A definition or explanation can be provided within the footnote without any visual or logical disruption in the text. Footnotes allow an author to guide his or her reader to additional information or further study, without disrupting the flow of the sentence.Īnother great use of footnotes is to define or explain a word or idea that might require further explanation to a general audience. In some cases, such as when using Chicago Style, footnotes are often used instead of in-text citations with a bibliography at the end of the paper. Why are footnotes used?įootnotes are the least intrusive way for an author to provide citations or supplemental information about a topic. An example of superscripted footnote numbers. Keep in mind that the gray line is the bottom of the paper, so your footnotes will be printed that close to the end of the page. See the example below, which shows the superscripted footnote numbers, along with the footnotes and the way they are formatted on the paper. Regardless of their purpose, a footnote is usually added to text as a superscript, starting at 1, and with a corresponding number at the bottom of the page (known as the footer) where the citation or additional information is included. To provide supplementary information to text, such as clarifying an idea or expounding on it for further inquiry.

To provide necessary information to text in the form of a citation.While the rules regarding footnotes vary according to the citation style used, there are two distinct purposes for footnotes:

Footnote example