Angeles: Science Pubs., 1998), 174.
6. Janusson, The Way of Things, 75.
7. Lipton, Gone Far Away, 345.
For more on shortened references see Turabian 8.88-8.96 and the UMW Library Chicago citation guide for print resources (pages 14 and 15).
FOR INFORMATION ON CONTENT NOTES (FOOTNOTES OR ENDNOTES), SEE HERE.
PARENTHETICAL DOCUMENTATION (GENERALLY ONLY USED BY HISTORIANS IN BOOK REVIEWS)
Parenthetical references should be considered as part of the sentences in which they appear.
All punctuation, either within a sentence or at the end of a sentence, comes after the parenthetical note.
