Footnotes and endnotes are ways of linking a statement in the body of a text with supporting references or extra information that does not fit into the flow of the text. They differ only in where they are placed: footnotes appear at the bottom of the page, and endnotes appear at the end of the chapter or document. In some cases, the organisation producing the publication dictates which one you should use. In other cases, you can use whichever best suits your text.
Choosing footnotes or endnotes
Use footnotes when:
- you need to add a little extra information – footnotes should be short (eg a single supporting reference, a URL, 1–2 sentences of additional information)
- you want readers to have immediate access to the extra information – because footnotes appear at the end of the page, readers can easily access them as only a slight detour from the main text
- you only have a few such notes.
Use footnotes sparingly, because making the reader go back and forth between the main text and footnotes can disturb the flow of information. A long list of footnotes can also form a large block out of proportion to the main text. Consider whether you can include the information within the flow of the main text.
Use endnotes when:
- you need to add a lot of extra information – endnotes can be longer than footnotes (eg up to a page)
- it is acceptable for readers to look at the extra information later
- you have many such notes.
Because endnotes appear at the end of chapter or the whole work, they are useful for documenting numerous references or extra information that would take up too much room at the bottom of the page. However, this also makes it difficult for readers who do want to read them with the text.
Using footnotes and endnotes
Footnotes and endnotes are marked with a superscript number in the text, which matches the number and note presented at the end of the page, section or document.
Superscript numbers are placed at the end of a sentence or clause that they relate to, after the punctuation (if any), with no space between the punctuation and number:
Western Aranda people view buffel grass as an ‘unwelcome stranger’.3
If you have multiple references for a sentence, include commas with no spaces between the numbers:
Buffel grass is only listed as a weed in South Australia.4,5
If you have a span of references, use a hyphen:
Buffel grass is toxic to horses.4-6,9
For referenced bullet points, put the number after the colon if it refers to all the points:
The 3 most pervasive weeds in Australia are:11
- buffel grass
- boneseed
- bitou bush.
or after the bullet point if it refers to just 1 point:
Animals at risk from buffel grass include:
- horses12
- cattle13,14
- kangaroos.15-17
Use the footnote or endnote feature in your word-processing program to insert footnotes and endnotes; do not enter them manually because this will cause problems during editing and design.
Use autonumbered footnotes (not symbols), either numbered continuously throughout the report or numbered for each chapter, if the report is very long. Both systems are supported in standard word-processing software with autonumbering systems.
Some programs, such as Microsoft Word, have tools to link to the same footnote more than once. You can use these to avoid repetition (eg if you refer to the same website on several different pages).
If you are using Vancouver referencing style, footnotes should be labelled with superscript letters (a, b, c) rather than numerals, to avoid confusion. See Vancouver for more information.
Notes in print versus online
Footnotes and endnotes are usually found in printed documents, or in documents that will be included on a website as a PDF or Word file.
True footnotes are occasionally seen on webpages, but this use is declining as references or additional information are added to online content in other ways.
Usually, references are provided within online text as a live link, which can take the user to the reference in a pop-up panel or page, or to the reference on another website. The link may be in either Harvard or Vancouver notation (see References for more information).
