- Every time you use a source, whether you are quoting directly, paraphrasing (explaining the idea of another in your own words), or relaying facts or opinions not generally known or easily checked, include a footnote or endnote. For more information, see The Chicago Manual of Stylel, 13.1.
- A footnote is listed at the bottom of the page on which the reference occurs, while endnotes are compiled at the end of the chapter, paper, article, or book.
- For the pros and cons of using each, see sections 13.47 and 13.48 of the Manual.
- Consult your instructors to determine if they prefer one over the other. Footnotes are generally most popular as they are easier to reference.
After you have quoted, paraphrased, or summarized someone else's work, place a superscript number at the end of the sentence or clause. This number should correspond to a footnote or endnote which cites the source being referenced. For more information, see The Chicago Manual of Style, 13.29.
Example
According to Cranston, Rousseau was "the least academic of modern philosophers."²
- In the footnote or endnote itself, the number is not superscript.
- The first line of each footnote or endnote should be indented one half inch from the left margin.
- Footnotes and endnotes should be ordered consecutively, starting from 1, throughout a paper, article, or chapter. In books, note numbers return to 1 at the beginning of each chapter.
- The first note citing a particular source must include the full citation. Later notes citing the same source, however, need only include the author's surname, a shortened form of the title, and the page number(s). For more examples of shortened citations, see The Chicago Manual of Style, 13.33.
Example
1. Jacalyn Duffin, "The Queen's Jews: Religion, Race, and Change in Twentieth-Century Canada,"
Canadian Journal of History 49, no. 3 (Winter 2014): 377-78.
. . .
13. Duffin, "Queen's Jews," 392.
- The Manual now discourages the use of ibid. (from ibidem, “in the same place.”) when citing the same source in subsequent notes. Instead, use a shortened citation. If you wish to avoid repetition, the shortened title may be omitted from subsequent notes. For more information, see section 13.37 of the Manual.
Example
1. Paige Raibmon, "Living on Display: Colonial Visions of Aboriginal Domestic Spaces," in Home, Work, and Play:
Situating Canadian Social History, 1840-1980, ed. James Opp and John C. Walsh (Oxford University Press, 2006), 22.
2. Raibmon, 22.
3. Raibmon, 26.
- Notes are not only for citations. Substantive, or discursive, notes expand on what is written in the text. They are helpful to use when you want to include important information that would otherwise interrupt your prose. For more information, see the Manual, 13.42.
Example
24. Ernst Cassirer takes important notice of this in Language and Myth (59–62) and offers a searching
analysis of man’s regard for things on which his power of inspirited action may crucially depend.
For an example of a paper with footnotes, see Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL) website.