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2023-2024 US History II: Footnotes

What is a footnote?

The footnotes and bibliography in any scholarly work have two purposes:

  • to acknowledge the writer's debt to the work of others
  • to enable the reader to locate the sources consulted by the writer

A footnote is used to inform your reader where you have sourced a particular quotation or idea within the body of your paper. For certain types of sources, like e-mails, well-known encyclopedias, and legal documents, your footnote is often sufficient documentation -- an entry may not be necessary in your bibliography. For other types of sources, like books and journals, both a footnote and a bibliography entry are included.

Students should use a footnote:
1. Anytime you use a specific idea or statistic from a source
2. When you are directly quoting something
3. If a source claims something that might be controversial
4. When you are summarizing a source and provide information that's not generally known (common knowledge)

Intro to Chicago style footnotes | EasyBib

General Format of Chicago-Style Citations

General Model for Citing Books in Chicago Style Footnote:

  1. Firstname Lastname, Title of Book (Place of  publication: Publisher, Year of publication), page number.

General Model for Citing Web Sources in Chicago Style Footnote:

     1. Firstname Lastname, “Title of Web Page,” Publishing Organization or Name of Website in Italics, publication date and/or access date if available, URL.

General Model for Citing Film, Television, and Other Recorded Mediums in Chicago Style

Footnote:

  1. Firstname Lastname, Title of Work, Format, directed/performed by Firstname Lastname (Original release year; City: Studio/Distributor, Video release year.), Medium.

In citations for interviews and personal communications, the name of the person interviewed or the person from whom the communication is received should be listed first. This is followed by the name of the interviewer or recipient, if given, and supplemented by details regarding the place and date of the interview/communication. Unpublished interviews and personal communications (such as face-to-face or telephone conversations, letters, e-mails, or text messages) are best cited in text or in notes (N) rather than in the bibliography (B). Published interviews should be like periodical articles or book chapters.

Unpublished Interviews:

  1. Alex Smith (retired plumber) in discussion with the author, January 2009.

  2. Harvey Kail, interview by Laurie A. Pinkert, March 15, 2009, interview 45B, transcript.

Published or Broadcast Interviews:

  1. Carrie Rodriguez, interview by Cuz Frost, Acoustic Café, 88.3 WGWG FM, November 20, 2008.

Personal Communications:

  1. Patricia Burns, e-mail message to author, December 15, 2008.

When to Use Full, Shortened, or Ibid in Footnotes

Full Footnote vs. Shortened Footnote

The first footnote referring to a work must be the full citation, but subsequent citations for that same work can be shortened. The shortened form should include just enough information to remind readers of the full title or lead them to the bibliography; usually the last name of the author(s), the key words of the main title, and the page number. 

Example:
1. Salman Rushdie, The Ground beneath Her Feet (New York: Henry Holt, 1999), 25. [FULL FOOTNOTE]
 

1. Rushdie, The Ground beneath, 28. [SHORTENED FOOTNOTE ON SUBSEQUENT PAGES]

Ibid

When citing the same source in multiple footnotes one after the other on the same page, cite the source in full the first time, and then use "Ibid." for all subsequent citations until another source is cited.

Example:
1. Rushdie, The Ground beneath, 25.                                                              
2. Ibid., 28.

How to add a footnote in Google Docs

To add or insert footnotes:

  1. Open a document in Google Docs
  2. Click where you want to insert a footnote
  3. Click Insert > Footnote
  4. Type the footnote or get it from NoodleTools (see instructions below)
  5. When you are finished, click back into the body of your document

Delete footnotes:

  1. Open a document in Google Docs
  2. Select the footnote number
  3. On the keyboard, press delete. The footnote will be erased

Copy footnotes

  • When you make a copy of a document, the footnotes copy with it.
  • If you copy and paste text that contains a footnote, use the web clipboard to be sure the footnote is included.

Create Chicago Style Footnotes in Google Docs

Getting your footnotes from NoodleTools

 

If you filled out citation forms manually in NoodleTools to create each citation, then NoodleTools will provide the formatted footnote for each source, both the long and shortened version. This option is NOT available if you copy and pasted your citation into NoodleTools.

To get the NoodleTools footnote:

  1. In your project's SOURCES page, find the citation you want to footnote.
  2. On the right side of the citation, click on the OPTIONS button and select FOOTNOTE FORMAT.
  3. A pop-up window with the source's full and shortened citation appears. 
  4. If relevant, enter the page number where the information you are quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing appears in the original source - this will customize the footnote.
  5. Copy the full or shortened footnote, depending on what you need, and paste it next to the post scripted number at the bottom of the page (NOTE: Do not copy the number in NoodleTools. Follow the numbering in your paper. If your source does not have a page number, make sure to erase that from the footnote).