What Are Endnotes?
Endnotes are used in academic writing for making citations and giving credit to ideas that are not yours and for adding extra information to the context if the format of the main text does not allow you to insert this information immediately. Endnotes are located at the end of the text on a separate page. The places in the text they refer to are indicated with superscript numbers or, sometimes, other signs.
- ✔️Carolyn Kay, Art, and the German Bourgeoisie: Alfred Lichtwark and Modern Painting in Hamburg, 1886-1914 (Toronto: the University of Toronto Press, 2002), 100.
- ✔️ Kay, Art and the German Bourgeoisie, 51.
- ✔️ Kay, Art and the German Bourgeoisie, 87
The Difference Between Endnotes and Footnotes
Do not confuse endnotes with footnotes. Though they have similar functions to cite the sources used in the text and give some additional information about these sources or your considerations:
- Footnotes are located at the bottom of the page they refer to.
- Endnotes appear as the whole page at the end of the text.
Here are some advantages and disadvantages of endnotes and footnotes.
| Endnotes have the following pros and cons: |
|---|
| ✔️ They are compiled together, easy to find in one place, and do not clutter the text. | ❌ The reader may experience inconveniences when trying to read endnotes for the long text. |
| The pluses and minuses of the footnotes are the following: |
|---|
| ✔️ They are more convenient for long texts because a reader can find the information on the same page without flipping the text to and from. | ❌ Your text will look messy and cluttered if you need to make a lot of notes. |
You need to talk to your professor to decide which citing style to choose. However, if you have chosen either footnotes or endnotes, you need to stick to your choice throughout the paper. Combining these styles is not allowed.
Tips on Using Endnotes
You need to mark the place for an endnote in the text. Usually, you have to put endnote numbers in superscript after the clause, phrase, sentence, or paragraph you want to cite. You can place such a number after any punctuation mark except for an em dash. In this case, you need to put the number before it. You should not add any spare space after the number on purpose. Let’s consider the example of placing the endnote number within the text:
✔️ Many students feel that learning about culture and diversity¹ is an important part of their college education.
Numbers are assigned to endnotes in the order they emerge in the text. Every other note should have a separate number. If you want to cite the same source, every next citation should have a unique number.
How to Use Endnotes in Chicago Style?
The use of endnotes and footnotes in the Chicago style is pretty similar. The difference is in the position of these notes in the text. You need to use them in this citation style's notes and bibliography variation. You can also use endnotes here to add some commentaries or extra information, provide additional examples, or give credit to the sources and discuss them.
You have to place the superscript note number after the relevant passage you want to cite. Then, create an endnote with the full information about the source if you cite it for the first time and shortened data if you continue citing the same source.
Here is an example of two notes made for one source with one author:
- Jamie Zell, Getting It (New York: Penguin Press, 2016), 215-18.
- Zell, Getting It 224.
You will also need to create a complete list of sources in a bibliography if your paper is long and complex. However, if it is short and your professor did not tell you to make this list for sure, you may skip it and use only the list of endnotes.
In general, the page with endnotes is located before the bibliography. You can name it “Notes” and write this sign in the center, making it bold.
Learn the rules for formatting Notes
There are also certain rules for formatting these notes. They include the following:
- The beginning of every note should be indented.
- You have to leave a blank line between the notes and single-space them.
- The numbers of the notes should be in the normal text, with a period and a space. Do not use superscripts here.
How to Make Endnotes in APA?
Since the APA style uses in-text citations, footnotes, and endnotes are needed to provide additional information or extra copyright attributions. You can also use them to discuss the opinions and give some examples that do not comply with the text format. Do not add unimportant details because APA has severe restrictions concerning this point. Here are examples of endnotes.
- ¹ See Burquest (2020), especially chapter 8, for more information on this point.
- ² From the chapter “Consequences of the Psychosomatic Influences” J. Reed and P. Brown, 2011, What Is Psychosomatics? 32, p. 131. Copyright 2009 by Copyright Holder. Represented with permission.
You place all the endnotes in a separate list located after the reference list and entitled “Footnotes” (It sounds strange, but APA does not use the term “endnotes.”) You make the title in bold and place it in the top center of the page.
Write all the notes as indented paragraphs with their numbers in superscript at the beginning and a space after the number. All the paragraphs should be indented.
Making Endnotes in MLA
MLA also uses in-text parenthetical citations. The experts recommend using endnotes to avoid cluttering if you need to place many citations on one page. You can also use endnotes here to provide additional data, examples, clarifications, or comments on the sources or your ideas.
- ¹ See Harrison, especially 3-4, and also Hunnant, for further description and discussion of this issue (195-98).
- ² Some scholars take exception to this point (Harrow 25; Jackson 131-134; Guidelines 24).
You must compile all the endnotes onto one page and locate them before the Works Cited list. You may name this page “Notes” or “Endnotes.” The first line of every note should be indented. The notes start with a superscript number and a space. Double-space all the notes.
Inserting Endnotes with the Help of Microsoft Word
You may also prefer to insert endnotes automatically. Many word processors can do it for you, including Microsoft Word. Start by clicking the place in the text where you want to insert the endnote number. Find the “References” tab in the top menu and go to “Insert Endnote.” The number will appear in the space after the sentence you want to cite and at the end of the document. Continue typing the content of the endnote after the number.
You may need to make some changes in this automatic formatting to adjust it to the requirements of the style you are using in your paper.
Final Thoughts
Endnotes, like footnotes, are used in most citation styles for making credits to the source’s author(s) or adding more information, comments, and ideas to the source or your text. You need to know how to format endnotes properly in every academic format or how to use the automatic formatting instruments of text processors.
Endnotes help make the paper more consistent and appealing. Using them correctly will make your paper more persuasive and professional. However, you have to remember that using endnotes in long papers is inconvenient for your readers, so if you have to write a complex paper with many pages and references, opt for using footnotes.