purpose of footnotes in a research paper

How to Use Footnotes in Research Papers

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• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

A footnote is a reference, explanation, or comment 1 placed below the main text on a printed page. Footnotes are identified in the text by a numeral  or a  symbol .  

In research papers and reports , footnotes commonly acknowledge the sources of facts and quotations that appear in the text.

" Footnotes are the mark of a scholar," says Bryan A. Garner. "Overabundant, overflowing footnotes are the mark of an insecure scholar — often one who gets lost in the byways of analysis and who wants to show off" ( Garner's Modern American Usage , 2009).

Examples and Observations

• " Footnotes: vices . In a work containing many long footnotes, it may be difficult to fit them onto the pages they pertain to, especially in an illustrated work."
• " Content footnotes  supplement or simplify substantive information in the text; they should not include complicated, irrelevant, or nonessential information..." " Copyright permission footnotes  acknowledge the source of lengthy quotations, scale and test items, and figures and tables that have been reprinted or adapted."
• Content Footnotes "What, after all, is a content footnote but material that one is either too lazy to integrate into the text or too reverent to discard? Reading a piece of prose that constantly dissolves into extended footnotes is profoundly disheartening. Hence my rule of thumb for footnotes is exactly the same as that for  parentheses . One should regard them as symbols of failure. I hardly need to add that in this vale of tears failure is sometimes unavoidable."
• Footnote Forms All notes have the same general form: 1. Adrian Johns. The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 623. If you cite the same text again, you can shorten subsequent notes: 5. Johns. Nature of the Book , 384-85.
• The Disadvantages of Footnotes "More than one recent critic has pointed out that footnotes interrupt a narrative . References detract from the illusion of veracity and immediacy . . . . (Noel Coward made the same point more memorably when he remarked that having to read a footnote resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door while in the midst of making love.)"
• Belloc on Footnotes "[L]et a man put his foot-notes in very small print indeed at the end of a volume, and, if necessary, let him give specimens rather than a complete list. For instance, let a man who writes history as it should be written — with all the physical details in evidence, the weather, the dress, colors, everything — write on for the pleasure of his reader and not for his critic. But let him take sections here and there, and in an appendix show the critic how it is being done. Let him keep his notes and challenge criticism. I think he will be secure. He will not be secure from the anger of those who cannot write clearly, let alone vividly, and who have never in their lives been able to resurrect the past, but he will be secure from their destructive effect."
• The Lighter Side of Footnotes "A footnote is like running downstairs to answer the doorbell on your wedding night."

1 "The footnote has figured prominently in the fictions of such leading contemporary novelists as Nicholson Baker 2 , David Foster Wallace 3 , and Dave Eggers. These writers have largely revived the digressive function of the footnote." (L. Douglas and A. George, Sense and Nonsensibility: Lampoons of Learning and Literature . Simon and Schuster, 2004)

2 "[T]he great scholarly or anecdotal footnotes of Lecky, Gibbon, or Boswell, written by the author of the book himself to supplement, or even correct over several later editions, what he says in the primary text, are reassurances that the pursuit of truth doesn't have clear outer boundaries: it doesn't end with the book; restatement and self-disagreement and the enveloping sea of referenced authorities all continue. Footnotes are the finer-suckered surfaces that allow tentacular paragraphs to hold fast to the wider reality of the library." (Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine . Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1988)

3 "One of the odd pleasures in reading the work of the late David Foster Wallace is the opportunity to escape from the main text to explore epic footnotes , always rendered at the bottoms of pages in thickets of tiny type." (Roy Peter Clark, The Glamour of Grammar . Little, Brown, 2010)

• Hilaire Belloc,  On , 1923
• Chicago Manual of Style , University of Chicago Press, 2003
• Anthony Grafton,  The Footnote: A Curious History . Harvard University Press, 1999.
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 6th ed., 2010.
• Paul Robinson, "The Philosophy of Punctuation."  Opera, Sex, and Other Vital Matters . University of Chicago Press, 2002.
• Kate Turabian,  A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations , 7th ed. University of Chicago Press, 2007 .
• What Are Endnotes, Why Are They Needed, and How Are They Used?
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• Characteristics of a Formal Prose Style
• How to Use Block Quotations in Writing
• Definition of Appendix in a Book or Written Work
• Cite, Sight, and Site
• Bibliography: Definition and Examples

Educational resources and simple solutions for your research journey

What are Footnotes and How to Use Them for Research?

The research process is inherently collaborative, involving the analysis of the collective body of knowledge developed over time. It is academically and ethically vital to acknowledge others’ contributions. Footnotes serve as subtle markers of acknowledgment while also providing supplementary details to enhance the reader’s understanding and engagement with your work. 

Table of Contents

What are footnotes?   

During your research, you’ll encounter inconspicuous superscript numbers at the end of some sentences, which link to corresponding notes at the page’s bottom or ‘foot.’ These notes serve as references to cited works and offer supplementary information to aid the reader’s understanding.  

It’s important to note that not all references and supplementary notes are at the bottom of the page; some are placed at the end of the research paper as “endnotes.” This doesn’t lessen their significance; they still offer valuable context and insights. 

Footnotes vs Endnotes  

Footnotes and endnotes fulfill the same fundamental purpose in scholarly writing. However, the choice between them often reflects an author’s personal preference or aligns with specific style guidelines. Footnotes are frequently utilized for immediate comments or explanations related to the main text. On the other hand, endnotes are commonly reserved for citations of the works referenced within the text.  

Let’s examine footnotes and endnotes more closely to understand the distinctions between these two citation methods: 

Footnotes are highly effective due to their ease of access and their ability to direct readers to relevant citations or supplementary ideas swiftly. This approach increases the likelihood that readers will engage with the citation or additional information. However, the limited space at the bottom of the page necessitates caution. Overloading it with excessive other text can be overwhelming and potentially distracting for readers.  

Endnotes, in contrast, offer the advantage of being located at the end of a paper within a designated section, giving authors the freedom to incorporate supplementary information liberally without the need to use up the limited space on a page. However, endnotes are often overlooked by readers. This oversight can be attributed to a mental justification that if information is not included in the main text, it may not hold significant value.¹²

Footnote Citation Styles  

Incorporating footnotes into your research paper is crucial, but it’s equally important to grasp the specific footnote citation style required by your target journal or publication. The format and style of footnote citations can differ significantly based on the citation style guide in use. Below, you’ll find illustrative examples of how to use footnotes in essays according to the central style guides:¹

Chicago Style  

The Chicago Style uses footnotes to provide full source details in the form of numbered notes at the bottom of each page. A corresponding bibliography is provided at the end of the research essay or document. Here is an example: 

“The Apollo program was designed by men, for men. If we do not acknowledge the gender bias of the early space program, it becomes difficult to move past it.” ¹ 

1.1 Mary Robinette Kowal, To Make It to the Moon, Women Have to Escape Earth’s Gender Bias (New York Times, 17 July 1969). 

In this example, the superscript “1” in the text corresponds to the first footnote, which provides complete source information for an article by Mary Robinette Kowal in The New York Times. 

Modern Language Association (MLA) Style

The MLA Style does not typically use footnotes for citations. Instead, it relies on in-text citations with an author-page number format. However, the footnotes might be utilized for explanatory or supplementary information. Example: 

“The protagonist’s transformation throughout the novel is central to its theme and character development.” 1 

1 This analysis draws on the ideas of literary critic John Smith regarding character evolution in narrative fiction. 

In this example, the superscript “1” in the main text points to a footnote that offers additional context and acknowledges the source, i.e., John Smith’s ideas. 

American Psychological Association (APA) Style

APA Style typically uses in-text citations rather than footnotes. However, you may use footnotes for clarifications or additional information, not for standard source citations. Here is an example: 

“The study’s results revealed a statistically significant correlation between the two variables^1^.” 

^1^ Note that the p-value was set at 0.05 as the threshold for statistical significance. 

In the example, the superscript “^1^” in the main text indicates a footnote, which is used to provide a brief explanation. 

How to add Footnotes in Microsoft Word and Google Docs?  

So, how do you make footnotes? Adding footnotes in both Microsoft Word and Google Docs is a straightforward process. Step-by-step instructions are provided below for adding footnotes in both applications: 

Microsoft Word  

• Position your cursor where you want to insert a footnote in the document. 
• Navigate to the “References” tab and click on the “Insert Footnote” button. 
• A small superscript number (typically “1”) will appear where you positioned the cursor, and a corresponding footnote area will appear at the bottom of the page. Enter your footnote content in this designated area. 
• To insert additional footnotes, repeat the same steps. Microsoft Word will automatically manage the numbering of footnotes. (4) 

Google Docs  

• Place the cursor at the location where you wish to insert a footnote. 
• In the menu bar, click on “Insert” and select “Footnote.” 
• A superscript number (usually “1”) will appear where you placed your cursor, and a footnote section will be created at the bottom of the page. Type your footnote content in this section. 
• Add more footnotes using the same steps. Google Docs will handle the footnotes numbering. (5) 

References:  

• Footnotes and Endnotes  – Khalifa University 
• Footnotes and Endnotes  – University of Bristol 
• Footnote Referencing Styles  – Bibliography.com 
• Add footnotes and endnotes  – Microsoft Support 
• Use headers, footers, page numbers, & footnotes – Google Docs Editors Help 

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Research Paper Appendix: Format and Examples

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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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Footnotes in a Paper: How to Use Them Effectively in Your Writing

Discover the best way to use footnotes in a paper. Get expert tips on how to efficiently and effectively use footnotes in academic papers.

Footnotes in a paper can be a valuable tool in providing a way to supplement our writing with additional information, citations, and explanations without disrupting the flow of the main text. However, many writers may be unsure of when and how to use footnotes effectively. In this article, we will explore the importance and usage of footnotes in academic writing, and provide practical tips for incorporating footnotes into your own writing. Whether you are a seasoned academic writer or just starting out, understanding how to use footnotes can help you increase the clarity and credibility of your writing.

What Are Footnotes?

Footnotes are a useful tool in academic writing that allows for the inclusion of additional information or comments in a document or text. Typically denoted by a small number or symbol in the main text, footnotes in a paper appear at the bottom of the page and can serve a variety of purposes. For example, footnotes can be used to clarify a point, provide background information, or give credit to a source that is not directly quoted or referenced in the main text. They are also helpful in avoiding disruptions to the flow of the main text, particularly when lengthy citations or explanations are required. In short, footnotes provide readers with additional information or references related to specific sections of the text, making them a valuable tool for researchers.

How to Write a Footnote

To write a footnote for a paper, follow these general steps:

• Determine what information needs to be included in the footnote. This may include the author’s name, the title of the source, the publication date, the publisher, and the page number(s) you are referencing.
• Place the footnote number or symbol at the end of the sentence or clause that requires the footnote. The footnote number or symbol should be placed after the punctuation, such as a period or comma.
• Write the footnote itself at the bottom of the page. The first line of the footnote should be indented, and the subsequent lines should be flush with the left margin.
• Format the footnote according to the citation style you are using (e.g. MLA, APA , Chicago). Each citation style has specific rules for how footnotes should be formatted, so consult the appropriate style guide for details.
• If you are using a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word, you can use the “Insert Footnote” function to automatically insert footnotes and format them correctly.

Difference Between Footnotes and Endnotes

The main difference between footnotes and endnotes is their placement within a document. Footnotes appear at the bottom of the page on which they are referenced, while endnotes appear at the end of a document, chapter, or section.

Here are some other differences between footnotes and endnotes:

Chicago Style Footnotes

Chicago-style footnotes are a common citation style used in research papers. In this format, footnotes are used to provide information about a source within the text. There are two types of Chicago-style footnotes: short form and long form. Short form citations include only the basic details of a source if a full bibliography is provided, while long form citations include a full citation the first time a source is cited, with subsequent citations using the short form. 

Here is an example of a Chicago-style footnote using the short form:

“The concept of social capital has been widely discussed in recent years, with Putnam’s Bowling Alone¹ being one of the most influential works in the field.” At the bottom of the page, the corresponding footnote would appear as: ¹ Putnam, Bowling Alone, 26.

Note that the author’s last name is listed first, followed by the abbreviated title of the work (in this case, “Bowling Alone”), and the page number where the information was found.

Here is a Chicago-style footnote using the short form example:

First reference: John Smith, The History of Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), 25. Subsequent reference: Smith, The History of Chicago, 30.

Here is an example of a Chicago footnote in text:

“According to Smith, the notion of human rights can be traced back to ancient Greek philosophy.¹”² Bottom of page: ¹John Smith, The Origins of Human Rights (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021), 15. ²Smith, Origins of Human Rights, 22.

Learn how to make citations in Chicago style in our blog “ Chicago Style Citation Made Easy: Formatting and Examples “.

APA Style Footnotes

APA format generally uses parenthetical in-text citations instead of footnotes. However, there are two exceptions to this rule: content footnotes and copyright attribution. Content footnotes provide additional information on a single topic that does not fit coherently in the text, while copyright attribution footnotes are used when a writer uses a lengthy quotation or other copyrighted material, such as a stock photograph. Footnotes are formatted similarly to Chicago style, with sequential superscript numbers coming after the passage and the corresponding footnote at the bottom of the page.

Here’s an example of an APA-style footnote for supplementary information:

In-text: According to recent studies, the COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective in preventing infection and transmission of the virus.¹ Footnote: ¹For more information on the studies cited, see Smith et al. (2021) and Jones et al. (2022).

Learn how to make citations in APA style in our blog “ How to Make Citations using APA Formatting: A Guide “.

MLA Style Footnotes

MLA (Modern Language Association) style does not typically use footnotes. Instead, in-text citations are used to indicate the source of information or quotations. However, if footnotes are required for a specific publication or assignment, the following guidelines can be followed:

Placement: Footnotes should be placed at the bottom of the page on which the reference appears.

Numbering: Footnotes should be numbered consecutively throughout the paper using Arabic numerals. The number should be placed after any punctuation marks, such as periods or commas.

Formatting: Footnotes should be single-spaced and in a smaller font size than the main text.

Content: Footnotes should include bibliographic information for the source being cited, as well as any additional information necessary to clarify the reference. For example, a footnote for a book might include the author, title, publisher, and year of publication, while a footnote for a website might include the URL and date of access.

Example of MLA Style Footnote for a book:

John Doe, The History of Art (New York: Penguin Books, 2000), 24. Example of MLA Style Footnote for a website: “The Benefits of Exercise,” National Institutes of Health, accessed May 15, 2023, https://www.nih.gov/health-information/benefits-exercise .

A MLA Style footnote text example:

Text: According to a recent study, the use of social media can have negative effects on mental health (Johnson 36).² Footnote citation: ² Johnson, Sarah. “The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health.” Journal of Health Psychology, vol. 22, no. 1, 2018, pp. 35-44.

Learn how to make citations in MLA style in our blog “ A Writer’s Guide to MLA Format: How to Get It Right “.

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Why footnotes, where to start, where to get more help, automate the process with reference managers.

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Librarian for History and African American Studies

The footnotes and bibliography in any scholarly work have two purposes:

• to acknowledge the author's debt to the work of others
• to enable the reader to locate the sources consulted by the author

To do that, your footnotes and bibliography need to include complete and accurate information about your sources, arranged in a consistent way that does not confuse your reader. At this point in your research, you will all have encountered unhelpful footnotes with mysterious abbreviations, incorrect information, or other problems. 

There are many ways to arrange the information. This is called "style" and there are several common styles in use. Historians generally prefer the style defined by The Chicago Manual of Style , now in its 16th edition. You may have been asked to use other styles for courses in other departments, for example MLA or APA. Always check with your reader to find out if he/she cares about which style you use. When you write for publication, the publisher or journal editor will tell you which style they want you to use.

Why does it matter? Correct style will make things easier for your reader. And you want the reader to think about your ideas, not the messy punctuation at the bottom of the page.

History department guidelines:

• JP Guidelines  
• Thesis Guidelines

The Chicago Manual of Style Online

Chicago Manual of Style (print edition)

• Marquand Library - Reference: Z253 .U69 2017
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An overview and summary of Chicago style is found at Purdue OWL Research and Citation Resources

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How to Format Your Research Paper

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• MLA Paper Format
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How to Create Footnotes

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

What are Footnotes in a Paper? A Comprehensive Guide

By Amber Robertson

August 19, 2024

Table of Contents

If you are a student or academic, you have likely come across footnotes in your research papers or essays. But what exactly are footnotes, and why are they important?

Definition of Footnotes in a Paper

Footnotes are notes placed at the bottom of a page in a document that provide additional information or clarification about a particular point in the text. They are often used in academic writing to give credit to sources, provide context to the reader, or expand on a concept.

Importance of Using Footnotes in a Paper

Using footnotes in your paper has several benefits. First, they allow you to give credit to sources and avoid plagiarism. By including a footnote citation for a source, you are acknowledging the original author’s work and avoiding potential legal issues.

Second, footnotes can provide additional context or background information on a particular topic. If you are writing about a complex concept or historical event, a footnote can provide the reader with more information that they may find helpful.

Finally, footnotes can help you maintain a professional and scholarly tone in your writing. By using footnotes to cite sources and provide additional information, you are demonstrating your expertise and attention to detail.

Footnotes serve several purposes in a paper, including providing additional information, giving credit to sources, and clarifying confusing or complex concepts.

To Provide Additional Information

One of the primary purposes of footnotes in a paper is to provide additional information that would otherwise disrupt the flow of the main text. For example, if you are writing about a historical event and want to include a specific date or detail, you can include it in a footnote rather than interrupting the main narrative.

Footnotes can also be used to provide background information on a particular topic. If you are discussing a complex concept or theory, a footnote can provide the reader with more information that they may find helpful.

To Give Credit to Sources

Another common use of footnotes is to give credit to sources. When you use someone else’s work in your paper, whether it is a direct quote or a paraphrase, you need to cite the source to avoid plagiarism.

By including a footnote citation for a source, you are acknowledging the original author’s work and giving the reader a way to find the source if they want to learn more.

Stay tuned to read the next two sections.

Types of Footnotes in a Paper

When it comes to footnotes in a paper, there are several different types that you may encounter. Understanding the different types of footnotes and how to use them can help you create a professional and effective paper.

Content Footnotes

Content footnotes are used to provide additional information or clarification about a particular point in the text. They can be used to define a term, provide a source for a statistic, or give more detail about a historical event.

Copyright Footnotes

Copyright footnotes are used to indicate that a particular piece of content is protected by copyright law. If you are using a copyrighted image, for example, you may include a copyright footnote to indicate that you have obtained the necessary permissions to use the image.

Citation Footnotes

Citation footnotes are used to give credit to sources. When you use someone else’s work in your paper, whether it is a direct quote or a paraphrase, you need to cite the source to avoid plagiarism. Citation footnotes typically include information such as the author’s name, the title of the work, and the page number.

How to Use Footnotes in a Paper

Using footnotes in a paper may seem straightforward, but there are some important guidelines to follow to ensure that your paper is professional and effective.

Placement of Footnotes

Footnotes should be placed at the bottom of the page where the text appears. If you are using Microsoft Word, you can use the “Insert Footnote” function to automatically create a footnote at the bottom of the page.

Formatting of Footnotes

Footnotes should be formatted consistently throughout your paper. They should be single-spaced with a space between each footnote. The font size should be the same as the main text, and the footnote number should be superscripted.

Numbering of Footnotes

Footnotes should be numbered sequentially throughout your paper. Each footnote should have a unique number, and the number should appear at the beginning of the footnote. If you need to reference a footnote later in your paper, you can use the footnote number to indicate which footnote you are referring to.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Footnotes in a Paper

While footnotes can be a valuable tool in your writing, there are several common mistakes that you should avoid when using them.

Overuse of Footnotes

One of the most significant mistakes you can make when using footnotes is to overuse them. While footnotes can provide valuable information, using too many can be distracting and disrupt the flow of your writing.

As a general rule, footnotes should be used sparingly and only when necessary. If you find that you are using more than a few footnotes per page, you may want to consider whether the information would be better incorporated into the main text.

Inconsistent Formatting

Another mistake to avoid when using footnotes is inconsistent formatting. If your footnotes are formatted differently throughout your paper, it can be confusing for the reader and make it difficult to follow the information.

Make sure that you use a consistent format for all of your footnotes, including the font, size, spacing, and placement on the page. This will help ensure that your paper looks professional and is easy to read.

Failure to Properly Cite Sources

Finally, one of the most critical mistakes to avoid when using footnotes is failing to properly cite your sources. Whenever you use someone else’s work in your paper, whether it is a direct quote or a paraphrase, you need to cite the source.

Make sure that you are using the correct citation style for your paper, and that you are including all of the necessary information in your footnote citation. This will help ensure that you are giving credit to your sources and avoiding plagiarism.

In conclusion, footnotes are an essential tool in academic writing that can help you provide additional information, give credit to sources, and maintain a professional tone in your writing. When using footnotes in your paper, it is important to avoid common mistakes like overuse, inconsistent formatting, and failure to properly cite sources.

By using footnotes effectively and avoiding these mistakes, you can create a well-crafted paper that demonstrates your expertise and attention to detail.

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How to Write Footnotes

Information on how to write footnotes and endnotes. Footnotes, a type of citation format, are most often used for history and philosophy papers. As such, scientists rarely encounter it, but it is still useful to know how to follow the practice.

This article is a part of the guide:

• Outline Examples
• Example of a Paper
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• Introduction

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• 1 Write a Research Paper
• 2 Writing a Paper
• 3.1 Write an Outline
• 3.2 Outline Examples
• 4.1 Thesis Statement
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• 5.2 Abstract
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• 6.1 Table of Contents
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• 9.1 Article Writing
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Many biology journals, for example, prefer footnotes because they allow annotation of the in-text citation on the same page.

Whilst footnotes are a little more cumbersome than the 'author/date' system, they are useful where sources require elaboration and short explanatory notes.

What is a Footnote

The footnote takes the form of a superscripted number, just after a paraphrased piece of information. Subsequently, a cross-reference to this number is inserted at the bottom of the same page.

In fact, for dissertations and theses, many writers use footnotes to keep track of their citations , adding a short note of what exactly each one adds to the paper.

Once the paper is complete, the writer converts them to endnotes at the end or every chapter, or even removes them all together, and uses a standard APA or MLA bibliography instead.

Automatically Inserting Footnotes

The reason that footnotes are still popular in some fields is that most word processing programs now include a function that makes it very easy to include footnotes in any paper.

In Microsoft Word, clicking Insert > Reference > Footnote allows you to insert footnotes automatically, and automatically numbers them. This function is so useful, that even if you cut and paste, and swap information around, it automatically adjusts the footnotes.

This is why it is an excellent resource for keeping track of your sources during the course of a research paper .

How to Write Footnotes - Protocols

If you are using footnotes, the common convention is to insert a full citation, including author, year and the title of the book, followed by the page number. Afterwards, the surname of the author and the page number is sufficient.

Older journals often use the word ibid, to show that a footnote uses the same source as the previous one, but this has become much rarer.

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Footnotes in a Research Paper: Why They Matter and How to Use Them

• by Sean Brown
• October 29, 2023

Accurately citing sources is a crucial aspect of any research paper. As researchers, we rely on the work of others to support and strengthen our arguments. But how do we give credit where credit is due without disrupting the flow of our own writing? This is where footnotes come into play.

In this blog post, we will explore the purpose of footnotes in a research paper and why they are an essential tool for any serious scholar. We will delve into questions such as why footnotes and endnotes are important, how to create a list of footnotes, and the difference between footnotes and a bibliography. So, whether you’re a student aiming for academic excellence or a seasoned researcher looking to enhance the credibility of your work, this post will provide you with valuable insights on how to effectively incorporate footnotes into your writing.

So, grab your pens and get ready to unravel the mystery behind footnotes. Let’s dive in!

What is the Purpose of Footnotes in a Research Paper

In a world filled with abbreviations and acronyms, footnotes are like the quirky cousin who doesn’t quite fit in. They may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but they serve an important purpose in the realm of research papers. So, let’s put on our detective hats and uncover the mystery behind footnotes!

Establishing Credibility with Sources

Footnotes play a crucial role in research papers by providing a way to cite and acknowledge the sources used. They give your work a hefty dose of credibility, sort of like adding sprinkles to an already delicious cupcake. By including footnotes, you show that you’ve done your homework and borrowed insights from respected experts in the field, making your paper stand tall amidst a sea of academic work.

Avoiding the Dreaded Plagiarism Monster

Plagiarism, the monster that strikes fear into the hearts of all honest researchers. Footnotes act as your trusty sidekick, helping you steer clear of this dreaded creature. When you include a footnote, you’re essentially saying, “Hey, reader, I got this idea from someone else. I’m not trying to pull a fast one on you!” It’s like having an alibi for every tidbit of information you include in your research paper.

Digging Deeper into the Rabbit Hole

Footnotes are not just about giving credit where credit is due. They also offer a chance for readers to dive deeper into the rabbit hole of knowledge. Picture yourself as Alice and footnotes as the portals to Wonderland. By including additional information or references in footnotes, you give curious readers the opportunity to explore further, discover new insights, and nerd out on the topic. It’s like leaving them a hidden treasure map that leads to a chest full of intellectual goodies.

Keeping Your Flow Smooth and Steady

Now, you might be thinking, “But footnotes disrupt the flow of my masterpiece!” Fear not, dear writer, for footnotes can actually help maintain a smooth and steady flow. Instead of squeezing lengthy explanations or side thoughts into your main text, you can simply drop them down a rabbit hole (aka a footnote). This helps you maintain a logical and coherent structure in your research paper, while still providing additional context for those who seek it. It’s like having a secret passage that doesn’t clutter up your beautiful writing.

Making Your Life (and Your Reader’s Life) Easier

Imagine reading a research paper without footnotes. You come across an intriguing idea, a pearl of wisdom, or a captivating fact, and you think, “Wait, where did this come from? Where can I find more?” Footnotes save the day by answering these burning questions. They provide a neat little roadmap to the sources you used, making it easy for your curious readers to embark on their own intellectual journey. It’s like being a tour guide for your research paper, ensuring your audience doesn’t get lost along the way.

Footnotes may seem like the oddballs of the research paper world, but they serve a crucial purpose. From establishing credibility to avoiding plagiarism and enhancing readability, footnotes are the unsung heroes of academic writing. So, embrace the quirkiness, my fellow researchers, and let footnotes add that extra oomph to your scholarly endeavors !

FAQ: What is the Purpose of Footnotes in a Research Paper

In the world of academia and research, footnotes play a vital role in providing additional information, citation, and acknowledging the ideas of others. If you’ve ever questioned the significance of footnotes in a research paper, this FAQ-style guide is here to address your queries and shed some light on the subject.

Why are Footnotes and Endnotes Important

Footnotes and endnotes are crucial elements in research papers for several reasons. Firstly, they allow scholars to provide additional commentary , explanations, or references without disrupting the flow of the main text. Secondly, footnotes enable readers to verify the sources and credibility of the information presented. Finally, footnotes demonstrate the author’s depth of research and acknowledge the contributions of other scholars.

How Do You Make a List of Footnotes

Creating a list of footnotes may seem like a daunting task, but fear not! Follow these simple steps to tackle it like a pro:

• Identify the point in the text where a footnote is needed.
• Place a superscript number (e.g., ^1^, ^2^, ^3^) after the relevant word or sentence.
• Scroll to the bottom of the page (or the end of the document) to find the corresponding numbered footnote.
• Write a concise explanation, reference, or commentary for the specific footnote.

The primary purpose of footnotes in a research paper is to provide additional information and acknowledge the sources used. Footnotes serve as a way to substantiate claims, direct readers to relevant resources, and ensure the transparency and credibility of the research conducted. Additionally, footnotes allow authors to expand upon certain points or provide interesting anecdotes that may enhance the reader’s understanding of the topic.

What is the Difference between Footnotes and Bibliography

Here’s the lowdown on the difference between footnotes and bibliography:

Footnotes are short, numbered references that appear at the bottom of each page or at the end of the document. They provide additional information, explanations, or citations for specific points made in the main text.

On the other hand, a bibliography is a separate section at the end of a paper that lists all the sources consulted and cited throughout the research. It provides a comprehensive collection of references for readers who wish to further explore the topic.

How Do You Do a Bibliography for Footnotes

When it comes to creating a bibliography for footnotes, here’s a simple approach:

• Compile a list of all the sources cited in your footnotes.
• Arrange the sources in alphabetical order, based on the author’s last name.
• Include all the necessary information for each source, such as the author’s name, publication title, date, and page numbers.
• Make sure to follow the specific citation style required by your academic institution or publisher, such as MLA, APA, or Chicago style.

Why Do We Need to Acknowledge the Ideas of Others

Acknowledging the ideas of others is not only a matter of academic integrity but also a way to give credit where credit is due. Research builds upon the work of previous scholars, and by recognizing their contributions, you show respect for the intellectual community and avoid plagiarism. Remember, standing on the shoulders of giants not only helps you see further but also establishes trust and credibility in your own research.

What Are the Purposes of Citation

Citation serves several essential purposes in research papers:

Giving credit : Citations acknowledge the original authors whose work you are referencing, ensuring ethical academic conduct.

Validation and credibility : By citing reputable sources, you provide evidence that supports and strengthens your own arguments.

Enabling verification : Readers can locate and review the sources you’ve cited, allowing them to evaluate the validity of your research and explore the topic further.

Building on existing knowledge : Citations provide a platform for future researchers to delve deeper into the topic and contribute new insights.

How Do You Footnote History

When it comes to footnoting history, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Primary sources : In historical research, it’s essential to cite primary sources, such as original documents, letters, diaries, or firsthand accounts, to establish the authenticity of the information presented.

Secondary sources : Referencing credible secondary sources, such as scholarly articles or books, provides additional context, analysis, and interpretations of historical events or periods.

Specificity : Ensure your footnotes include specific page numbers, archival document references, or URLs (if applicable), allowing readers to locate the exact source you used.

What is the Meaning of Footnote

A footnote, quite literally, is a “note at the foot” of a page in a research paper or document. It is a numbered reference that provides additional information, citation, or commentary related to a specific point made in the main text. Footnotes are essential for offering readers an opportunity to explore sources in more detail while maintaining a smooth reading experience.

How Many Footnotes Is Too Many

While footnotes are undeniably valuable, it’s important to strike a balance. Too many footnotes can overload a research paper and distract readers from the main content. As a general rule, use footnotes sparingly, but when they add significant value or provide crucial references, don’t hesitate to incorporate them. Remember, clarity and readability should always be top priorities.

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Footnotes and Endnotes: Do You Need Them?

Table of Contents (Guide To Publication)

Part ii: preparing, presenting and polishing your work – chapter 5, 5.2.2 footnotes and endnotes: do you need them.

Footnotes or endnotes – sometimes both in combination – were once staples of a scholarly paper, but they play a much smaller part in academic and scientific papers today, and many journals will ask that they be kept to a minimum or avoided altogether. Those journals that do allow notes will usually specify which they prefer – footnotes at the bottom of the pages or endnotes at the end of the document – and many will ask that either kind of notes be restricted to additional information and not used for referencing. This is because many journals now use author-date or numerical referencing styles, and referencing via footnotes or endnotes is a different style altogether, one almost exclusively restricted to the humanities (likely because of its capacity for accommodating a wide variety of sources) that tends to be used in books more than in journals.

When you’re using an author-date or numerical in-text referencing style, footnotes and endnotes should not be used exclusively for referencing or for providing full bibliographical information about sources. This does not mean, however, that you can’t use citations in your notes: on the contrary, you should treat notes just like any other part of your text, writing and punctuating them as full sentences and providing the same kind of short references you use in your text (see the footnote here for an example).[1] Your notes have to do more than simply provide references, however; they have to add information such as details, alternative approaches, additional evidence and the like to the main discussion.

[1] The most interesting aspect of Smith’s research from my perspective is that his ‘results did not reveal the trend of rapid deterioration noted in previous studies’ (2010, p. 222).

When you’re using an in-note style of referencing, on the other hand, footnotes and endnotes can exist for no other reason than to provide references. In this referencing system the notes generally provide complete bibliographical information when a source is first cited (as footnotes 1, 5 & 6 in this Guide do: see Sections 4.3, 6.2.1 & 7.3.3) and a shorter version of the reference (usually the author’s last name and a shortened title) for all subsequent citations of the same source. Using the Chicago style of referencing within notes as an example, the citations would appear in this format:

• Full footnote/endnote reference with page number: Kathryn Kerby-Fulton, Maidie Hilmo and Linda Olson, Opening Up Middle English Manuscripts: Literary and Visual Approaches (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2012), 318.
• Subsequent footnote/endnote reference with page number: Kerby-Fulton, Hilmo and Olson, Opening Up Middle English Manuscripts , 318.

With this style of referencing, a reference list isn’t strictly necessary because all the bibliographical information required to find sources has already been provided in the notes, but a bibliography is sometimes included (see Section 5.2.3).

Although the primary function of footnotes or endnotes in an in-note referencing style is to provide citations and bibliographical information on sources, additional material of all kinds can also be included in the notes, making them a useful site for comparing and contrasting theories and evidence and results, and creating a kind of secondary dialogue within the discussion of a paper. However, many publishers now view such notes as clutter on the page and often relegate them as endnotes to the end of an article or chapter or book in order to avoid what is seen as an unattractive problem. Unfortunately, notes tend to be read less often when they appear at the end of a document rather than as footnotes on each page, so this fact should be considered when deciding whether to include notes in your paper or not, regardless of which referencing system you’re using. Check the journal guidelines, comply with any requirements and as a general rule for modern publication, use notes as little as possible – that is, only when you need to do so.

When you do use notes, remember that they should be written in full sentences and correctly punctuated – footnotes and endnotes are not the place for point-form information or English that is informal or shorthand. Note numbers generally take the form of superscript Arabic numerals (as I’ve used for the footnotes in this Guide; only very rarely are Roman numerals used) placed where they are most relevant in the text, but some journals ask that note numbers be enclosed in square brackets [1] or parentheses (1). Like numerical references, they usually follow full stops and commas,[1] and precede colons and semi-colons[2]; however, most journals that allow notes will provide some guidance on how to use them, so always consult and follow the guidelines. The font used in footnotes and endnotes should be the same as the font used in the main paper (although the automatic note function in a programme such as Word will often use a different one, so do watch for this and adjust the font if necessary), but the text in notes can be a little smaller than the text in the main document (a 10-point instead of 12-point font, for instance), so long as the text remains clear and legible in relation to the size of the main text and complies with any font size requirements provided by the journal.

[1] This example shows how to place a footnote number in relation to a comma or full stop. [2] This example shows how to place a footnote number in relation to a semi-colon or colon.

This article is part of a book called Guide to Academic and Scientific Publication: How To Get Your Writing Published in Scholarly Journals . It provides practical advice on planning, preparing and submitting articles for publication in scholarly journals.

Whether you are looking for information on designing an academic or scientific article, constructing a scholarly argument, targeting the right journal, following journal guidelines with precision, providing accurate and complete references, writing correct and elegant scholarly English, communicating with journal editors or revising your paper in light of that communication, you will find guidance, tips and examples in this manual.

This book is focusing on sound scholarly principles and practices as well as the expectations and requirements of academic and scientific journals, this guide is suitable for use in a wide variety of disciplines, including Economics, Engineering, the Humanities, Law, Management, Mathematics, Medicine and the Social, Physical and Biological Sciences .

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What Are Footnotes and How Do You Use Them?

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While reading a book or article, have you ever noticed little numbers placed at the ends of some sentences?

These numbers usually appear as superscripts and correspond with numbers placed at the bottom of the page, next to which appears further information that is both necessary and supplementary. Sometimes this information will come in the form of citations, but sometimes it will simply present additional notes about the topic at hand.

These citations and explanations are called "footnotes" (because they appear in the footer of the page). Take a look at the example below to see where footnotes appear on a page:

We've outlined how to use footnotes below. Check it out!

1. What Are Footnotes?

2. footnotes vs. endnotes, 2.1 should i use footnotes or endnotes, 3. how to do footnote citations, 3.1 in-text citations, 3.2 footnotes, 4. how to use footnotes in essays, 4.1 style guides, 4.1.1 modern language association (mla), 4.1.2  american psychological association (apa), 4.1.3  chicago manual of style (cms), 5. technical guide to using footnotes, 5.1 how to add footnotes in microsoft word, 5.2 how to add footnotes in google docs, 6. final tips and tricks .

Footnotes are notes that are placed at the end of a page and used to reference parts of the text (generally using superscript numbers). Writers use footnotes for several purposes, including  citations , parenthetical information, outside sources, copyright permissions, background information, and more.

Now that you understand what footnotes are, you might be wondering: why use them? The truth is, long explanatory notes can be difficult for readers to trudge through (especially when they occur in the middle of a paper). Providing this information is necessary, but doing so in the main text can disrupt the flow of the writing.

Imagine if every time an author wanted to provide a citation, the entire citation had to be written out at the end of the sentence, like this (Anthony Grafton, The Footnote: A Curious History [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999] 221). Books would become much longer and reading would be much more tedious. That's why footnotes are so useful: they let authors provide the required information without disrupting the flow of ideas.

While footnotes are a great resource for sharing information without clogging up the writing, it's important to note that certain style guides restrict when footnotes can be used. We'll get into that soon!

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Authors can also use endnotes to avoid disrupting their writing with extraneous information. Both serve similar purposes; the main difference lies in their location in your text. Here's a closer look at how both footnotes and endnotes work.

• Identified in the main text with a small superscript number
• Used for citations, parenthetical information, outside sources, copyright permissions, background information, and more
• Provide the correlating notes at the bottom of the same page
• Identified in the main text with a small superscript number (like footnotes)
• Used for citations, parenthetical information, outside sources, copyright permissions, background information, and more (like footnotes)
• Found collectively at the end of an article, chapter, or document (unlike footnotes)

When deciding  whether to use footnotes or endnotes , authors must consider three main factors:

• The style guide being used (as some require either footnotes or endnotes)
• The number of notes being included (as having too many footnotes on each page can be distracting)
• Which option will be more convenient for the reader

To make a footnote citation, label the area of your text that you need to reference with a number (if it's your first footnote, start with "1."). At the bottom of the page, include this number with the citation. When readers see the number in the text, they know they can find the source by looking for the corresponding footnote.

Here's an example of a quoted piece of text using in-text citations vs. footnotes.

"Like the high whine of the dentist's drill, the low rumble of the footnote on the historian's page reassures" ( The Footnote: A Curious History [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press], 1999. pg. 1).

"Like the high whine of the dentist's drill, the low rumble of the footnote on the historian's page reassures." 1

[Text continues]

Bottom of the page:

1. The Footnote: A Curious History [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press], 1999. pg. 1

The exact format of your footnote depends on   the style guide  you're following. Here are some of the most common style guides for writing papers, as well as the footnote rules for each one.

Of the major style guides, The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) uses footnotes most often. However, footnotes are occasionally employed in other style guides as well. The main difference is that, while CMS uses footnotes for citation purposes, the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA) generally rely on them for the provision of additional information.

While MLA style discourages the use of long footnotes or endnotes, the style guide does permit their use for directing readers to other pertinent information on a relevant subject.

The guide recommends that superscript numbers within the text are placed outside any punctuation that might be present (i.e., after a period if the note is at the end of a sentence and after a comma if the note is at the end of a clause). The exception to this is that the superscript numbers should be placed before dashes.

• When a footnote must be placed at the end of a clause, 1 add the number after the comma.
• When a footnote must be placed at the end of a sentence, add the number after the period. 2
• Numbers denoting footnotes should always appear after punctuation, with the exception of one piece of punctuation 3 —the dash.

4.1.2 American Psychological Association (APA)

Like MLA, APA discourages the use of footnotes unless absolutely necessary. Even then, the guide recommends that footnotes only be used to provide content notes (such as providing brief, supplemental information about the text or directing readers to additional information) and to denote copyright permissions. The rules regarding placement of the in-text numbers is the same in APA as in MLA.

4.1.3 The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS)

Of the three main style guides described here, CMS relies on footnotes the most. While CMS does allow the author–date system of in-text referencing (i.e., providing the author's name and the date of publication in parentheses at the end of the phrase, clause, or sentence that references the work), it also offers a citation style in which footnotes or endnotes are employed. In both cases, bibliographies are also required. Whether an author should use the author–date system or footnotes is often decided by the author's professor, journal, or publisher.

As an example, if footnotes are used, the following format should be adhered to when referencing a book in CMS:

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To use footnotes in your own book, essay, or article, you must first decide on the most appropriate and logical placement of your footnotes in the text. Add numbers according to your chosen style guide, and be sure to add the numbers directly after the phrase, clause, or sentence to which the corresponding footnote refers.

Most online writing programs (such as Microsoft Word and Google Docs) come with easy-to-use tools for inserting footnotes. Here are step-by-step guides to using footnotes in both these programs.

5.2 How to Add Footnotes in Microsoft Word

Here's how to use footnotes in Microsoft Word 2021:

• Click on the place in the text where you want the first footnote to appear.
• Under the References tab, you'll see the following symbol: AB.1. Beneath this symbol is a button with the words, "Insert Footnote." Click it to create your first footnote.
• After you click that button, two numbers should appear: one number should appear in the main text, and the corresponding number should appear at the bottom of the page.
• Write your citation or additional information next to the number that appears in the footer. Format the information according to the rules of your style guide.
• You can easily return to your place in the text by clicking the number at the beginning of the footnote.

Congrats! You've created your first footnote. You can also adjust the footnote settings (like the numbering) by clicking the arrow beside the Footnotes group. It's really that easy!

Here's how to use footnotes on Google Docs:

• Under the Insert tab, click on "Footnotes."

All you really have to do to create footnotes is click a button—it couldn't be easier!

6. Final Tips and Tricks

To  improve your writing  and avoid cluttering the page, you should use footnotes sparingly and only to provide helpful additions or citations. As previously noted, this information may be considered supplementary, which is why it's best to place it away from the main portion of your writing.

When creating your footnotes, always keep reader convenience in mind, and remember that the footnotes are there to convey helpful information. If your footnotes are excessive or unnecessary, readers are likely to become annoyed—they may even be distracted from the main points of your writing.

Now that you're no longer asking "What are footnotes?" and you know how to use them according to various style guides, footnotes can become a great asset to you as a writer. Be sure to follow the recommendations above, as well as those of your preferred style guide, to ensure that you're using footnotes to their best effect. Don't forget—if you ever need help with writing, our academic articles are here for you!

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Headnotes or Footnotes? A Quick Guide on Organizing Your Research Paper

In academic writing, footnotes, endnotes, and headnotes provide additional information on a particular topic. They are placed in the document as a supplement to the main text. These notes can be inserted into the document as a footer or at the end of a chapter.

The notes should be kept as brief as possible. The objective is to provide more information without distracting the reader. We discuss the different types of notes, how to use them, and their pros and cons.

What Are They and Why Use Them?

A footnote is a reference placed at the bottom of a page or footer. They are referenced in the text in the same way as a citation i.e. the referenced text is followed by a superscript numeral ( 1 ), which corresponds to the numbered footnote at the bottom of the page. When writing your research paper , you would use a footnote for two major reasons:

• To cite sources of facts or quotations
• Provide additional information  

The two types of footnotes are:

• Content : Supplements or simplifies substantive information; not detailed.
• Copyright permission : Cites quoted text and any reprinted materials used in the text.

The format of footnotes is fairly standard (see below for specific rules) and is the same as that for references as follows:

Adrian Johns.  The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 623.

When citing the same reference again, the footnote can be shortened as follows:

Johns.  Nature of the Book , 384–85.

Some older journals use “ ibid ” instead of a shortened version of the reference. Ibid is short for the Latin “ ibidem” , which means “in the same place.” This format was previously used in most printed text but rarely used now.

Endnotes are much the same as footnotes except that they are placed at the end your research paper instead of at the bottom of a page. In books, they can be placed after each chapter or at the end of the book.

In many cases, the book publisher decides the best placement. Endnotes, as footnotes, are numerically noted in superscript. The format is the same as that for footnotes.

Headnotes are used as introductions in legal documents or as summaries of the text that follows them. In academic writing, headnotes are explanatory notes included with tables and figures. They are placed below the table itself or just below the figure title and typed in a font size that is smaller than the main text (e.g., 8- or 10-point font). Headnotes are used to define acronyms used, units of measure, significance, etc. Because tables and figures should be able to “stand alone” without the main text, headnotes should always be used.

Format for Footnotes, Endnotes, and Headnotes

Although the format for footnotes and endnotes is almost similar, there are specific rules depending on the journal where the paper is submitted. Most scientific journals use specific reference formats; however, some style guides do not allow footnotes and endnotes.

For example, the Modern Language Association (MLA), which deals specifically with disciplines in the humanities allows limited use of footnotes. These are to provide the reader with other sources for more information on the subject covered. The MLA style for these notes is shown in the example below and the number corresponds to the superscript number noted in the referenced text:

See [name of author], especially chapters 3 and 4, for an insightful analysis of this trend.

MLA suggests using “content” footnotes when necessary to avoid interrupting the text with an explanation or other details.

In contrast, the American Psychological Association (APA), the style for the behavioral and social sciences, does not usually allow footnotes. Your particular journal guidelines will provide that information.

A third style guide, the American Medical Association (AMA) , is used mostly with papers in the biological and medical sciences. AMA also discourages the use of footnotes but allows them on the title page. The information on the title page would include the authors’ names and affiliations, corresponding author, members of affiliated groups, etc.

Pros and Cons

Scientific papers do not usually include footnotes. Endnotes may be used sometimes, but sparingly. Other disciplines, such as law and history, still use them regularly . There are pros and cons to each.

The advantages of using footnotes are that they provide the reader with a fast reference and link to additional information. They are easy to insert and will automatically print. The advantage of using endnotes instead of footnotes is that their placement is less distracting. They also provide the reader with an easy reference list in one place.

According to the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), endnotes are preferred to footnotes simply because they don’t clutter up a page. CMOS does caution that it can seem disconcerting to a reader to see pages of notes at the end of a chapter or book, so use them sparingly.

Again, another disadvantage to footnotes is that they tend to interrupt the flow of the text. The reader might feel that he must stop and look at the note before moving on, which can be very distracting. Some disadvantages to endnotes are that the reader must turn to the end of the text or chapter to find the additional information. In books with several chapters, this can be tedious, especially if the endnotes are renumbered in each chapter.

As for headnotes, there are really no drawbacks to using them in tables and figures. They offer the reader helpful information that is readily available as they read the data or interpret a figure.

Bottom Line

The style to which you conform when writing your paper will ultimately depend on the journal’s guidelines. Pay careful attention to its protocols for citations and references and whether it will allow footnotes and endnotes. If allowed, be mindful of the disadvantages of both and consider either greatly limiting them or eliminating them altogether.

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Footnotes and Endnotes: Introduction

• Introduction
• How to add a footnote
• Footnotes Vs Endnotes

What is a Footnote

Cite references or adding comments on a specific part of the paper or a sentence. They are usually placed at the bottom of the page. Footnotes are interesting comments as well as referring to other relevant and useful sources. They point out where the material is coming from, and where to look for extra sources on that topic.

An Endnote is a reference, comment, or explanation usually located at the end of the article, research paper and chapter.

Endnotes main purpose is to direct users to the original source of a quotation, paraphrase, or summary. They provide extra information and explanatory comments to the main text.

Users of academic and scholarly publications prefer footnotes to endnotes 

Where do you add a footnote mark?

The most preferred and the most common practice is to put the footnote at the end of the sentence after (any) punctuation mark.

To begin typing a new sentence or paragraph skip two spaces.

If the sentence has more than one footnote, add the footnote in the middle of the sentence right after the word you want to clarify, but this practice is not recommended, the best practice is:

• To be added at the end of the sentence or the end of the phrase.
• Should be added after a punctuation mark.
• If the footnote is not at the end of the sentence when you start a new paragraph or line skip only one space.

Adding Footnotes in Word 2013

Footnotes and endnotes often appear in the same discussion, and there is some confusion between the two terms. Let us clear up that confusion. Footnotes and endnotes are used in printed documents to explain, comment on, or provide references for a text in a report. Many people use footnotes for detailed comments and  endnotes  for citation of sources.

Footnotes  typically appear at the end of each page, whereas  endnotes  appear at the end of the document. Footnotes and endnotes consist of two linked parts – the note reference mark and the corresponding note text.

Insert A Footnote Or An Endnote

The numbering of footnotes and endnotes is done automatically by Microsoft Word. You can use a single numbering scheme throughout a document, or you can use different numbering schemes within each section in a paper. To insert a footnote or an endnote, place the cursor where you want the marker, then go to the References tab and click  Insert Endnote  or  Insert Footnote  (in the Footnotes group).

Word inserts the note reference mark (usually a sequential number) and places the insertion point in the text area of the new footnote or endnote.  You can format the footnote text like any other text (e.g. make it bold, italic, change the font etc.).

Once you’ve finished typing the endnote or footnote you can place the cursor back in the main body of your document to carry on amending it. To return to the reference mark in the paper, double-click the footnote or endnote reference mark. In fact, this works the other way around too: double click on the reference mark in the document to jump to the footnote or endnote.

When you add, delete, or move notes that have been automatically numbered, Word renumbers the footnote and endnote reference marks.

When you hover over a reference mark in your document, a tooltip will display that contains the text in the corresponding footnote/endnote.

Word keeps a record of each footnote and endnote you create, and you can see them all by clicking References > Captions > Cross-reference, We can use the list presented here to reuse footnotes and insert them elsewhere. However, cross-references have a limitation – if you add another footnote above the original one, the footnote number will update but the cross-reference number will not. To do this, you need to update all fields in the document. There are various ways to do this, but the easiest is to open “Print Preview”. This will update all cross-references to the correct numbers.

Note: If your footnotes were incorrectly numbered, your document might contain tracked changes. Accept the tracked changes, and then Word will correctly number the footnotes and endnotes.

A plethora of tutorials to get you up to speed with Microsoft Word 2013

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How to use Footnotes and Endnotes in academic papers

By charlesworth author services.

• Charlesworth Author Services
• 28 January, 2022

How to use and write Footnotes and Endnotes in academic papers

Research papers and reports often include adjuncts such as charts and graphs, tables , diagrams, a hierarchy of headings, citations and references etc. Notes – whether footnotes or endnotes – are an important adjunct. They primarily serve the role of supplying additional information , which, if weaved into the main text, may reduce its ease of readability .

Footnotes vs. endnotes

• Location : By definition, footnotes appear at the foot of a page on which appears the text they support. Endnotes are placed at the end of a paper, a chapter or a book.
• Space : Footnotes, being located at the bottom of each individual page, are constrained by the amount of space available, whereas endnotes, located right at the end of the text, are afforded much more ample room.
• Amount of information (and flow) : The above point (space) is a useful distinction that tells readers what to expect. Footnotes offer small bits of information that you can choose to take in without breaking stride. You could take a quick look and return to the main text on the same page. On the other hand, endnotes may sometimes contain sizeable amounts of information, but you do not have to interrupt your reading of the main text. You can choose to read them once you have reached the end of the document.

Footnotes: Examples

As discussed, footnotes comprise small bits of information short enough to take in at a glance. Here are a couple of examples to illustrate the function of footnotes.

• A text may mention the name of an organisation and use a footnote to explain that the organisation had a different name in the past.
• A text may mention a certain sum of money in Korean Won, and the corresponding footnotes will indicate the equivalent sum in US dollars. 

Endnotes: Examples

As discussed too, endnotes can comprise much longer parcels of information. Here too are a couple of examples to illustrate the use of endnotes.

• While you may describe a certain method in your main text, you might use an endnote to outline in more detail some other tangential studies , perhaps from a slightly different field, which used that same method , the results they produced and why this may be of interest.
• You might cite an important quotation within the main body of your text and then include in a related endnote the full paragraph or section from which that quotation was taken, thus enabling interested readers to explore the wider context and additional insights if they wish. 

Usage in academic papers and digital documents

As an author of an academic paper, you can choose between footnotes and endnotes depending on how much additional information you want to give. Be aware, however, that footnotes and endnotes, especially endnotes, are virtually never used in research papers in the physical and biological sciences . They may sometimes be used in the social sciences and are more commonly seen in the humanities .

In digital documents, the distinction between footnotes and endnotes and their placement is less important, because the additional information can be connected to the main text with hyperlinks .

Writing footnotes and endnotes

• Superscripts and symbols : Within the main text, both footnotes and endnotes are typically signalled, or announced, using superscript numbers, although, for footnotes, other symbols such as a star or an asterisk (*), a dagger or obelisk (†), a double dagger or diesis (‡), a section mark (§), a pilcrow or blind p (¶), and so on are also employed, usually in that order. Do note that these symbols are never used with endnotes .
• Numbers : With numbered footnotes, the sequence either begins afresh on each page or can be continued throughout within a paper, a chapter (e.g. if the book has chapters by different contributors) or a book. Endnotes are always numbered and the sequence is always continuous .
• Heading for endnotes : Note that the heading for endnotes, when all of them are gathered at the end, is simply ‘Notes’ and not ‘Endnotes’.
• Footnotes for tables : Table titles, column or row headings, or specific cells within a table can all carry footnotes. Those footnotes are explained at the foot of the table in question and not at the foot of a page on which the table appears.

As a scholar, try to familiarise yourself with the idea of notes and their related mechanics as early on in your writing process as possible. These details can seem numerous at first, but once you master them, you will be able to spontaneously incorporate them into your writing.

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Organizing Academic Research Papers: Footnotes or Endnotes?

• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Executive Summary
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tertiary Sources
• What Is Scholarly vs. Popular?
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Annotated Bibliography
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• How to Manage Group Projects
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Essays
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Acknowledgements

Endnote Note citing a particular source or making a brief explanatory comment placed at the end of a research paper.

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

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 reviewing the footnote can just glance down the page to find what they are looking for.
• A footnote immediately connects the reader to the citation or your specific thought, concept, or idea related to the text.
• 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 or 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.

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

• 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 without 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.
• 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.
• In general, the use of footnotes is now considered 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 system 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 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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Footnotes and Bibliographies

Introduction to documentation.

Proper documentation of sources is essential to a strong research essay. Failure to cite your sources properly will result in a reduced or failing grade. Different academic disciplines require different methods of citation. The purpose of this module is to introduce you to the correct formats for notes and bibliographies in history essays.

Notes are references listed at the bottom of a page (footnote) or at the end of a research essay (endnote) that document sources or provide additional information to your reader. Acknowledging the work of other historians is an essential part of the process of writing a research essay. Notes tell your reader where you found your information and enable your reader to explore your ideas in more depth. Failing to acknowledge the words or ideas of others, and leaving the impression that they are your own, is a very serious offence. Scholars work extremely hard to produce books and articles. You must give credit where credit is due. Provide notes specifying your sources for the following:

• Quotations, paraphrases, arguments and unique ideas.
• Statistical information or other specific information that is not commonly known.
• Controversial or contested information.

In addition to listing sources, notes can also serve as a place to put supplementary information that is not appropriate in the main text of your essay or might distract your reader from your main argument. Provide notes for the following:

• Suggestions for further reading.
• Further explanation or background that is not strictly relevant to your argument.
• Definitions of terms and concepts based on scholarly research.
• The original language of a translated quotation.
• Broad historiographical debates that would be overwhelming in the body of the essay. For example, if a date is disputed, you might explain the debate in a note, while in the body of your essay providing only the date you have determined is most valid.

Stylistic Comments

Historians use the chicago style of citation, and not the apa or mla formats..

• Most historians prefer footnotes at the bottom of the page as it is easier to refer to them; however endnotes are acceptable. Endnotes are often used in published books and articles (despite the protests of authors) because they are cheaper and easier to print.
• Each note is assigned an Arabic (not Roman) numeral in the order in which they appear in your essay. Do not reuse the same number, even if you cite the same source twice. Word processing programs will renumber notes automatically if you cut and paste. (Click here for more on the footnoting function in Word.)
• Provide specific and accurate page references. Cite the precise pages you used, eg. 39, 42-43, rather than 39-43. If you reference page sequences, use only two digits in the second number, eg. 387-89. If the book uses Roman numerals, as many book introductions will, cite the page numbers exactly as they appear, eg. xi.
• It is superfluous to use “p” or “pp” to indicate a page number or numbers.
• For poetry and certain other primary sources such as law codes, in addition to page numbers, it is helpful to list line numbers or section numbers to direct the reader to specific passages, eg. lines 356-78 or IV.3.
• Remember that variations may exist within citation methods. It is important to be consistent within each essay.
• For an overview of how notes should look, please review the notes in your course pack articles.

​ Note Format

Bibliographies

Bibliographies provide the reader with a complete list of sources used in a research essay. Occasionally you may be asked to submit an annotated bibliography. This means that each bibliographic entry is accompanied by a description of the source and its relevance to your essay. Few bibliographies are annotated. When compiling your bibliography, please follow these guidelines:

• The bibliography is located on the last page(s) of the essay, following endnotes, if used.
• Always start your bibliography on a new page.
• List bibliographic entries in alphabetical order, according to the author’s surname. When listing multiple works by one author, alphabetize according to title.
• Separate alphabetized entries into the following categories if used: Archival sources, Primary sources and Secondary sources.
• If you have used more than one article or primary source published in a single volume, provide individual bibliographic entries for each article. In the case of a primary source collection in which the documents are very short (for example, a collection of brief letters) and you used a lot of them, it is acceptable to provide one entry for the book as a whole.
• Unless instructed otherwise, list only works cited. Do not list all the works you consulted for your project, but did not cite. Listing all works consulted is considered padding and is frowned upon by scholars.
• Make sure your bibliographic format is consistent within each essay.

Examine some recently published history texts to see how bibliographies should look.

Bibliographic Format

How to Write an Annotated Bibliography

Avoiding Plagiarism

If you have any doubt about whether or not to cite something, cite it. Your instructor will be much happier to discuss the issue of too many footnotes or endnotes than failing to provide any. A first year research essay that is 8-10 double-spaced pages in length or roughly 1500-2000 words will likely have 25-50 footnotes or endnotes. This is not an exact science and these numbers are only a guideline. The consequences of failing to provide sufficient and accurate notes can range from a greatly reduced grade on your essay to institutional expulsion and a permanent record on your transcripts if you have been convicted of the offence on a previous occasion in your academic career.

Remember that your instructors are excellent readers and writers. They will recognize changes in voice or discrepancies in documentation that indicate plagiarism, and have a variety of search engines and plagiarism-detection tools available to the help them identify it. Fake notes will guarantee a zero on your essay and a plagiarism report on file in the Dean’s office. We recommend that you insert notes as you write, rather than leaving them until the end of the writing process. You will be less likely to lose track of your sources by following this best practice.

Academic Honesty

All members of the University community share the responsibility for the academic standards and reputation of the University. When students submit work for academic evaluation and credit, they imply that they are the sole authors of the work. Clear and careful attribution of the words and ideas of others is an essential part of academic scholarship. Academic honesty is a cornerstone of the development and acquisition of knowledge and is a condition of continued membership in the University community.

Academic Dishonesty Academic dishonesty, including plagiarism and cheating, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. Engaging in any form of academic dishonesty or misconduct in order to obtain academic credit or advantage of any kind is an offence under this policy.

A student who has been found to have committed an academic offence will be subject to a penalty or penalties commensurate with the offence. Penalties may range from a reprimand to suspension from the University. Examples include the reduction of a mark on work submitted for evaluation, the requirement to submit another piece of work or to retake a test or examination, and a grade of “0 – Academic Dishonesty” on a student’s transcript. For academic offences involving loss of marks, penalties more serious than a “0” on a piece of work submitted for evaluation will be imposed only by the Dean. The application of penalties imposed by the Dean will be overseen by the Registrar. In deciding on the appropriate sanction to be imposed for an act of academic dishonesty, consideration may be given to the following factors:

• the extent of the dishonesty
• whether the act in question was inadvertent or deliberate
• the importance of the work in question as a component of the course or program
• whether the student has been found to have committed any previous act of academic dishonesty
• whether the act in question was an isolated incident or part of repeated acts of academic dishonesty
• any other relevant circumstances

Referencing your work: Footnotes 2024

• Getting started
• Using sources in writing
• Harvard Hull
• Footnotes Hull
• Referencing videos
• Harvard 2024
• Footnotes 2024

Footnote Referencing

*new for 2024-25* this guidance has been updated to reflect how students access many materials. returning students may continue to use previous guidance which can be found here - legacy guidance, please note your tutors may also still be transitioning from earlier guidance so some learning materials may include examples that do not exactly match this style..

There are several different types of footnote referencing (Oxford, Chicago etc) and every university has its own guide that differs slightly in terms of punctuation, formatting and the order of information. This guide attempts to give definitive examples of how to reference different materials using footnote referencing here at the University of Hull.

Jump to content:

Basic rules of Footnote referencing

• Citing figures and tables
• Referencing anything not in the list

Books (print and electronic)

• Articles (journal, newspaper or magazine)
• Official Governmetal and NGO documents

Other documents

• Web pages, social media and other online sources

Images, artwork and maps

Audiovisual sources, live performances, personal communications etc, self-translated works.

If you prefer, a pdf version of this information can be downloaded here:

  Footnote Referencing.pdf

A one page guide with the most common sources can be found here:

  Quick Reference Guide (Common Reference Types)

Put this guide where you can easily find it:

  Add to your Canvas Dashboard

This is the standardised referencing system to be used by all departments, faculties and schools at the University of Hull who ask their students to use a footnotes referencing system (with the exception of Law who use the standard OSCOLA system). Use these guidelines when referencing manually. We also recommend that all students learn how to use bibliographic software (EndNote or Refworks) over the course of their studies to make their referencing more efficient.

Please see our  Bibliographic Software  pages for more information.

When using footnote referencing, information from another source is indicated in the text by using a  superscript number  after the relevant text. 1  This should come  after  the relevant punctuation mark (usually the full stop but it could be a comma, colon or semi-colon if you are referring to several sources within a single sentence). At the bottom of the page, the number is repeated with the reference given. This is usually achieved in Microsoft Word by using the 'Insert Footnote' option on the References tab. If you use this function the numbers will be automatically generated and updated. Other word processors will have equivalent functions.

The amount of information that you give in the footnote is dictated by whether it is the first time you have referred to a source or not (see below).

A full  bibliography  is then given at the end of the document with the references in alphabetical order by surname.

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1  This is an example of a footnote.

The first time you cite a source

Give a full reference (called a full footnote in this guide). Author names should be Initial(s). Surname (i.e. C. N. Adichie) and are not reversed (i.e. Adichie, C. N.). Many footnote systems suggest full names should be given rather than initials, however the University of Hull has decided to use initials only as many academic journals do not give full names and this would lead to inconsistency within the system. Page numbers indicating where you found the information you are referring to should be given at the end of the reference. If you want to point to a specific page in a book chapter or journal article reference, you should add a colon after the page range to do this.

Examples of a book and a journal article for single authors are given below.

N. Rogers, The press gang: naval impressment and its opponents in Georgian Britain (London: Continuum, 2007), 45-47.

K. N. Panikkar, ‘Literature as history of social change’. Social Scientist , 40, 3 (2012) 3-15:4.

Subsequent citations

Use ibid. if the source is the same as the previous citation on the same page, otherwise use the short footnote form (No 4 below). There is no rule as to how short this should be, other than to make sure it is recognisable as a specific reference.

1 N. Rogers, The press gang: naval impressment and its opponents in Georgian Britain (London: Continuum, 2007), 45-60. 2 ibid. , 22. 3 K. N. Panikkar, ‘Literature as history of social change’, Social Scientist , 40, 3 (2012) 3-15:4. 4 Rogers, The press gang, 55.

Bibliography entries

In the bibliography, references are entered in alphabetical order with the surname first (for more than one author, only the first surname is reversed).

• Use single line spacing with hanging indents.
• Multiple entries by the same author should use a long dash (em dash) for all but the first entry (these can be inserted using Ctrl+Alt+- on your numeric keypad).
• Publishing information is not given in brackets.
• Page numbers are not needed for full books (just journal articles or book chapters/sections).

Isserman, M. & M. Kazin, America divided: the civil war of the 1960s , 3 rd edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

Reynal-Querol, M., Religious conflict and growth: theory and evidence . PhD thesis. London School of Economics and Political Science, 2007.

— 'Ethnicity, political systems and civil war', Journal of Conflict Resolution , 46 (2002), 29–54.

Missing information

Where no date is known, use the abbreviation n.d.

You can also use n.p. for no publisher and n.l. for no location. Check with your department to see if these are necessary or whether you can just omit the information completely.

Unknown authors

Many official documents and web pages do not give the actual author of the text, but publish as an organisation. If this is the case, just use the organisation name (BBC, UN Security Council etc) in place of the author initials and name.

Where the author name is not known (for instance for some reference books) and a corporate author is not clear, use the title of the work (or web page) in your footnote (if this is long you can use a shortened form):

Concise Oxford Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).

Gourmet coffee boom (2013). Available online: https://www.8975.co.uk/gourmet-coffee/ [Accessed 2/1/2014].

Do not use the abbreviation Anon.

When to include page numbers

If possible, you should include page numbers to point to the specific page or pages where the information you are referencing can be found. This is to help your reader locate your source material more easily. Occasionally you will be referring to a source as a whole in which case page numbers are not necessary. The page numbers should come at the end of the reference:

Full footnote:

D. Daiches et al., The Penguin companion to literature (London: Allen Lane, 1971), 58.

Short footnote:

Daiches et al., The Penguin companion to literature , 67.

With journal articles or chapters in books, where you have already given a page range, a colon separates this from the relevant page(s):

E. G. Guba, & Y. S. Lincoln, 'Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions and emerging confluences', in N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (eds.), The landscape of qualitative research , 3rd edition. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2008), 255-286:263.

G. Badley, 'The pragmatic university: a feasible utopia?', Studies in Higher Education (2014), 1-11:3-4.

Page numbers are not given in bibliography entries - only those indicating journal article and book chapter page ranges.

Secondary references

Sometimes you want to reference something that has been quoted, reproduced or cited in a source you have read (a secondary reference). Here are a few simple rules when dealing with them:

• If at all possible, find the original source and use that instead.
• Never pretend you have read the original source.
• Only include the book/article you have read in the reference list.
• Always make it clear in your in text or footnote that it is a secondary reference. Here are some examples:

Qutayba was quoted as saying that... 2

Footnote: I. Qutayba quoted in B. Lewis, Race and slavery in the Middle East: An historical enquiry [eBook] (Oxford Scholarship Online, 1992), 25.

Alternatively, Qutayba, quoted/cited in Lewis, 2 suggested that ...

The Lewis book would be referenced in the footnote and bibliography.

Citing figures, tables and data within your work

If you are using an image, diagram, chart, photograph or other figures in your work, you should ensure these are properly referenced. If you made the figure yourself but used data from elsewhere to create it, you should ensure you cite the source of the data used to create your figure. The citation of images varies by discipline , and you may be required to either cite images within the footnotes or the caption . Please check with your lecturer.

Using footnotes: Citing figures in your work

Citing figures in written work and posters.

In written work, you should always caption your figures with a label, a number and a meaningful title. Standard practice is to put captions underneath figures . You should ensure your figure (or data) citations are included in your bibliography as with any other reference. The punctuation used can vary, but always ensure you are consistent:

Figure Number – Title. Footnote number

Figure Number: Title. Footnote number

Figure Number. Title. Footnote number

Figure 1 - The Radcliffe Camera, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. 3

You would then follow the short/long footnote citation styles in the rest of this guide.

Note: For small assignments (essays) the numbers should be sequential (i.e. Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3). For larger assignments (dissertations, projects, thesis) it is standard practice to restart numbering at each chapter and prefix figure numbers with the chapter number. For example, Figure 2.1 would be the first figure in chapter 2 and Figure 4.5 would be the fifth figure in chapter 4.

Citing figures in presentations

For presentations, you don't necessarily need a caption and at a minimum only need to include a numbered superscript in-text citation on or near the figure. You should, however, ensure figures are explained, and this can be done via your narration, by using a caption or by using the slide's title. You should ensure your image citations are included in your bibliography as with any other reference. For presentations, this can be achieved using the slide notes area or a slide towards the end of the presentation. Slides do not need footnotes, but your reference list should be presented as endnotes, with the order and numbering corresponding with the numbers in your superscript in-text citations.

Using footnotes: Citing tables in your work

Citing tables in written work and posters.

In written work, you should always caption your tables with a label, a number and a meaningful title. Standard practice is to put captions above tables . You should ensure your table (or data) citations are included in your bibliography as with any other reference. The punctuation used can vary, but always ensure you are consistent:

Table Number – Title. Footnote number

Table Number: Title .Footnote number

Table Number. Title. Footnote number

Table 1 - United Kingdom population mid-year estimate. 3

Note: For small assignments (essays) the numbers should be sequential (i.e. Table 1, Table 2, Table 3). For larger assignments (dissertations, projects, thesis) it is standard practice to restart numbering at each chapter and prefix table numbers with the chapter number. For example, Table 2.1 would be the first tble in chapter 2 and Figure 4.5 would be the fifth table in chapter 4.

Citing tables in presentations

For presentations, you don't necessarily need a caption and at a minimum only need to include a numbered superscript in-text citation on or near the table. You should, however, ensure tables are explained, and this can be done via your narration, by using a caption or by using the slide's title. You should ensure your table and data citations are included in your bibliography as with any other reference. For presentations, this can be achieved using the slide notes area or a slide towards the end of the presentation. Slides do not need footnotes, but your reference list should be presented as endnotes, with the order and numbering corresponding with the numbers in your superscript in-text citations.

Remember: Presentations are a visual mode of communication. You should consider presenting any tables you want to include in the form of a chart, graph or other visual.

Using captions: Citing figures in your work

In written work, you should always caption your figures with a label, a number, a meaningful title and a citation. Standard practice is to put captions underneath figures . If your department requires you to cite figures in your captions you should not cite figures in your footnotes or include references for figures within your bibliography . Full citation information should be presented in the figure caption, following the style of the full footnote to ensure you provide the correct information. The punctuation used can vary, but always ensure you are consistent:

Figure Number – Title  ( Citation information ).

Figure Number: Title  ( Citation information ).

Figure Number. Title  ( Citation information ).

Figure 1 - The Radcliffe Camera, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford  ( Citation information ).

For presentations, you don't necessarily need a caption. You should, however, ensure figures are explained, and this can be done via your narration, by using a caption or by using the slide's title. You should ensure brief image citations are included on the slide. 

Using captions: Citing tables in your work

In written work, you should always caption your tables with a label, a number, a meaningful title and a citation. Standard practice is to put captions above tables . If your department requires you to cite tables in your captions you should not cite tables in your footnotes or include references for tables within your bibliography . Full citation information should be presented in the table caption, following the style of the full footnote to ensure you provide the correct information. The punctuation used can vary, but always ensure you are consistent:

Table Number – Title  ( Citation information ).

Table Number: Title  ( Citation information ).

Table Number. Title  ( Citation information ).

Table 1 - United Kingdom population mid-year estimate (C itation information )

Referencing templates and examples

You will find below information about how to reference nearly all commonly referenced information sources. Examples are given for full footnotes, short footnotes and bibliography entries. If there is anything missing, please use the advice under 'Referencing anything not listed below' to develop your own reference. If you are struggling, then contact us on [email protected] and we will advise you personally. 

Referencing anything not listed below

It is not possible for us to give precise referencing information for everything you could ever need to reference. The sections below give advice on referencing more common source types but if the thing you need to reference is not there, then you will have to make up a sensible reference yourself using the guidelines here:

Anything else

If you need to reference anything that is not already included in this guide then follow the basic template below.

Initial(s). Surname of author/creator, Title or description [Medium if not obvious]. Anything that identifies it specifically (Any other information about where or when you saw it or that can help someone else find it, including date).

Surname of Author(s)/Creator(s), Title or description .

Bibliography entry:

Surname, Initial(s). of Author/Creator, Title or description [Medium if not obvious]. Anything that identifies it specifically. Any other information about where or when you saw it or that can help someone else find it, including date.

Book with single author

Initial(s). Surname of author, Title of book in sentence case and italics:* subtitle if present (Publisher, Year), relevant page(s).

K. Robinson , Out of our minds: learning to be creative (Capstone Publishing Ltd. 2001), 63-64.

Surname, Shortened form of book title , relevant page(s)

Robinson, Out of our minds , 63-64.

Surname, Initial(s). Title of book in sentence case and italics: subtitle if present . Publisher, Year.

Robinson, K., Out of our minds: learning to be creative . Capstone Publishing Ltd. 2001.

*Sentence case means you only capitalise the first word and any proper nouns.

Book with multiple authors

Full footnote:.

Initial(s). Surnames of authors, Title of book in sentence case: subtitle if present (Publisher, Year), relevant page(s).

For two authors use an ampersand (&) between them:

C. K. Bleser & L. J. Gordon, Intimate strategies of the Civil War: military commanders and their wives (Oxford University Press, 2006), 34.

For more than two authors, list only the first, followed by et al. (not italicised):

D. Daiches et al., The Penguin companion to literature (Allen Lane, 1971), 58.

Bleser & Gordon, Intimate strategies , 88-89.

List all the authors with the first one reversed. Don't bracket publishing information.

Bleser, C. K. & L. J. Gordon, Intimate strategies of the Civil War: military commanders and their wives . Oxford University Press, 2006.

Daiches, D., A. Thorlby, E. Mottram, M. Bradbury, J. Franco, D. R. Dudley, & D. M. Lang, The Penguin companion to literature . Allen Lane, 2006.

Not the first edition

Put the edition number after the book title (after a comma) in the full footnotes and bibliography entry. Use the full word 'edition' not an abbreviation (to distinguish it from the abbreviation for editor):

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), Title of book in sentence case: subtitle if present , N o edition (Publisher, Year), relevant page(s).

P. J. Lynch & S. Horton, Web style guide , 3 rd edition (Yale University Press, 2008), 78-79.

Lynch & Horton, Web style guide , 89-91.

Lynch, P. J. & S. Horton, Web style guide , 3 rd edition. Yale University Press, 2008.

An edited book

As for an authored book with the addition of (ed.) or (eds.) after editor name(s) in full footnotes and bibliography entries.

Initial(s). Surname of editor(s) (ed(s).), Title of book in sentence case: subtitle if present (Publisher, Year), relevant page(s).

P. Hacket (ed.), The Andy Warhol diaries (Penguin Classics, 2010), 66.

A. Bradley & A. DuBois (eds.), The anthology of rap (Yale University Press, 2010), 42-43.

Hacket, The Andy Warhol diaries , 66.

Bradley & DuBois, The anthology of rap , 42-43.

Hacket, P. (ed.), The Andy Warhol diaries . Penguin Classics, 2010.

Bradley, A. & A. DuBois (eds.), The anthology of rap . Yale University Press, 2010.

A chapter in an edited book

The name of the book, not the chapter needs to be in italics. The chapter title should be in single inverted commas. If the chapter date is different to the book publication date (e.g. for collected articles) put the book date after (ed.), before the book title. If all the page range is relevant, you can omit a specific page reference.

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), 'Title of chapter in sentence case'. In Editor(s) (ed(s).) Title of book in sentence case . (Publisher, Year). Page range of chapter:relevant page(s).

P. D. Richardson, ‘The British Empire and the Atlantic slave trade, 1660-1807’. In W. R. Louis (ed.), The Oxford history of the British Empire: Volume II: The eighteenth century (Oxford University Press, 1999), 448-456:449.

Richardson, ‘British Empire’, 449.

Richardson, P. D., ‘The British Empire and the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1660-1807’. In W. R. Louis (ed.), The Oxford history of the British Empire: Volume II: The eighteenth century , 448-456. Oxford University Press, 1999.

An electronic book (eBook)

There is no need to give information about which provider you accessed the eBook through. It is sufficient to indicate that it is an eBook that you have read by putting [eBook] in square brackets after the book title or edition information. If no place of publication information is available, don't worry, just put the publisher. URLs are not required as these are usually session specific and would not link the reader to the eBook:

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), Title of book in sentence case [eBook] (Publisher, Year), relevant page(s).

J. L. Stein & P. R. Allen, Fundamental determinants of exchange rates [eBook] (Oxford University Press, 1998), 22.

H. Parnell, The principles of currency and exchange , 4 th edition [eBook] (J. Budd, 1805), 14-15.

Stein & R. Allen, Fundamental determinants , 22.

Parnell, The principles of currency , 14-15.

Stein, J. L. & P. R. Allen, Fundamental determinants of exchange rates [eBook]. Oxford University Press, 1998.

Parnell, H., The principles of currency and exchange , 4 th edition [eBook]. J. Budd, 1805.

An eReader book (Kindle, Kobo, Nook etc)

As with other eBooks, it is sufficient to make it clear which version of the book you have read. This information is placed after the book title or edition information. You should include download dates if possible (versions are updated and this should be reflected). Download dates are usually the same as your purchase dates and can be found by looking back at your order history online. If you no longer have access to this information, don't worry, just give what information you have. Publisher information is often unavailable and can be omitted if this is the case (although can often be found at the end of your eReader book).

Note: Early eReader books may have location rather than page information. You can use 'loc' to indicate this if necessary.

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), Title of book , eReader version (Publisher, Year), relevant page(s) or location [Downloaded date].

D. Stevenson, Story theater method: strategic storytelling in business , Kindle version (Cornelia Press, 2003), loc 211. [Downloaded 2011].

R. Sheldrake et al., Chaos, creativity and cosmic consciousness , Kobo version (Inner Traditions/Bear & Company, 2001), 45. [Downloaded 4 Aug 2024].

Stevenson, Story theater method, loc 211.

Sheldrake et al., Chaos, creativity, 45.

Stevenson, D. Story theater method: strategic storytelling in business , Kindle version. Cornelia Press, 2003. [Downloaded 2011].

Sheldrake, R., T. McKenna & R. Abraham, Chaos, creativity and cosmic conciousness , Kobo version. Inner Traditions/Bear & Company, 2001. [Downloaded 4 Aug 2024].

Translated book

You should include details for the translator and an indication of the original language. If the original was a historically significant book, include the date of the original as well as the translation.

Note if you are self-translating books or articles, please see 'Self-translated works' under 'Further guidance' towards the bottom of these guidelines.

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), Title of book . Translated from language by name of translator, date if needed (Publisher, Year), relevant page(s).

C. Wolf, One day a year, 1960-2000 . Translated from German by L. A. Bangerter (Europa Editions, 2007), 65.

J. P. Sartre, Existentialism and humanism (1946). Translated from French by P. Mairet (Metheun, 2007), 44-45.

Wolf, One day a year, 65.

Sartre, Existentialism and humanism , 44-45.

Wolf, C., One day a year, 1960-2000 . Translated from German by L. A. Bangerter. Europa Editions, 2007.

Sartre, J. P., Existentialism and humanism (1946). Translated from French by P. Mairet. Metheun, 2007.

Audio book (CD or download)

When referring to material from audiobooks, a time stamp would be needed rather than page information.

Audio book on CD:

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), Title of book , [Audio CD] Version (abridged or unabridged) (Publisher, Year), Time stamp.

B. C. Tracy, Time management made simple , [Audio CD] Unabridged (Gildan Media Corporation, 2012), 22-26 min.

Tracy, Time management , 22-26 min.

Tracy, B. C., Time management made simple , [Audio CD] Unabridged. Gildan Media Corporation, 2012.

Audio book via download:

The main difference here is that you need to include a download date as versions change. Publishing cities are often not given.

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), Title of book , [Audio download]. Version (abridged or unabridged) (Publisher, Year), Time stamp. [Downloaded date].

B. C. Tracy, Time management made simple , [Audio download] Unabridged (Gildan Media Corporation, 2012), 22-26 min. [Downloaded 6 Aug 2024].

Tracy, B. C., Time management made simple , [Audio download] Unabridged. Gildan Media Corporation, 2012. [Downloaded 6 Aug 2024].

Articles (journal, newspaper and magazine)

Journal article.

**New for 2024** To enable easy retrieval, you should provide a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) or a permanent URL at the end of your bibliography entry (if there is one available). A DOI is a string of numbers, letters and symbols used to permanently identify and link to the article online. The DOI can usually be found in the citation information near the top of the landing page for the article, or on the first few pages of an article. If you can't find the DOI, you can look it up on the website  CrossRef.org (use the "Search Metadata" option and search by title). Some older articles may give a permanent URL instead.

It's important to note that not all electronic materials will have a DOI. Articles published prior to 2000 are less likely to have one. They may not have a permanent URL either so just omit that information.

Many journals articles are written by multiple authors. For two authors, separate initials and surnames with an ampersand (&). For more than two authors, give the first name followed by et al. in the footnote but give all names in the bibliography entry.

If you are referring to a whole article, the article page range is sufficient; if you want to point to a specific page or page range, include this after a colon.

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), 'Title of article in sentence case', 1 Journal title in italics , Issue information 2 (Year), page range 3 : specific page(s) if necessary.

J. M. Johnson et al. ‘Ordering disorder: The making of world politics’, Review of International Studies , 48, 4 (2022), 607-625:620.

K. N. Panikkar, ‘Literature as history of social change’, Social Scientist , 40, 3 (2012), 3-5.

Johnson et al., ‘Ordering disorder’, 622.

Panikkar, ‘Literature as history’, 6.

Remember to include a DOI or permanent URL if one is available. 4

Johnson, J. M., V. M. Basham & O. D. Thomas, ‘Ordering disorder: The making of world politics’. Review of International Studies , 48, 4 (2022), 607-625:620. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210522000183

Panikkar, K. N., ‘Literature as history of social change’. Social Scientist , 40, 3 (2012), 3-5. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41633799

1. Sentence case means you only capitalise the first word and any proper nouns.

2. Issue information is usually volume and issue but can sometimes be volume only or include supplement information. Occasionally it is a season (Spring, Summer etc), month or date (do not repeat the year if this is the case).

3. If a journal is an online only journal then all articles usually start with page 1. There is no need to give a page range if this is the case. Alternatively, provide the article number (starting with an 'e') if one is present.

4. The DOI should be a clickable link and therefore in the format https://doi.org/xxxxxxxxx . Note that there is no full stop following the DOI or URL - this is to ensure it does not interfere with the link. Do not just copy the URL from the address bar at the top of the window. If no DOI or stated permanent/stable URL is provided, just miss it out.

Book review in a journal

The name of the reviewer is given first (and should be used in your in-text citation) rather than the author of the reviewed book. The bibliography entry will need a DOI or permanent URL if one is available. Please see the section for a journal article above for an explanation of DOIs if needed.

Initial(s). Surname of reviewer, Review of Book title in italics , by Author of book. Journal Title in italics , Issue information (Year), page range:specific page cited.

A. Orleck, Review of Jewish radical feminism: Voices from the women's liberation movement , by J. Antler. American Jewish History, 103, 3 (2019), 371-373:372.

Some book reviews will have a title of their own, that is different to the book. If this is the case, add it as you would for a journal article title:

C. D. Kelso & R. R. Kelso, 'Politics and the constitution', Review of Is it time for a second constitutional convention , by Judge M. R. Wilkey. Pacific Law Journal , 27, 3 (1996), 1213-1233:1218.

Orleck, Review of Jewish radical feminism , 372.

Kelso & Kelso, Politics and the constitution , 1218.

Bibliography entries:

Orleck, A., Review of Jewish radical feminism: Voices from the women's liberation movement , by J. Antler. American Jewish History, 103, 3 (2019), 371-373. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814707647.001.0001

Kelso, C. D. & R. R. Kelso, 'Politics and the constitution', Review of Is it time for a second constitutional Convention , by Judge M. R. Wilkey. Pacific Law Journal , 27, 3 (1996), 1213-1233. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/mlr/vol27/iss3/6

Newspaper article (print or archived online)

As with journals, it is not necessary to give the online information if you are referring to a printed article, or one that only came out in print originally:

Initial(s). Surname of the author if known or newspaper title if not, 'Title of the article or column heading', Title of the newspaper (Place of publication if known). Date in full, Page number.

J. Gunn, 'Why London will have to go international', The Times (London). 28 November 1984, 17.

Cardiff Times, 'Clydach Vale Disaster', Cardiff Times . 14 May 1910, 10.

Gunn, 'Why London will have to go international', 17.

Cardiff Times, 'Clydach Vale Disaster', 10.

Gunn, J., 'Why London will have to go international', The Times . London, 28 November 1984, 17.

Newspaper article (online only or internet edition)

Internet editions of newspaper articles are often slightly different to the printed articles (information may be added or excluded). It is therefore important to make it clear that you have accessed the internet edition.

Initial(s). and surname of the author if known or newspaper title if not, 'Title of the article', Title of the newspaper , Internet edition. Date in full. URL [Accessed date].

N. Karim, 'Giant penguin fossil shows bird was taller than most humans', The Guardian , Internet edition. 4 August 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/04/giant-penguin-fossil-antarctica [Accessed 5 Aug 2024].

Karim, 'Giant penguin fossil'.

Karim, N., 'Giant penguin fossil shows bird was taller than most humans', The Guardian , Internet edition. 4 August 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/04/giant-penguin-fossil-antarctica [Accessed 5 Aug 2024].

Magazine/comic article

These are similar to printed newspaper or journal articles:

Online magazine articles may not show page numbers, just omit them if this is the case.

Initial(s). Surname of author(s) if known or magazine title if not, 'Title of the article or comic strip', Title of the Magazine/Comic . Issue and/or date. URL if online [Accessed date if online], relevant page(s).

L. Evans & D. Winkler, 'Equador: into the fungal jungle', Fungi . 4, 4 Fall 2011, 10-12.

F. Parr, 'Stephen Sondheim memories: leading musicians and composers share their reflections on the Broadway legend', BBC Music Magazine . 2 December 2014. https://www.classical-music.com/articles/stephen-sondheim-memories-leading-musicians-and-composers-share-their-reflections-on-the-broadway-legend [Accessed 15 Aug 2024].

Evans & Winkler, 'Equador: into the fungal jungle'.

Parr, 'Stephen Sondheim memories'.

Evans, L. & D. Winkler, 'Equador: into the fungal jungle', Fungi . 4, 4 Fall 2011, 10-12.

Parr, F., 'Stephen Sondheim memories: leading musicians and composers share their reflections on the Broadway legend', BBC Music Magazine . 2 December 2014. https://www.classical-music.com/articles/stephen-sondheim-memories-leading-musicians-and-composers-share-their-reflections-on-the-broadway-legend [Accessed 15 Aug 2024].

Initial(s). Surname of author(s) if known or comic title if not, 'Title of the article or comic strip', Title of the Magazine/Comic . Issue and/or date, page number if relevant.>

Beano, 'Minnie the Minx', The Beano . No 3000, 15 January 2000, 2.

C. Cooper, 'T'Priell Revealed Pt 2', Star Trek, Starfleet Academy . February 1998.

Beano, 'Minnie the Minx', 2.

Cooper, 'T'Priell Revealed'.

Cooper, C., 'T'Priell Revealed Pt 2', Star Trek, Starfleet Academy . February 1998.

Official Governmental and NGO documents

Act of parliament.

The way we reference Acts changed in 1963. Before that, the year of reign of the monarch (regnal year) needs to be included:

Prior to 1963

Full footnote and bibliography entry:.

Name of Act including year (short title with key words capitalised). Regnal year, Chapter Number. URL [Accessed date].

Friendly Societies Act 1955 . 4 Elizabeth II, Chapter 19. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/4-5/19 [Accessed 20 Aug 2024].

Criminal Justice Act 2003 . Chapter 44. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/44 [Accessed 10 Jul 2024].

If you wish to refer to a particular section (known as a schedule) or paragraph you can add that extra information to your footnote:

Criminal Justice Act 2003 . Chapter 44, s35(122) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/44 [Accessed 10 Jul 2024].

Short footnotes (for both time periods):

Criminal Justice Act 2003 , s35(122).

Parliamentary debate - Hansard

Column numbers are displayed in the right-hand pane of the Hansard website when viewing a debate. You may find older debates do not contain column numbers. You will need to look at debates in full screen on your device; otherwise, columns may not be visible.

If the abbreviations HC for House of Commons and HL for House of Lords are known in your discipline, you may use these abbreviations in your footnotes. See the first example.

House of debate or committee, ‘Title of session or debate’, Hansard Parliamentary Debates . Date in full, volume, col/cols column range if available. URL [Accessed date].

HC, ‘Royal Air Force (Valiant Aircraft)’, Hansard Parliamentary Debates . 1 February 1965, cols 724-727. https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1965-02-01/debates/501c2576-94bc-44a2-a94f-76eaebe40d3e/RoyalAirForce(ValiantAircraft) [Accessed 3 Mar 2024].

Delegated Legislation Committee, ‘Draft Legal Services Act 2007 (Approved Regulator) Order 2020’, Hansard Parliamentary Debates . 24 February 2020, 672, cols 1-4. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmgeneral/deleg7/110331/110331s01.htm [Accessed 23 Jan 2024].

House of Lords, ‘Smart motorways’, Hansard Parliamentary Debates . 17 March 2020, 802, cols 1372-1374. https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2020-03-17/debates/119AD084-E4CF-4BE3-BA98-AD0032873AC7/SmartMotorways [Accessed 3 Apr 2024].

Short footnotes:

HC, ‘Royal Air Force (Valiant Aircraft)’.

Delegated Legislation Committee, ‘Draft Legal Services Act 2007'.

House of Lords, ‘Smart motorways’.

Statutory Instrument

Title with key words capitalised (including bracketed information if present) (SI Year and Number) URL [Accessed date].

The Criminal Justice (Sentencing) (Licence Conditions) Order 2003 (SI 2003/3337) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/3337/made [Accessed 4 Oct 2023].

The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 (SI 2014/2095) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2014/9780111113554 [Accessed 28 Nov 2023].

Criminal Justice Order 2003.

Openness of Local Government 2014.

Law report/case

Legal citation takes a particular format and should be used for both full footnote and bibliography entries. For ease of access, we recommend adding URLs.

Names of the parties involved (these could be letters if anonymised) . Year of reporting - in square brackets or round brackets* Volume number Abbreviation of the law report series, First page of reference. URL [Accessed date].

Callery v Gray (No 2) [2001] 4 All ER, 1. https://vlex.co.uk/vid/callery-v-gray-no-793304177 [Accessed 7 Jul 2024].

F v Leeds City Council [1994] 2 FCR, 428. https://vlex.co.uk/vid/f-v-leeds-city-792936693 [Accessed 4 Aug 2024].

Brown v Board of Education (1954) 347 U.S., 483. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/347/483/ [Accessed 23 Dec 2023].

In the example above All ER = All England Law Reports, FCR = Family Court Reports and U.S. = United States Reports.

Note Short footnotes should just use the names i.e. Callery v Gray . Dates can be included if needed to distinguish cases only.

*Square brackets are used when the date is the primary method for finding the case (in the examples above there are more than one volume 4 and 2 in those report series). Round brackets are used when the date is not necessary to find the case (there is only one volume 347 in the United States Reports).

Command paper (including White Paper and Green Paper)

You need to include the official number of the paper (usually found at the bottom left of the front cover):

Initial(s). Surname of Author(s)ship, Title of document . Official number. URL [Accessed date].

The British Museum, Report and accounts for the year ended 31st March 2014 . HC 436. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a75857040f0b6360e474c12/41272_HC_436_British_Museum_print_ready.pdf [Accessed 2 Feb 2024].

HM Government, Open Data White Paper: Unleashing the potential . Cm 8353. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-data-white-paper-unleashing-the-potential [Accessed 7 Sep 2024].

The British Museum, Report and accounts .

HM Government, Open Data White Paper .

British or International Standard

You need to include the identifying letters and numbers (which include the year), they come before the title:

Standards Institution, Letters and numbers of standard: Full title of standard in italics. Edition if given (i.e. not the first). URL [Accessed date].

International Standards Office (2018) ISO 50001:2018: Energy management systems: requirements with guidance for use. Edition 2. https://www.iso.org/standard/69426.html [Accessed 16 Mar 2024].

British Standards Institution (2021) BS ISO 690:2021 - TC: Information and documentation. Guidelines for bibliographic references and citations to information resources . https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/information-and-documentation-guidelines-for-bibliographic-references-and-citations-to-information-resources-1 [Accessed 23 Nov 2023].

Abbreviations for institutions can be used, alongside the identifying number.

ISO, ISO 50001:2011 .

BSI, BS ISO 690:2010 .

If the patent is available online, show where and when you accessed it.

Inventor Initials. Surname, Title of patent (Country granting patent, Patent number, Year). URL [Accessed date], relevant page(s).

E. Borgen, Wind turbine rotor with improved hub system (UK Patent GB2495084, 2013). https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-ipsum/Case/PublicationNumber/GB2495084 [Accessed 24 Mar 2024].

S. Karsten, Wind turbine tower and method of production thereof (US Patent US2014237919(A1), 2014). https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?FT=D&date=20140828&DB=EPODOC&locale=en_EP&CC=US&NR=2014237919A1&KC=A1&ND=5 [Accessed 11 Jul 2024].

Borgen, Wind turbine rotor .

Karsten, Wind turbine tower .

Reverse the first name and remove brackets around patent information.

Borgen, E., Wind turbine rotor with improved hub system . UK Patent GB2495084, 2013. https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-ipsum/Case/PublicationNumber/GB2495084 [Accessed 24 Mar 2024].

Karsten, S., Wind turbine tower and method of production thereof . US Patent US2014237919 (A1), 2014. https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=EPODOC&II=47&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=20140828&CC=US&NR=2014237919A1&KC=A1 [Accessed 11 Jul 2024].

European Union documentation

Name of institution - common abbreviations acceptable, Title of document . Official number (year if not in title) relevant page(s) if necessary. URL [Accessed date].

CEC, Communication. Further guidance on allocation plans . COM(2005)703 final (2005), 3-4. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2005:0703:FIN:en:PDF [Accessed 27 Jun 2024].

European Council, Special meeting of the European Council (16 July 2014) . EUCO 147/14. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/european-council/2014/07/16/ [Accessed 8 Aug 2024].

CEC, Communication , 3-4.

European Council, Special meeting .

Remove brackets from around separate year if included.

CEC, Communication. Further guidance on allocation plans . COM(2005)703 final. 2005. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/european-council/2014/07/16/ [Accessed 8 Aug 2024].

United Nations document or publication

The United Nations produce both internal documents and external publications. These include resolutions, statements, reports etc. Titles could be long, sometimes (as for statements) the actual document does not say what they are about in their title but the initial link to them does. It is hard to produce a template that covers them all, but use the basic one below as guidance, adapting it as needed for the document in question.

Name of institution/committee (common abbreviations acceptable), Title of document (Full date of document, Official number). URL [Accessed date].

UN Secretary General, Progress on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases: report of the Secretary-General (21 December 2017, A/72/662). https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/1474584 [Accessed 5 Apr 2024].

UN Security Council, Statement by the President of the Security Council on the Middle East (22 December 2010, S/PRST/2010/30). https://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/PRST/2010/30 [Accessed 22 Aug 2024].

UN Security Council, Security Council Press Statement on Terrorist Attack in Mali (18 August 2014, SC/11523, AFR/2951, PKO/426). https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2014/sc11523.doc.htm [Accessed 22 Aug 2024].

UN Secretary General, Progress on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases .

UN Security Council, Statement by the President .

UN Security Council, Security Council Press Statement .

Other Governmental document or webpage

First, make sure your source is not actually one of the document types shown above (Acts, Command papers etc). If not, follow the guidance below.

If you are accessing information from a GOV.UK website it will either be a downloadable document (usually pdf) or information on the page itself. They are generally referenced like any other pdf or website.

Downloadable document

Documents are often written by sub-sections of the Government and it is best to use these as the author rather than simply HM Government if applicable. If there is a common abbreviation for the department etc, you can use this as long as you have written it IN FULL followed by the abbreviation in brackets in the main body of the document i.e. Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The basic templates below can be used:

Name of department/agency/commission - common abbreviations acceptable, Title of document (Year or more specific date on the document if given). URL [Accessed date].

Environment Agency, Weekly rainfall and river flow summary (1-7 May 2019). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/800875/Rainfall_and_river_flow_summary_1_to_7_May_2019.pdf [Accessed 15 May 2024].

DEFRA, Notifiable avian disease control strategy for Great Britain (2018). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/737992/notifiable-avian-disease-control-strategy-2018.pdf [Accessed 15/5/2019].

HM Government, 2050 pathways analysis: Response to the call for evidence, Part 1 (March 2011). https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/68821/2050-pathways-analysis-response-pt1.pdf [Accessed 15 Apr 2024].

Environment Agency, Weekly rainfall and river flow .

DEFRA, Notifiable avian disease control .

HM Government, 2050 pathways analysis

As full footnote but remove brackets around year/date, precede it with a comma instead.

Environment Agency, Weekly rainfall and river flow summary, 1-7 May 2019. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/68821/2050-pathways-analysis-response-pt1.pdf [Accessed 15 Apr 2024].

Many GOV.UK pages show which department or agency has written the guidance and this should be used as the author if present. If not, use HM Government. Follow the same principles as for the downloadable documents above regarding common abbreviations of departments etc. There is usually a published date or last updated date at the bottom of the webpage. Use whichever year is the later. If no date is given, use the abbreviation n.d.

Name of department/agency/commission - common abbreviations acceptable, Title of web page in sentence case (Year). URL [Accessed date].

BEIS, Policy impacts of prices and bills: How costs to the consumer are affected by changes in energy and climate policy (2014). https://www.gov.uk/guidance/policy-impacts-on-prices-and-bills [Accessed 15 Jun 2024].

HM Government, Foster carers: Types of foster care (n.d.). https://www.gov.uk/foster-carers/types-of-foster-care [Accessed 15 Jun 2024].

Short footnote

BEIS, Policy impacts of prices and bills.

HM Government, Foster carers.

As full footnote but remove brackets around year, precede it with a comma instead.

BEIS, Policy impacts of prices and bills: How costs to the consumer are affected by changes in energy and climate policy, 2014. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/policy-impacts-on-prices-and-bills [Accessed 15 Jun 2024].

Other NGO documents

There are so many different non-governmental organisations that a fixed template is difficult to create. Adapt the one below as necessary, trying to keep the styling consistent:

Name of organisation - common abbreviations acceptable, Title of document (Full date of document, Official number if given). (Publisher if provided). URL [Accessed date].

UNESCO, Teaching and learning: achieving quality for all; EFA global monitoring report, 2013-2014 (UNESCO Publishing). https://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002256/225660e.pdf [Accessed 22 Aug 2024].

The World Bank, Brazil: Implementation Status and Results, Development Policies for the State of Sergipe (18 August 2014, P129652, Report No ISR15802). https://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/LCR/2014/08/18/090224b082652070/1_0/Rendered/PDF/Brazil000Devel0Report000Sequence003.pdf [Accessed 22 Aug 2024].

Danish Refugee Council, Strategic Programme Document - DRC/DDG in Libya and Tunisia (4 September 2009). https://drc.dk/fileadmin/uploads/pdf/IA_PDF/North_Africa/2014.04.09_SPD_-_Libya_Tunisia_-_2014.pdf [Accessed 22 Aug 2024].

UNESCO, Teaching and learning .

The World Bank, Brazil: Implementation Status .

Danish Refugee Council, Strategic Programme Document

As full footnote but remove brackets around publisher if present.

UNESCO, Teaching and learning: achieving quality for all; EFA global monitoring report, 2013-2014 . UNESCO Publishing. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002256/225660e.pdf [Accessed 22/8/2014].

Conference paper/session/poster

You may have attended a conference in person or be accessing resources shared online. Always give links to online materials including videos if possible, even if you attended personally and are using your own notes or photographs, as this aids access.

Conference paper:

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), 'Title of paper in sentence case',* Title of conference: subtitle if present . Location and date of conference, page range:relevant page(s) if necessary. DOI or URL (if there is one) [Accessed date if URL - not needed if DOI].

K. Saidin, 'Insider researchers: Challenges & opportunities', International Seminar on Generating Knowledge Through Research . Universiti Utara Malaysia, 25-27 October 2017. https://doi.org/10.21070/picecrs.v1i1.563

Saidin, 'Insider researchers'.

Just put first author surname before their initial:

Saidin K., 'Insider researchers: Challenges & opportunities', International Seminar on Generating Knowledge Through Research . Universiti Utara Malaysia, 25-27 October 2017. https://doi.org/10.21070/picecrs.v1i1.563

Conference session:

These could be any session at a conference not described as a paper, for example workshops, panel discussions, keynote speeches etc. Just put an appropriate description in square brackets after the session name. If a keynote speech has no separate title, use 'Keynote speech' as the title and omit the descriptor.

Initial(s). Surname of author(s)/presenter(s), 'Title of the session' [Descriptor], Title of conference: subtitle if present . Location and date of conference. DOI or URL (if there is one) [Accessed date if URL - not needed if DOI].

H. Cengiz, 'Keynote speech', The Trust Conference . London, 23-26 October 2023. https://youtu.be/dceLkHNNy_I [Accessed 21 July 2024].

Cengiz, 'Keynote speech'.

As full footnote but with initial before surname:

Cengiz, H., 'Keynote speech', The Trust Conference . London, 23-26 October 2023. https://youtu.be/dceLkHNNy_I [Accessed 21 July 2024].

Conference poster

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), 'Title of poster' [Conference poster]. Title of conference: subtitle if present , Location and date of conference. URL if available online [Accessed date].

V. Cardoso, & L. Plesca, 'Natalizumab - Real World Data - Switching from IV infusions to Subcutaneous injection. Patient experience' [Conference poster]. Multiple Scleroses Trust Annual Conference , Hinckley Island, 26-28 March 2023. https://mstrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-06/conference-2023-poster-natalizumab-switching-iv-sub-injection.pdf [Accessed 20 Sep 2024].

Cardoso & Plesca, 'Natalizumab'.

Company/organisational report

Printed report.

Initial(s). Surname of author/Organisation, Full title of report (Publisher if given and not same as author, Year if not in title), relevant page(s).

BT Group plc, Annual report and Form 20-F 2014 , 12.

BT Group plc, Annual report 2014 , 12.

As full footnote with brackets removed from year if given separately and first author surname first if not a group author.

Online report

Initial(s). Surname of author/Organisation, Full title of report (Publisher if given and not the same as author, Year if not in title). URL [Accessed date], Relevant page(s).

NHS England, Everyone counts: planning for patients 2014/15 to 2018/19) (NHS Commissioning Board, 2013). https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/5yr-strat-plann-guid.pdf [Accessed 12 Sep 2024], 16-17.

NHS, Everyone counts , 9.

As full footnote with brackets removed from publisher information.

NHS England, Everyone counts: planning for patients 2014/15 to 2018/19 . NHS Commissioning Board, 2013. https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/5yr-strat-plann-guid.pdf [Accessed 12/9/2014], 16-17.

Government/NGO Reports

These are slightly different - see section above.

Dissertation or thesis

Give the following information (URL is optional as older thesis may only be available in print).

Initial(s). Surname of author, Title of dissertation/thesis . Document type (Name of University, date on document). URL [Accessed date], relevant page(s).

B. H. Stern, The impact of leadership on school improvement . EdD thesis (The University of Hull. August 2013). https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:8431 [Accessed 21 Aug 2024], 234.

R. J. Walsh, Charles the Bold, last Valois Duke of Burgundy 1467-1477 and Italy . PhD thesis (The University of Hull, 1977), 45.

Stern, The impact of leadership , 234.

Walsh, Charles the Bold , 45.

Remove brackets from awarding university and date:

Walsh, R. J. Charles the Bold, last Valois Duke of Burgundy 1467-1477 and Italy . PhD thesis. The University of Hull, 1977.

Religious text

When referencing texts such as the Bible, Qur'an or Torah, include the following information and give Book. Sura or Chapter:verse instead of page numbers:

Title of the version you have used . Translated by name of translater (if given) (Publisher, Year), relevant section(s)

The Holy Bible: Authorised King James Version . (Harper Collins, 2011), Philippians. 4:13.

The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics) . Translated by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (Oxford University Press, 2004), Miriam. 19:25.

The Torah: the five books of Moses . Translated by J. P. S. Greenberg & M. Greenberg (The Jewish Publication Society, 2000), Leviticus. 19:1-2.

Give the name of the text only with relevant section:

The Torah , Genesis. 1:26.

Remove brackets from publishing information

The Torah: the five books of Moses . Translated by J. P. S. Greenberg & M. Greenberg. The Jewish Publication Society, 2000.

PDF document

PDF documents are nearly always accessed online, and so you can point readers to the URL along with other information. If the URL is unavailable (for instance if you have been emailed it) or if you have no publisher information, just give as much information as you have or can find.

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), Title of document (City published: Publisher, Year). URL [Accessed date], relevant page(s) if necessary.

S. Godin, Stop stealing dreams: what is school for? (Do You Zoom, Inc, 2012). https://www.sethgodin.com/sg/docs/stopstealingdreamsscreen.pdf [Accessed 6 Aug 2024], 3-4.

H. M. Government, The coalition: our programme for government (Cabinet Office, 2010). https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78977/ coalition_programme_for_government.pdf [Accessed 6 Aug 2024].

Godin, Stop stealing dreams , 6.

H. M. Government, The coalition .

Godin, S., Stop stealing dreams: what is school for? . Do You Zoom, Inc, 2012. https://www.sethgodin.com/sg/docs/stopstealingdreamsscreen.pdf [Accessed 6 Aug 2024].

H. M. Government, The coalition: our programme for government . Cabinet Office, 2010. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/78977/ coalition_programme_for_government.pdf [Accessed 6 Aug 2024].

Informal document (leaflet, in-house publication)

For leaflets, handouts, flyers etc just provide what information you can:

Initial(s). Surname of author/organisation, Title of document [Media] (Other useful details).

University of Hull, Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Strategy 2012-15 [Booklet] (University of Hull, 2012).

The Deep, The Deep: for conservation not profit [Leaflet] (2014).

University of Hull, Learning, Teaching .

The Deep, The Deep: for conservation .

Don't bracket the details.

University of Hull, Learning, Teaching and Student Experience Strategy 2012-15 [Booklet]. University of Hull, 2012.

The Deep, The Deep: for conservation not profit [Leaflet]. 2014.

Archive material

Archive material is often unique: books could be annotated etc which means that the collection that they came from is equally as important as the document details. They will often not have page numbers, but where there are, include the relevant page(s).

Initial(s). Surname of author/organisation, Title of document , Edition (publisher information if relevant, Year) [Medium]. Whatever collection details are available (i.e. name of collection, reference numbers, name of library/archive, location).

P. A. Larkin, Workbook No 1 (1950) [Manuscript]. Papers of Philip Arthur Larkin, U DPL/1/1, Hull University Archives, Hull History Centre.

R. Smyth & H. E. L. Thuilier, A manual of surveying for India: detailing the mode of operations on trigonametrical, topographical and revenue surveys of India , 2nd Edition (London: W. Thacker and Co., 1855) [Book]. Monograph, mg NO2/24Z3, Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers Archive, London, 44.

W. Wilberforce, Letter to James Thomson Esq (1816) [Letter]. William Wilberforce letters, L DFWW/1/10, Hull Local Studies Library, Hull History Centre.

Working paper

Working papers may also be known as briefing papers, discussion papers or research papers. They are created to generate discussion within a particular community (research area, business area etc). They are often the pre-publication versions of papers that are waiting to be accepted in journals but some are written purely for circulation as they are. Note that they are not peer-reviewed.

Some working papers do not give a lot of information - just give as much as you can following this basic format.

Full footnote

Author, Title of the working paper . Series title and number if there is one (Publisher if given, Year). URL [Accessed date].

R. S. Kaplan, Reverse the curse of the top-5 . Harvard Business School General Management Unit Working Paper No. 19-052 (2018). https://ssrn.com/abstract=3274782 [Accessed 6 Aug 2024].

R. Harrison & R. Thomas, Monetary financing with interest-bearing money . Staff Working Paper No. 785 (Bank of England, 2019). https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/working-paper/2019/monetary-financing-with-interest-bearing-money [Accessed 6 Aug 2024].

Kaplan, Reverse the curse .

Harrison & Thomas, Monetary financing .

Bibliography entry

Kaplan, R. S. Reverse the curse of the top-5 . Harvard Business School General Management Unit Working Paper No. 19-052. 2018. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3274782 [Accessed 6 Aug 2024].

Harrison, R. & R. Thomas, Monetary financing with interest-bearing money . Staff Working Paper No. 785. Bank of England, 2019. https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/working-paper/2019/monetary-financing-with-interest-bearing-money [Accessed 6 Aug 2024].

Web pages, social media and other online sources (see also Audiovisual, datasets, etc. below)

First, please note that a website URL is NEVER a suitable reference on its own . Dates can often be found in copyright information at the bottom of the page. If a range is given, use the later year. Use n.d. if no date is given at all.

Initial(s). Surname of author(s) or company name, Title of web page in sentence case (Date).* URL [Accessed date].

Individual Author(s)

G. Reynolds, Design tips (2021). https://www.garrreynolds.com/design-tips/ [Accessed 27 Mar 2024]

Group or company author

University of Hull, Model publication scheme (2024). https://www.hull.ac.uk/legal/model-publication-scheme [Accessed 26 Mar 2024].

Reynolds, Design tips .

Model publication scheme..

As full footnote but put the author surname first and don't put dates in brackets.

Blogs are often unsubstantiated opinions and should be used with appropriate criticality as academic references . However, some reputable, published authors have their own blogs which can provide useful, up to date comments and insights. Include the following information:

Initial(s). Surname of author, 'Title of blog post' [Blog post], Title of website or blog . Date of post. URL [Accessed date].

P. Thompson, 'Reading against the literatures' [Blog post], Patter . 13 Jun 2020. https://patthomson.net/2020/01/27/im-writing-a-journal-article-what-literatures-do-i-choose/ [Accessed 15 Aug 2024].

G. Reynolds, 'Presentation advice from Master Yoda' [Blog post], Garr Reynolds blog . 10 November 2021. https://www.garrreynolds.com/blog/presentation-advice-from-master-yoda [Accessed 16 Aug 2024].

Thompson, 'Reading against the literatures'.

Reynolds, 'Presentation advice'.

As full footnote but with author surname first.

Forum entry

Quite often you are referring to an answer rather than a question in a forum, however, it is the question that you reference in this case. Always check the expertise of the answerer and use with caution and criticality . Author names are usually aliases, type them as they appear.

Initial(s). Surname of author, 'Title of post' (often a question), Title of Forum . Date of post. URL [Accessed date].

jlawler, 'Can the term "homorganic" be applied to vowels and glides?', Linguistics Stack Exchange . 8 August 2014. https://linguistics.stackexchange.com/questions/8764/can-the-term-homorganic-be-applied-to-vowels-and-glides [Accessed 8/8/2014].

jlawler, 'Can the term homorganic'.

YouTube video

When referencing a YouTube video, it is the name of the person who posted the video, not who made it that you reference (these can be the same or different). Use the URL that you get when you click the 'Share' link as it is often shorter than the one in the address bar (you can even delete everything after the '?' in the link):

Name of person posting video, Title of video , Series title if relevant. Date uploaded [Video]. URL [Accessed Date].

M. E. Tunalioglu, Richard Phillips Feynman - The Last Journey of a Genius . 23 April 2011 [Video]. https://youtu.be/Mn4_40hAAr0 [Accessed 8 Sep 2024].

Harvard University, Episode 02: Putting a price tag on life , Justice: What's the right thing to do? 8 September 2009 [Video]. https://youtu.be/0O2Rq4HJBxw [Accessed 8 Sep 2024].

Tunalioglu, Richard Phillips Feynman .

Harvard University, Putting a price tag on life .

Social media

For other social media, adapt whichever of the following is most appropriate.

If your reader needs to register (and be accepted) to see the entries you are referring to, and you are not quoting them in full within your text, it is wise to include a copy of the actual text as an appendix to your work. In this case, add 'see appendix n' in your footnote.

Initial(s). Surname of author, Title of Page (could just be author's timeline) [Facebook]. Date posted. URL [Accessed date].

G. Reynolds, Garr Reynolds Timeline [Facebook]. 10 August 2014. https://www.facebook.com/garr.reynolds [Accessed 13 Aug 2024].

RSPB How to put up a swift nest box [Facebook]. 31 July 2024. https://www.facebook.com/TheRSPB [Accessed 9 Aug 2024].

Reynolds, Garr Reynolds Timeline .

RSPB, How to put up a swift nest box .

As full footnote but with surname first if a standard author name.

Initial(s). Surname of author, Full text of tweet (as written) [Twitter]. Date posted. URL [Accessed date].

N. Glass, wondering just how far this moment is from dreams I've had. it all feels vaguely familiar yet completely foreign. resisting tears. so tired [Twitter]. 30 March 2009. https://twitter.com/noah/status/1422661056 [Accessed 13 Aug 2024].

Glass, wondering just how far .

Mailing list

If your reader needs to subscribe to see the entries you are referring to, and you are not quoting them in full within your text, it is wise to include a copy of the actual text as an appendix to your work. In this case, add 'see appendix n' in your footnote.

Initial(s). Surname of author, 'Subject line', Title of mailing list . Date of message. Available online: URL [Accessed date].

C. Keenan, 'Peer led academic learning and disability', Learning Development in Higher Education Network . 8 August 2014. [email protected] [Accessed 13 Jul 2024].

Keenan, 'Peer led academic learning'.

As full footnote but with surname first if a standard author name

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Always check first that referring to AI generated text or images is permitted in your work. If it is, include the following information:

Communicator, Description of communication [Communication type]. Prompted by name/handle (if not self), Date and time of communication.

ChatGPT, Tension in colonial history [AI generated text]. Prompted by Alice Smith. 24 May 2023, 18:05.

ChatGPT, Tension in colonial history .

Data citation allows you to reference data in the same way as you would reference bibliographic research outputs such as journal articles and books.

When you use any form of secondary data in your assignment, you need to reference the data source. When using data, for the creation of a figure, you would give the figure a name (Figure 1 - title) and add your footnote after the title. Subsequent citations would refer to Figure 1 and not the data directly so short footnotes are not needed.

For citing data in your footnotes and bibliography, give as much of the following information as is relevant.

Created with (insert software), data from Creator/Producer, 'Data or dataset title' [data format], Product or database or repository or website name , version or date or identifier (Publisher, Year), relevant page(s).

Created with Microsoft Excel, data from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 'Japan: Gross domestic product' [Table], National Accounts of OECD Countries (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1973), 331-346.

Created with Stata 16, data from G. H. Gallup (ed), '1943, January, Bread rationing' [Poll results], The Gallup international public opinion polls, Great Britain 1937-1975 Volume 1 (Random House, 1976), 71.

Not applicable, see above.

You do not need the 'created with' information, surname comes first if applicable and brackets removed from publishing information:

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 'Japan: Gross domestic product' [Table] National Accounts of OECD Countries . Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1973, 331-346.

Gallup, G. H. (ed), '1943 January, Bread rationing' [Poll results], The Gallup international public opinion polls, Great Britain 1937-1975 , Volume 1. Random House, 1976.

Citing data as part of a self-made graph, chart or other visual

If you have used secondary data to produce a graph, chart or other visual, you should prefix your footnote with a relevant statement i.e. Created with X, data from . See above footnotes for examples.

Data [online source]

Created with (insert software), data from Creator/Producer, 'Data or dataset title' [data format], Product or database or repository or website name , version or date or identifier (Year if not already given). URL [Downloaded date].

Created with IMB SPSS, data from University of Hull, 'Raw dune PIV data' [MATLAB], University of Hull Hydra Digital Repository hull:16477 (2018). https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:16477 [Downloaded 18 Jul 2024].

Created with Microsoft Excel, data from L. F. Pearson, 'Hull Low Energy Housing Project : Social survey' [Data collection], UK Data Service , SN: 1589 (1981). https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-1589-1 [Downloaded 18 Jul 2024].

Created with Tableau, data from Office for National Statistics, 'Gross Domestic Product: Quarter on Quarter growth: CVM SA %' [Excel spreadsheet], Census 2021 , Release 28 June 2024. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ihyq/qna/previous [Downloaded 18 Jul 2024].

You do not need the 'created with' information, surname comes first if application and brackets are removed from around the year:

University of Hull, 'Raw dune PIV data' [MATLAB], University of Hull Hydra Digital Repository , hull:16477. 2018. https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:16477 [Downloaded 18 Jul 2024].

Pearson, L. F., 'Hull Low Energy Housing Project : Social survey' [Data collection], UK Data Service , SN: 1589. 1981. https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-1589-1 [Downloaded 18 Jul 2024].

Office for National Statistics, 'Gross Domestic Product: Quarter on Quarter growth: CVM SA %' [Excel spreadsheet], Census 2021 , Release 28 June 2024. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/ihyq/qna/previous [Downloaded 18 Jul 2024].

Geospatial data (GIS software)

When you create a map that you include in your assignment, you only need to reference the data source and the tool you used (it is your own work after all). You can find a lot of the information that you need for referencing when you view your basket. You would give the figure a name (Figure 1 - title) and add your footnote after the title. Subsequent citations would refer to Figure 1 and not the data directly so short footnotes are not needed.

Created with (insert software), data from Producer [data format] Scale, Tile(s). Product name, date. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Downloaded date].

Created with ArcGis, data from Ordnance Survey [DWG geospacial data] 1:50 000, Tiles SE7954, SE7955, SE8054, SE8055. OS MasterMap, December 2013. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Downloaded 21 Aug 2024].

Created with TerraView, data from British Geological Survey [Shapefile geospacial data] 1:50 000, Tile TA41. Onshore Geology, 2013. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Downloaded 21 Aug 2024].

You do not need the 'created with' information.

Ordnance Survey [DWG geospacial data] 1:50 000, Tiles SE7954, SE7955, SE8054, SE8055. OS MasterMap, December 2013. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Downloaded 21 Aug 2024].

British Geological Survey [Shapefile geospacial data] 1:50 000, Tile TA41. Onshore Geology, 2013. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Downloaded 21 Aug 2024].

NOTE: In some disciplines, images or illustrations should not be included in the bibliography and you should include this information in the figure caption. If you are unsure, check with your lecturer.

You should reference every photograph you use unless you took it yourself. Give the following information:

Online photographs

Photographer, (Initial(s). Surname if available, username if not), Title of photograph in italics (or description if none available) . Date taken/uploaded if given [Photograph]. URL [Accessed date].

keithhull, Hull is the new UK City of Culture for 2017 . 21 April 2009 [Photograph]. https://www.flickr.com/photos/21506908@N07/3478651395 [Accessed 14 Aug 2024].

P. Harrop, Plinth and Maritime Museum, Hull . 2012 [Photograph]. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2843877 [Accessed 14 Aug 2024].

keithhull, Hull is the new UK City of Culture .

Harrop, Plinth and Maritime Museum .

Prints, slides or negatives (in known collections)

Photographer, Title of photograph in italics . Date taken if not in title [Photograph]. Whatever collection details are available (i.e. name of collection, reference numbers, location, name of library/archive).

P. A. Larkin, Negative of [Monica Jones] on a ferry . 1970s [Photograph]. Photographs of Philip Arthur Larkin, U DLV/2/1/30, Hull University Archives, Hull History Centre.

R. T. Watson, Hull City Football Team 1906-7 taken at Anlaby Road Hull the City football ground [Photograph]. Records of the Copyright Office, Stationers' Company, Copy 1/506/148, The National Archives, Kew.

Larkin, Negative of [Monica Jones] .

Watson, Hull City Football Team .

As full footnote but with surname first.

Prints, slides or negatives (not in collections)

Photographer, Title of photograph (or description if none available). Date taken if known [Photograph] (Publisher if available).

J. A. Bartram, Bluebells in North Cliffe Woods . May 2012 [Photograph].

Bartram, Bluebells .

Bartram, J. A. Bluebells in North Cliffe Woods . May 2012 [Photograph].

Book illustration, figure or table

If the illustration/figure/table is created by the author (basically not attributed to anyone else) then just cite the book as normal, giving the appropriate page number. If the image is attributed to someone else, the footnote would include both the person responsible for the image and the author(s) of the book. The bibliography entry would list the book, not the specific illustration.

Creator, 'Title of illustration'. In Author (or Editors (ed(s).) Title of book in sentence case . (Publisher, Year). Page displaying illustration.

M. E. Turgot & L. Bretez, 'Plan de Paris'. In E. R. Tufte, Envisioning information (Graphics Press, 1990), 36.

Turgot & Bretez, 'Plan de Paris', 36.

Tufte, E. R., Envisioning information . Graphics Press, 1990.

Give as much as the following information as you can find (online information optional):

Initial(s). Surname of artist, 'Title of cartoon' [Cartoon], Title of publication , Date published. URL [Accessed date].

M. Rawson, 'Wealth inequality' [Cartoon], The Guardian , 29 July 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cartoon/2014/jul/29/martin-rowson-rich-wealth-good-inequality-cuts [Accessed 14 Sep 2024].

Rawson, 'Wealth inequality'.

As full footnote but with name reversed (Rawson, M.,).

Painting, drawing or poster

Give as much of the following information as you can find. If available online, add URL [Accessed date]:

Initial(s). Surname of artist, Title of work . Year created if known [Medium]. Institution/collection, City (or Location, Exhibition, dates of exhibition).

T. Denison, Clippers on the Humber [Original Watercolour]. Myton Gallery, Hull.

B. Cook, Tommy Dancing . 2008 [Oil]. Hull Maritime Museum, Working Hard, Playing Hard, 5 April - 8 June 2014.

B. Gold, Alien . 1979 [Poster]. https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/05/most-iconic-movie-posters-of-all-time/alien [Accessed 14 Sep 2024].

Denison, Clippers on the Humber .

Cook, Tommy Dancing .

Gold, Alien .

Sculpture or installation

Include as much of the following information as you can find:

Initial(s). Surname of artist, Title of the work . Year created if different from year seen [Medium]. Name of collection/exhibition information or Location (include date seen for temporary installations).

H. S. Moore, Large Totem Head . 1968 [Bronze Sculpture]. Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

S. Producoes, Colourful Canopies of Umbrellas [Installation]. Agueda, Portugal, July 2013.

Moore, Large Totem Head .

Producoes, Colourful Canopies of Umbrellas .

As full footnote but with surname first (Moore, H. S.,).

Printed map

Ordnance survey map.

Ordnance Survey, Title of map . Edition if not first. Map/sheet number, Scale. Map series if appropriate (Publisher, Year).

Ordnance Survey, Kingston Upon Hull . Ed C2. 107, 1:50 000. Landranger series (Ordnance Survey, 2006).

Ordnance Survey, Kingston Upon Hull .

Map producer, Title of map , Edition if not first. Map/sheet number, Scale (Publisher, Year).

International Travel Maps, South America, 5th edition. ITM.875, 1:4 000 000 (ITMB Publishing, 2008).

M. D. Max, C. B. Long & C. V. MacDermot, Bedrock Geology of North Mayo , Sheet 6, 1:100,000 (Geological Survey of Ireland, 1992).

International Travel Maps, South America .

Max et al., Bedrock Geology .

Reference as a standard book, giving scales if relevant. For a specific page, include the page number at the end of the footnotes only.

Author Title of atlas , Edition if not first. Scale if provided (Publisher, Year). Specific page if relevant.

R. Butler, Atlas of Kenya (Survey of Kenya, 1959). 7

L. Bossard, Regional atlas on West Africa [eBook] (OECD Publishing, 2009).

Butler, Atlas of Kenya .

Bossard, Regional atlas on West Africa .

Butler, R., Atlas of Kenya , Survey of Kenya, 1959. 7

Bossard, L., Regional atlas on West Africa [eBook], OECD Publishing, 2009.

Digimap online map

These guidelines are for maps that are viewed, annotated or printed.

Digimap does have a citation generator, but this provides a citation that is not consistent with the rest of our scheme so we do not recommend you use it (although it can sometimes be useful to confirm information).

Digimaps are generated by you, so you will have to give a description of the map that makes it clear what it is showing as its title. Other information can be found by clicking on Map Information on the left of your screen or for some services, clicking the Sheet Information button (i) and then clicking on the map. The publisher is usually the copyright holder (check the bottom of the map). The citation year should be from the map date, if no map date is available, use the copyright date.

Map publisher, Title/description of map . Scale. Source (Map Product), Year of original map. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Created 18 Sep 2024].

Ordnance Survey, Kingston upon Hull . 1:100 000. EDINA Digimap (OS Strategi), 2014. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Created 18 Sep 2024].

Landmark Information Group, Barmby Moor, East Yorkshire . 1:2 500. National Grid Tile SE7748, EDINA Historic Digimap Service, 1971. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Created 18 Sep 2024].

Natural Environment Research Council, Vale of Pickering . 1:50 000. EDINA Geology Digimap Service (British Geological Survey), 2014. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Created 18 Sep 2024].

Ordnance Survey, Kingston upon Hull .

Landmark Information Group, Barmby Moor .

Natural Environment Research Council, Vale of Pickering .

Map created using GIS software

Created with (insert software), data from Producer [data format] Scale, Tile(s). Product name, Date. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Downloaded date].

Created with ArcGis, data from Ordnance Survey [DWG geospacial data] 1:50 000, Tiles SE7954, SE7955, SE8054, SE8055. OS MasterMap, December 2013. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Downloaded 21 May 2024].

Created with TerraView, data from British Geological Survey [Shapefile geospacial data] 1:50 000, Tile TA41. Onshore Geology, 2013. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Downloaded 21 May 2024].

Ordnance Survey [DWG geospacial data] 1:50 000, Tiles SE7954, SE7955, SE8054, SE8055. OS MasterMap, December 2013. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Downloaded 21 May 2024].

British Geological Survey [Shapefile geospacial data] 1:50 000, Tile TA41. Onshore Geology, 2013. https://edina.ac.uk/digimap [Downloaded 21 May 2024].

Google map/Bing map

URLs can be found for specific map views by clicking the Share button in each case. In Bing maps the URL is shown, in Google maps you will need to right-click on the Google Maps link (if you have searched, the link may be your search term) and and choose to copy the link address.

Map provider, Description of map , View information. URL [Accessed date].

Google Maps, Humber Dock Marina , Satellite view. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.73926,-0.3387019,622m/data=!3m1!1e3 [Accessed 22 Aug 2024].

Bing Maps, The University of Hull campus , Bird's eye view. https://binged.it/1tkVlri [Accessed 22 Aug 2024].

Google Maps, Humber Dock Marina .

Bing Maps, The University of Hull campus .

DVD/Video/Blu-ray

Title in italics . Directed by Director name [Medium] (Studio/Distributer, Year of release).

Good Morning, Vietnam . Directed by Barry Levinson [DVD] (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 1998).

Good Will Hunting . Directed by Gus Van Sant [Blu-ray] (Lions Gate Home Entertainment, 2011).

Good Morning, Vietnam .

Good Will Hunting .

Remove brackets from distribution information:

Good Morning, Vietnam . Directed by Barry Levinson [DVD]. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 1998.

Good Will Hunting . Directed by Gus Van Sant [Blu-ray]. Lions Gate Home Entertainment, 2011.

TV programme

Title , directed by Director name. Written by Writer name (if known) [Medium] (Distributer, Year of distribution).

In the Wild: Dolphins with Robin Williams . Directed by Nigel Cole [VHS] (NTV, 1998).

In the Wild .

In the Wild: Dolphins with Robin Williams . Directed by Nigel Cole [VHS]. NTV, 1998.

Episode of a TV series

'Episode title', Programme title , series and episode numbers. Directed by Director name. Written by Writer name (if known) [Medium] (Distributer, Year of distribution).

'Old Fears', Mork & Mindy , season 2, episode 12. Directed by Howard Storm. Written by April Kelly [DVD] (Paramount, 1979).

'Old Fears', Mork & Mindy.

'Old Fears', Mork & Mindy , season 2, episode 12. Directed by Howard Storm. Written by April Kelly [DVD]. Paramount, 1979.

Extra commentaries

If extra commentaries by directors/producers/actors etc are given on a DVD/Blu-ray you would reference using the person's name rather than the title:

Commentator, director's (or other) commentary, Title of Film . Version if needed. Directed by Director name [Medium] (Studio/Distributer, Year).

Z. Snyder, director's commentary, Watchmen , Director's Cut, Special Edition. Directed by Zach Snyder [Blu-ray] (Warner Bros., 2009).

T. McCarthy, J. Powers, & D. Thompson, critics' commentary, The Ultimate Matrix Collection . Directed by the Wachowski Brothers [DVD collection] (Warner Bros., 2004).

Snyder, Watchmen .

McCarthy et al., The Ultimate Matrix Collection .

Put first surname first and remove brackets from the distribution information:

Snyder, Z., director's commentary, Watchmen , Director's Cut, Special Edition. Directed by Zach Snyder [Blu-ray]. Warner Bros., 2009.

McCarthy, T., J. Powers, & D. Thompson, critics' commentary, The Ultimate Matrix Collection . Directed by the Wachowski Brothers [DVD collection]. Warner Bros., 2004.

Broadcasts and streaming (TV, Radio, Netflix, BoB etc)

Dates given in brackets should be the original broadcast year (the copyright year given at the end of the programme). You may be able to find this and information such as writers etc on something like IMDb if you do not have the credits recorded. The broadcast date is the broadcast that you actually watched (except for online subscription-only programmes, in which case it is the release date).

Title . Directed by Director name (if known). Written by Writer name (if known) [TV Programme] (TV channel (or service if online only), broadcast date and time).

Scotland decides: Salmond versus Darling [TV Programme] (BBC TWO, 25 August 2014, 20:30).

Scotland decides .

No brackets around broadcast information:

Scotland decides: Salmond versus Darling [TV Programme]. BBC TWO, 25 August 2014, 20:30.

If you are quoting a specific person on the programme, you can include their name first:

A, Salmond, Scotland decides: Salmond versus Darling [TV Programme] (BBC TWO, 25 August 2014, 20:30).

'Episode title', Programme title , series and episode numbers. Directed by Director name. Written by Writer name (if known) [TV Programme] (TV channel (or service if online only). Broadcast date and time).

'The Empty Chair', The Honourable Woman , season 1, episode 1. Directed by Hugo Blick. Written by Hugo Blick [TV Programme] (BBC TWO. 3 July 2014, 21:00).

'Chapter 2', House of Cards , season 1, episode 2. Directed by David Fincher. Written by Beau Willimon [TV Programme] (Netflix, 1 February 2014).

'The Empty Chair', The Honourable Woman .

'Chapter 2', House of Cards .

'The Empty Chair', The Honourable Woman , season 1, episode 1. Directed by Hugo Blick. Written by Hugo Blick [TV Programme]. BBC TWO. 3 July 2014, 21:00.

Programmes/episodes watched via Box of Broadcasts

Please DO NOT cite these using the information given in the How to cite this tab underneath the broadcast window. Instead, just add the URL and access information as with other online resources:

Scotland decides: Salmond versus Darling [TV Programme] (BBC TWO, 25 August 2014, 20:30). https://bobnational.net/record/236557 [Accessed 30 Aug 2024].

Scotland decides: Salmond versus Darling [TV Programme]. BBC TWO, 25 August 2014, 20:30. https://bobnational.net/record/236557 [Accessed 30 Aug 2024].

Radio programme

This is the same as for TV programmes but use [Radio Programme] instead:

In Tune [Radio Programme] (BBC Radio 3, 18 August 2014, 16:30).

'Skomer', Afternoon Play . Written by Mike Akers [Radio Programme] (BBC Radio 4, 30 October 2006, 14:15). https://bobnational.net/record/215 [Accessed 18 Aug 2024].

S. Rafferty. In Tune [Radio Programme] (BBC Radio 3, 18 August 2014, 16:30).

Film (cinema release, TV or BoB)

Film, cinema release or tv.

Title in italics . Directed by Director name [Film] (Studio/Distributer, Year of release).

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes . Directed by Matt Reeves [Film] (20th Century Fox, 2014).

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes .

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes . Directed by Matt Reeves [Film]. 20th Century Fox, 2014.

Film, seen on Box of Broadcasts

Please DO NOT cite these using the information given in the How to cite this tab underneath the broadcast window. Instead, just add the URL and access information as with other online resources. If distributer information is cut off the end by the TV channel, try looking on IMDb (Company Credits link):

Title in italics . Directed by Director name [Film] (Studio/Distributer, Year of release). URL [Accessed date].

The Birds . Directed by Alfred Hitchcock [Film] (Universal Pictures, 1963). https://bobnational.net/record/234816 [Accessed 15 Sep 2024].

The Birds .

Remove brackets from distribution information.

The Birds . Directed by Alfred Hitchcock [Film]. Universal Pictures, 1963. https://bobnational.net/record/234816 [Accessed 15/9/2014].

If the author or presenter of the podcast is not known, use the organisation or website name instead.

Initial(s). Surname of author/presenter, 'Title of podcast', Name of Web page [Podcast]. Day and month of post if shown. URL [Accessed date].

T. Harford, 'Student loans', More or Less: Behind the Stats [Podcast]. 15 August 2014. https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/moreorless/moreorless_20140815-1655c.mp3 [Accessed 19 Aug 2024].

J. Heaversedge, 'What is mindfulness?', Mental Health Foundation [Podcast]. https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/content/assets/audio/what-is-mindfulness-mp3.mp3 [Accessed 19 Aug 2024].

Fearless Social, 'How to use magazines to write better Facebook ads', Fearless Social: Social Marketing Evolved [Podcast]. 7 August 2014. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/fearless-social-social-marketing/id904864342?mt=2 [Accessed 19 Aug 2024].

Harford, 'Student loans'.

Heaversedge, 'What is mindfulness?'.

Fearless Social, 'How to use magazines'.

As full footnote with surname of author/presenter first (Hartford, T.).

When referencing a YouTube video, it is the name of the person who posted the video, not who made it that you reference (these can be the same or different). Use the URL that you get when you click the 'Share' link as it is often shorter than the one in the address bar (you can even delete everything after the '?' in the link):

PowerPoint (or other) presentation

Most presentations you will reference will be accessed online, so reference as follows:

Initial(s). Surname of author(s), Title of presentation . Date created/uploaded [Presentation]. URL [Accessed date].

J. Brenman, Thirst . 8 July 2008 [Presentation]. https://www.slideshare.net/jbrenman/thirst [Accessed 29 Aug 2024].

N. Duarte, Slidedocs: spread ideas with effective visual documents . 2014 [Presentation]. https://www.duarte.com/slidedocs/ [Accessed 29 Aug 2024].

If you accessed the presentations via other means, omit the URL and accessed date.

Brenman, Thirst .

Duarte, Slidedocs .

As full footnote with surname of author first.

If accessed online, include the URL – otherwise just give publisher information.

Author/Creator, Title [Video game] (Publisher, Year). URL and access date if appropriate.

Galactic Café, The Stanley Parable [Video game] (2013). https://store.steampowered.com/app/221910/The_Stanley_Parable/ [Accessed 20 Apr 2024].

Galactic Café, The Stanley Parable .

As full footnote except remove brackets around publishing information.

Galactic Café, The Stanley Parable [Video game]. 2013. https://store.steampowered.com/app/221910/The_Stanley_Parable/ [Accessed 20 Apr 2024].

Individual musical score

Print score.

Initial(s). Surname of composer, Title of score including work number if known [Musical score]. Editor or arranger information (Publisher, Year of publication).

I. Stravinsky, Rite of spring: pictures from pagan Russia in two parts [Musical score] (Boosey & Hawkes, 1967).

N. Rimsky-Korsakoff, Trombone Concerto [Musical score]. Reduction for tenor trombone and piano by Harold Perry (Boosey & Hawkes, 1955).

Stravinsky, Rite of spring .

Rimsky-Korsakoff, Trombone Concerto .

Remove brackets from around publishing information.

Stravinsky, I., Rite of spring: pictures from pagan Russia in two parts [Musical score]. Boosey & Hawkes, 1967.

Rimsky-Korsakoff, N., Trombone Concerto [Musical score]. Reduction for tenor trombone and piano by Harold Perry. Boosey & Hawkes, 1955.

Online score

Initial(s). Surname of composer, Title of score including work number if known [Musical score]. Editor or arranger information (Publisher (if given), Year published or uploaded). URL [Accessed date].

J. S. Bach, Canon for Walther, BWV 1073 [Musical score]. Edited by Alfred Dorffel (Breitkopf & Hartel, 2008). https://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ImagefromIndex/188975 [Accessed 20 Aug 2024].

M. C. Raboud-Theurillat, Saisons, op 40 [Musical score]. (2005). https://www.free-scores.com/PDFSUP_EN/raboud-theurillat-marie-christine-saisons-saisons-flute-67951.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug 2024].

Bach, Canon for Walther .

Raboud-Theurillat, Saisons .

Bach, J. S., Canon for Walther, BWV 1073 [Musical score]. Edited by Alfred Dorffel. Breitkopf & Hartel, 2008. https://imslp.org/wiki/Special:ImagefromIndex/188975 [Accessed 20 Aug 2024].

Raboud-Theurillat, M. C., Saisons, op 40 [Musical score]. 2005. https://www.free-scores.com/PDFSUP_EN/raboud-theurillat-marie-christine-saisons-saisons-flute-67951.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug 2024].

Scores in collected works/anthologies

Part of collected works.

Initial(s). Surname of composer, 'Title of score', Title of collection [Musical score] (Publisher, Year). URL [Accessed date] (if relevant).

B. Britten, 'How sweet the answer (The Wren)', Folksong Arrangements, Vol 4 Moore's Irish Melodies [Musical score] (Boosey & Hawkes, 1960).

Britten, 'How sweet the answer'.

Britten, B., 'How sweet the answer (The Wren)', Folksong Arrangements, Vol 4 Moore's Irish Melodies [Musical score]. Boosey & Hawkes, 1960.

Part of anthologies

Initial(s). Surname of composer, 'Title of score'. In Editor name (ed.) Title of anthology [Musical score] (Publisher, Year). URL [Accessed date] (if relevant).

G. F. Handel, 'Deborah'. In M Spicker (ed.) Anthology of sacred song, Vol 1 (Soprano) [Musical score]. G. Shirmer, 1902). https://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/e/e9/IMSLP38723-PMLP85325-VA_-_Anthology_of_Sacred_Songs._Vol1-soprano.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug 2024].

Handel, 'Deborah'.

Handel, G. F., 'Deborah'. In M. Spicker, (ed.) Anthology of sacred song, Vol 1 (Soprano) [Musical score]. G. Shirmer, 1902. https://conquest.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/e/e9/IMSLP38723-PMLP85325-VA_-_Anthology_of_Sacred_Songs._Vol1-soprano.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug 2024].

Classical music recording

Cd, audio cassette or vinyl.

Initial(s). Surname of composer, 'Title of work if part of album/larger work'. Title of Album/Work if whole . Performer/orchestra conducted by Conductor name (if relevant) [Medium] (Distributor/Label, Year).

E. Elgar, Cello Concerto, Op 85, Enigma Variations. Philadelphia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Jacqueline Du Pré conducted by Daniel Barenboim [CD] (Sony Music Classical, 1995).

J. S. Bach, 'Variato 8. A 2 Clav'. Glenn Gould plays Bach, Goldberg Variations [Vinyl] (Membran Media, 2012).

Elgar, Cello Concerto .

Bach, 'Variato 8'.

Elgar, E., Cello Concerto, Op 85, Enigma Variations. Philadelphia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Jacqueline Du Pré conducted by Daniel Barenboim [CD]. Sony Music Classical, 1995.

Bach, J. S., 'Variato 8. A 2 Clav'. Glenn Gould plays Bach, Goldberg Variations [Vinyl]. Membran Media, 2012.

Streamed or downloaded

It is necessary to give specific information about where you streamed music from if it is ONLY available through that method. Otherwise, just give as much of the above information as your streaming service gives or you can find elsewhere (the same recording may be available on Amazon for instance). Downloaded music should always give a URL.

C. Debussy, La Mer . Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Simon Rattle [Streamed] (EMI Records Ltd, 2005).

J. Sibelius, Valse Triste . Erik Helling [Download]. https://d19bhbirxx14bg.cloudfront.net/sibelius-valsetriste-helling.mp3 [Accessed 28 Aug 2024].

Debussy, La Mer .

Sibelius, Valse Triste .

Debussy, C., La Mer . Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Simon Rattle [Streamed]. EMI Records Ltd, 2005.

Sibelius, J., Valse Triste . Erik Helling [Download]. https://d19bhbirxx14bg.cloudfront.net/sibelius-valsetriste-helling.mp3 [Accessed 28 Aug 2024].

Other recorded music

Standard names of single artists can be treated liked any other name, with initials given and reversed in the bibliography. Band names are unchanged. Single artists with non-standard names (Lady Gaga, Jessie J, P Diddy etc) should be treated as band names:

Artist, Title of album [Media]. Version if needed (Label, Year).

M. Gaye, What's Going On [Vinyl] (Tamla Records, 1971).

Iron Maiden, Powerslave [Audio CD]. Enhanced, original recording remastered (EMI, 1998).

Gaye, What's Going On .

Iron Maiden, Powerslave .

Gaye, M., What's Going On [Vinyl]. Tamla Records, 1971.

Iron Maiden, Powerslave [Audio CD]. Enhanced, original recording remastered. EMI, 1998.

Album track

Artist, 'Title of track', Title of album [Media]. Version if needed (Label, Year).

Blondie, 'Hanging on the telephone', Parallel Lines [Vinyl] (Chrysalis Records, 1978).

S. Smith, 'Like I can', In the Lonely Hour [Audio CD]. Deluxe Edition (Capitol Records, 2014).

Blondie, 'Hanging on the telephone'.

Smith, 'Like I can'.

Blondie, 'Hanging on the telephone', Parallel Lines [Vinyl]. Chrysalis Records, 1978.

Smith, S., 'Like I can', In the Lonely Hour [Audio CD]. Deluxe Edition. Capitol Records, 2014.

Initial(s). Surname of artist (or band/act name), 'Title of track' [Streamed or downloaded]. Title of album or equivalent (Naxos Rights International Ltd, 2004).

M. Davis, 'Rouge', Boplicity: Original recordings 1949-1953 . [Streamed] (Naxos Rights International Ltd, 2004).

Macklemore & R. Lewis, 'Starting Over', Spotify Sessions [Streamed] (2013). Available online: https://play.spotify.com/album/3LwV3QIDQopbgERx5XJnBz [Accessed 20 Aug 2024].

Davis, 'Rouge'.

Macklemore & Lewis, 'Starting Over'.

Davis, M., 'Rouge', Boplicity: Original recordings 1949-1953 [Streamed]. Naxos Rights International Ltd, 2004.

Macklemore & R. Lewis, 'Starting Over', Spotify Sessions [Streamed]. 2013. https://play.spotify.com/album/3LwV3QIDQopbgERx5XJnBz [Accessed 20 Aug 2024].

Lyrics or libretto

Songwriter(s), Title of Song [Lyrics] Track information if relevant (Distribution company or label, Year) or (Year). URL [Accessed date].

B. Taupin. Candle in the wind [Lyrics]. Track 11, Diamonds (Deluxe) (MCA Records, 1973). https://genius.com/Elton-john-candle-in-the-wind-lyrics Accessed 13 Aug 2024].

B. Geldof & M. Ure, Do they know it's Christmas? [Lyrics] (1984). https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bandaid20/dotheyknowitschristmas.html [Accessed 28 Aug 2024].

Taupin, Candle in the wind .

Geldof & Ure, Do they know it's Christmas?

Taupin. B Candle in the wind [Lyrics]. Track 11, Diamonds (Deluxe). MCA Records, 1973 https://genius.com/Elton-john-candle-in-the-wind-lyrics [Accessed 13 Aug 2024].

Geldof, B. & M. Ure, Do they know it's Christmas? [Lyrics]. 1984. Available online: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bandaid20/dotheyknowitschristmas.html [Accessed 20 Aug 2024].

These are usually published separately so have publisher details:

Initial(s). Surname of author(s) Title of publication [Libretto]. Edition or version if necessary. (Publisher, Year).

S. Sondheim, & H. Wheeler, Sweeney Todd [Libretto] NHB Libretti, new edition (Nick Hern Books, 1991).

Sondheim, & Wheeler, Sweeney Todd .

Sondheim, S. & H. Wheeler, Sweeney Todd [Libretto]. NHB Libretti, new edition. Nick Hern Books, 1991.

Liner notes/album cover notes etc

Liner notes are text found on the covers or inner sleeves of vinyl albums or on the little booklets that come inside CDs etc. These can be physical or electronic (for instance if you download an album). Sometimes they do not have individual titles, in which case just leave this out and move the [Liner notes] label to after the recording title.

Initial(s). Surname of author, 'Title of notes' [Liner notes], Title of recording [Media] (Label, Year).

The Damned, 'Thanks to no-one' [Liner notes], Damned Damned Damned [Audio CD] (Stiff Records, 1977).

J. Cott, Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps [Liner notes]. Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic [Audio CD]. Sony Masterworks, 2013.

D. Bowie, Aladdin Sane [Liner notes] (RCA Records, 1972). http://albumlinernotes.com/Aladdin_Sane.html [Accessed 24 Aug 2024].

The Damned, 'Thanks to no-one'.

Cott, Stravinsky.

Bowie, Aladdin Sane.

The Damned, 'Thanks to no-one' [Liner notes], Damned Damned Damned [Audio CD]. Stiff Records, 1977.

Cott, J. Stravinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps [Liner notes], Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic [Audio CD]. Sony Masterworks, 2013.

Bowie, D. , Aladdin Sane [Liner notes]. RCA Records, 1972. http://albumlinernotes.com/Aladdin_Sane.html [Accessed 24 Aug 2024].

Initial(s). Surname of composer, Title . Name of orchestra/musician conducted by Conductor (if relevant) (Place of performance, Date of performance).

R. Strauss, Elektra . BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Semyon Bychkov (Royal Albert Hall, 31 August 2014).

Strauss, Elektra .

Strauss, R., Elektra . BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Semyon Bychkov. Royal Albert Hall, 31 August 2014.

Initial(s). Surname of composer or choreographer, Title . Dance company (Location, Date seen).

M. Bourne, Lord of the Flies . New Adventures Dance Company (Sadler's Wells, London, 8 October 2014).

Bourne, Lord of the Flies .

Bourne, M. Lord of the Flies . New Adventures Dance Company. Sadler's Wells, London, 8 October 2014.

In contrast to other live performances, the title of the play is given first, not the playwright.

Title , by Author. Directed by Director (or Theatre Company) (Location, Date seen).

That's All You Need to Know , by Idle Motion (Hull Truck Theatre, 19 September 2014).

The Importance of Being Earnest , by Oscar Wilde. Directed by Lucy Bailey (Harold Pinter Theatre, 18 July 2014).

That's All You Need to Know .

The Importance of Being Earnest .

Remove brackets from performance information.

That's All You Need to Know , by Idle Motion. Hull Truck Theatre, 19 September 2014.

The Importance of Being Earnest , by Oscar Wilde. Directed by Lucy Bailey. Harold Pinter Theatre, 18 July 2014.

Speeches often have their transcripts published online or are available on YouTube, in which case you can also give the appropriate URL. Omit this if you do not have it.

Speaker, Title of speech [Speech or Speech Transcript] (Date of speech, Location of speech if not given in title). URL [Accessed date].

B. Johnson. PM speech in Greenwich [Speech transcript] (3 February 2020). https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-in-greenwich-3-february-2020 [Accessed 28 Mar 2024].

B. Obama A perfect union [Speech] (18 March 2008, National Constitution Centre, Philadelphia). https://youtu.be/zrp-v2tHaDo [Accessed 28 Mar 2024].

Johnson , PM speech in Greenwich .

Obama , A perfect union .

Johnson, B. PM speech in Greenwich [Speech transcript]. 3 February 2020. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-in-greenwich-3-february-2020 [Accessed 28 Mar 2024].

Obama, B. A perfect union [Speech]. 18 March 2008, National Constitution Centre, Philadelphia. https://youtu.be/zrp-v2tHaDo> [Accessed 28 Mar 2024].

For emails from distribution lists, see electronic resources. Be careful about including personal email addresses and respect confidentiality. It is usually to keep copies and include them in appendices.

Sender Name, Message subject line [Email]. Message sent to Recipient's name (email address if appropriate). Date and time sent.

R. Heseltine, Reflective writing [Email]. Message sent to J. Bartram ([email protected]). 22 April 2014, 20:49.

Heseltine, Reflective writing .

As full footnote.

Interview or conversation (including telephone or Skype)

Recorded interviews/conversations (including focus groups).

Initial(s). Surname of interviewee, Description of communication [Conversation type]. Date and time of interview. Place if relevant.

J. Harlow The relevance of employability to academic staff [Recorded conversation]. 27 December 2014, 12:50. University of Hull.

Participant B, Should we build a new library? [Focus group]. 9 May 2012, 14:15. University of Hull.

Harlow, The relevance of employability.

Participant B, Should we build a new library?

Harlow, J. The relevance of employability to academic staff [Recorded conversation]. 27 December 2014, 12:50. University of Hull.

Some supervisors could prefer you to provide a transcript as an appendix and cite the appendix and line number in your footnotes instead - check with them individually. If this is the case then the following would be used:

Full and short footnotes

Appendix N o , Line N o .

The bibliography entry would be the same as above.

Non-recorded interviews or conversations

Check with your tutor/supervisor to see if these are usable (they are not considered recoverable data and some academics will not accept them as evidence within your written work). If they are acceptable, give the same information as for recorded interviews/conversations.

Use a description of the letter's contents if it has no obvious title. Consider having an image of the full letter as an appendix to your work.

Initial(s). Surname of author, Title/description of letter [Letter]. Personal communication or recipient information, Date on letter.

J. Smith, Request for help with proofreading [Letter]. Personal communication, 23 January 2013.

P. Brown, Workshop enquiry [Letter]. Sent to Skills Team, 23 January 2013.

Smith, Request for help .

Brown, Workshop enquiry .

Smith, J., Request for help with proofreading [Letter]. Personal communication, 23 January 2013.

Brown, P., Workshop enquiry [Letter]. Sent to Skills Team, 23 January 2013.

Lecture notes

Always check with your tutor that they accept lecture notes or other course material in a reference list (many do not). It is always better to read the original sources of the material if available and reference these. Otherwise reference as follows:

Lecturer, 'Title of lecture', Module title and code [Lecture] (Institution, Year, unpublished).

J. Bartram, 'Effective Presentations', Enhanced Information and Research Skills 05056 1314 [Lecture] (University of Hull, 2013, unpublished).

Bartram, 'Effective Presentations'.

Bartram, J. 'Effective Presentations', Enhanced Information and Research Skills 05056 1314 [Lecture]. University of Hull, 2013, unpublished.

See PowerPoint (or other) presentation above if you have access to the actual presentation used rather than relying on your own lecture notes (but still check that it is acceptable to reference this).

Further guidance

If you speak different languages and have referenced non-English-language works that you have translated yourself then follow the guidance below.

The example here is for a journal article but if you are referencing anything else, follow the italicisation conventions for the equivalent English language source above.

Author(s) 'Title in original language' (if possible) [Title translated into English]. Publication name in original language (if possible) [Publication name translated into English]. Volume/issue/page information (according to type of publication) (year) [In ‘language’].

A. N. Krenke and V. G. Khodakov, 'O svyasi povercknostnogo tayaniya lednikov s temperaturoy vozdukha' [On the relationship between melt of glaciers and air temperature]. Materialy Glyatsiologicheskikh Issledovaniy [Data of Glaciological Studies], 12. 153–163 (1966) [In Russian].

Krenke & Khodakov, 'O svyas' poversknostnogo tayaniya lednikov'.

As full footnote (unless a book in which case put publisher's information in brackets).

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What Are Endnotes? | Guide with Examples

Published on March 29, 2022 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on June 7, 2022.

Endnotes are notes that appear at the end of your text in a piece of academic writing. They’re indicated in the text with numbers (or occasionally other symbols). Endnotes are used:

• For citations in certain styles
• To add extra information that doesn’t fit smoothly into the main text

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Table of contents

Endnotes vs. footnotes, how to use endnotes, endnotes in chicago style, endnotes in apa style, endnotes in mla style, how to insert endnotes in word, frequently asked questions about footnotes and endnotes.

Endnotes are sometimes confused with footnotes . Footnotes are also used to provide citations and/or supplementary information, but they appear at the bottom of the relevant page instead of all together at the end.

• Clutter your writing less than footnotes, since they’re all grouped together instead of spread throughout the text
• Are less convenient, since the reader has to flip to the back to read the notes
• Are convenient, since the reader finds the additional information on the same page as the relevant part of the text
• Can make your text appear messy, especially if there are a lot of them

You should usually choose either footnotes or endnotes and use them consistently. Your instructor may tell you which style of note to use.

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Endnote numbers appear at the end of the clause or sentence the endnote relates to. The number appears after any punctuation, unless the clause ends with an em dash, in which case it appears before it. There’s no space added after the number.

The general consensus now—though there are dissenting voices 1 —is that this experiment was simply too methodologically flawed to produce valid results. 2

Endnotes are numbered consecutively in the order they appear in your text. Each note has a unique number; don’t repeat the same number even if you cite the same source more than once.

In Chicago notes and bibliography style , you use endnotes (or footnotes) for citations. Either kind of note can also be used to add extra information: further examples, commentary on the sources you cite, or more detailed discussion of ideas you mention in the text.

Place your Chicago endnotes at the end of the relevant clause or sentence. A citation endnote provides full information about a source the first time you cite it, and shortened information for any further citations of that source.

                    1. Hanna Pickard, “What Is Personality Disorder?” Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology 18, no. 3 (September 2011): 182. https://doi.org/10.1353/ppp.2011.0040.

          2. Pickard, “What Is Personality Disorder?” 182.

You should still include a full list of your sources in a bibliography after the endnotes, unless you’re writing a very short paper and have been told you don’t need to.

The endnotes page appears just before the bibliography and starts with the title “Notes” written in bold and centered. The notes themselves are formatted as follows:

• Leave a blank line between endnotes, and single-space the notes themselves.
• Indent the start of each endnote.
• Write the note numbers in normal text, not superscript, followed by a period and then a space.

Either endnotes or footnotes may be used in APA Style to provide additional information. They’re not used for citation; for that you’ll use APA in-text citations instead.

APA endnotes are used to provide copyright attributions where necessary. They can also be used, for example, to elaborate on ideas in the text or provide further examples. Do this sparingly, however; APA cautions against adding unnecessary details.

1 Copyright 2022 by Scribbr. Reprinted with permission.

        2 Admittedly, the issue is not as straightforward as this brief summary suggests. See Prakash (2019) for a more in-depth consideration of …

Endnotes appear on a separate page after the reference list , with the heading “Footnotes” (confusingly, APA doesn’t use the term “endnotes”) in bold and centered at the top.

The notes are written as double-spaced indented paragraphs. Start each note with its number, in superscript and followed by a space.

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MLA in-text citations appear in parentheses in the text, but you can use endnotes to avoid cluttering the text if you need a lot of citations in one place.

MLA endnotes may also be used to provide additional information—any necessary clarifications, further examples, or expansions of ideas covered briefly in the text.

      1 See James 35; Lanning 15–25; and Johnson 77.

       2 Other nations, including Italy and France, were undergoing similar political convulsions during the same period.

List your endnotes on a separate page before the Works Cited list, and title them either “Notes” or “Endnotes.” Indent the first line of each endnote, and start the note with the number in superscript followed by a space. Endnotes should be double-spaced.

It’s straightforward to insert endnotes automatically in many word processors, including Microsoft Word. Just follow these steps:

• Click on the point in the text where you want the endnote number to appear.
• Open the “References” tab at the top, and click on “Insert Endnote.”
• Type something in the endnote that appears at the end of your document.

But if you’re following one of the styles covered above, do adjust the formatting to match their requirements and add a heading for the endnotes page.

Footnotes appear at the bottom of the page they refer to. This is convenient for the reader but may cause your text to look cluttered if there are a lot of footnotes.

Endnotes appear all together at the end of the whole text. This may be less convenient for the reader but reduces clutter.

Both footnotes and endnotes are used in the same way: to cite sources or add extra information. You should usually choose one or the other to use in your text, not both.

To insert endnotes in Microsoft Word, follow the steps below:

• Click on the spot in the text where you want the endnote to show up.
• In the “References” tab at the top, select “Insert Endnote.”
• Type whatever text you want into the endnote.

If you need to change the type of notes used in a Word document from footnotes to endnotes , or the other way around, follow these steps:

• Open the “References” tab, and click the arrow in the bottom-right corner of the “Footnotes” section.
• In the pop-up window, click on “Convert…”
• Choose the option you need, and click “OK.”

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Caulfield, J. (2022, June 07). What Are Endnotes? | Guide with Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved September 3, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/endnotes/

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