Simple Principles Of Footnotes in A Research

Projectclue12
3 min readNov 10, 2022

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In academic writing, footnotes are notes that are located at the bottom of the page and are identified in the text by superscript numerals (or sometimes letters or other symbols). They can be used for a number of purposes, including attributing sources, adding remarks on a source or subject, and acknowledging copyright status. In the text, footnotes are denoted by a number or symbol. Footnotes are frequently used in research papers and reports to cite facts and quotes that occur in the text especially when researching on computer science project topics. When you incorporate content that is not your own in an essay, you should acknowledge it using footnotes. Basically, there are three sorts of footnoted material:

  1. Direct quotes from the writings of other authors. (These need to be enclosed in quotes).
  2. Citing sources for assertions that are not explicitly quoted
  3. Information of an explanatory character that does not fit within the text’s flow.

Material that has to be footnoted in an essay should be identified with a raised number that follows the words or concepts that are being mentioned. It is usually employed in theological or legal studies. The researcher avoids the charge of plagiarism and the ensuing fines thanks to proper documentation. However, the following are the simple principles that must be observed when writing a footnote in research:

  1. Acknowledging the Sources

To indicate the source in a document, place a superscript number directly after the conclusion of a sentence that contains a quotation, paraphrase, or summary. It is acceptable to use one number after the final quote mark, paraphrase, or summary to designate the author of all references to that author in a single paragraph of your work. Notes should be written at the bottom of each page, 1.5 inches from the text and separated by a typed line. Do not indent any more lines after the first line of each entry, which should be indented one-half inch (or five spaces) from the left margin. Start the note with an Arabic digit. It is recommended to number footnotes sequentially, starting with 1, either across the chapter or the whole manuscript especially when developing topics like project topics on secretarial studies and others .

  1. Use the Appropriate Format

initial name of the author, followed by their last name, The complete title of the book, including any subtitles, the place and publisher of publication, and the year of publication, all in parenthesis. When referring to the page(s) from which the information was derived, avoid using the letters “p.” and “pp.” before page numbers. To separate things, use commas. When citing a source for the first time, the note should mention the date the book was published as well as the page where the relevant excerpt may be located.

Following references to sources that have already been referenced should only include the author’s last name, an abbreviated version of the title, and the page(s) that were used. The short form of a book’s title is italicized; the short form of an article’s title is surrounded by quotation marks. To separate things, use commas.

Use the shorthand “Ibid.” if further references come right after the first one. Ibid is Latin for “as above.” Only when the note comes from the same source as the one above is it used. If the second reference comes from the same source as the one immediately above, but the page from which it is obtained is different from the first, a page number is provided.

Sources are credited in the text using the author-date system, typically in parentheses. It contains the last name of the author, the publishing year, and a page number. The bibliography, which is typically named “References” or “Works Cited,” contains complete data.

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