A note is a string of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document or at the end of a chapter, volume, or the whole text. The note can provide an author's comments on the main text or citations of reference work in support of the text.
Footnotes are notes at the foot of the page while endnotes are collected under a separate heading at the end of a chapter, volume, or entire work. Unlike footnotes, endnotes have the advantage of not affecting the layout of the main text, but may cause inconvenience to readers who have to move back and forth between the main text and the endnotes.
In some editions of the Bible, notes are placed in a narrow column in the middle of each page between two columns of biblical text.
In English, a footnote or endnote is normally flagged by a superscripted number immediately following that portion of the text the note references, each such footnote being numbered sequentially. Occasionally, a number between brackets or parentheses is used instead, thus: [1], which can also be superscripted.
Typographical devices such as the asterisk (*) or dagger (†) may also be used to point to notes; the traditional order of these symbols in English is *, †, ‡, §, ‖, ¶. [1] Other symbols, including the #, Δ, ◊, ↓, and ☞, have also been used. [2] [3] In documents like timetables, many different symbols, letters, and numbers may refer the reader to particular notes.
In CJK languages, written with Chinese characters, the symbol ※ (called reference mark; Japanese: komejirushi; Korean: chamgopyo) is used for notes and highlighting, analogously to the asterisk in English.
Footnote reference numbers ("cues") in the body text of a page should be placed at the end of a sentence if possible, after the final punctuation. This minimizes the interruption of the flow of reading and allows the reader to absorb a complete sentence-idea before having their attention redirected to the content of the note. [4]
The cue is placed after any punctuation (normally after the closing point of a sentence). ... Notes cued in the middle of a sentence are a distraction to the reader, and cues are best located at the end of sentences. [5]
Notes are most often used as an alternative to long explanations, citations, comments, or annotations that can be distracting to readers. Most literary style guidelines (including the Modern Language Association and the American Psychological Association) recommend limited use of foot- and endnotes. However, publishers often encourage note references instead of parenthetical references. Aside from use as a bibliographic element, notes are used for additional information, qualification, or explanation that might be too digressive for the main text. Footnotes are heavily utilized in academic institutions to support claims made in academic essays covering myriad topics.
In particular, footnotes are the normal form of citation in historical journals. This is due, firstly, to the fact that the most important references are often to archive sources or interviews that do not readily fit standard formats, and secondly, to the fact that historians expect to see the exact nature of the evidence that is being used at each stage.
The MLA (Modern Language Association) requires the superscript numbers in the main text to be placed following the punctuation in the phrase or clause the note is about. The exception to this rule occurs when a sentence contains a dash, in which case the superscript would precede it. [6] However, MLA is not known for endnote or footnote citations, rather APA and Chicago styles use them more regularly. Historians are known to use Chicago style citations.
Aside from their technical use, authors use notes for a variety of reasons:
The US Government Printing Office Style Manual devotes over 660 words to the topic of footnotes. [9] NASA has guidance for footnote usage in its historical documents. [10]
Former Associate Justice Stephen Breyer of the Supreme Court of the United States is famous in the American legal community for his writing style, in which he never uses notes. He prefers to keep all citations within the text (which is permitted in American legal citation). [11] Richard A. Posner has also written against the use of notes in judicial opinions. [12] Bryan A. Garner, however, advocates using notes instead of inline citations. [13]
This section's tone or style may not reflect the
encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (February 2024) |
HTML, the predominant
markup language for web pages, has no mechanism for adding notes. Despite a number of different proposals over the years, and repeated pleas from the user base, the
working group has been unable to reach a consensus on it.[
citation needed] Because of this,
MediaWiki, for example, has had to introduce its own <ref></ref>
tag for citing references in notes.
It might be argued that the hyperlink partially eliminates the need for notes, being the web's way to refer to another document. However, it does not allow citing to offline sources and if the destination of the link changes, the link can become dead or irrelevant. [14] A proposed[ by whom?] solution is the use of a digital object identifier.
In instances where a user needs to add an endnote or footnote using HTML, they can add the superscript number using <sup></sup>
, then link the superscripted text to the reference section using an
anchor tag. Create an anchor tag by using <a name="ref1"></a>
and then link the superscripted text to "ref1".
This section needs expansion. You can help by
adding to it. (July 2019) |
The London printer Richard Jugge is generally credited as the inventor of the footnote, first used in the Bishops' Bible of 1568. [15]
Early printings of the Douay Bible used a four-dot punctuation mark (represented in Unicode as U+2E2C “⸬”) to indicate a marginal note.[ citation needed] It can often be mistaken for two closely-spaced colons.
At times, notes have been used for their comical effect, or as a literary device.
But beyond the ... double dagger, this order is not familiar to most readers, and never was.
A note is a string of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document or at the end of a chapter, volume, or the whole text. The note can provide an author's comments on the main text or citations of reference work in support of the text.
Footnotes are notes at the foot of the page while endnotes are collected under a separate heading at the end of a chapter, volume, or entire work. Unlike footnotes, endnotes have the advantage of not affecting the layout of the main text, but may cause inconvenience to readers who have to move back and forth between the main text and the endnotes.
In some editions of the Bible, notes are placed in a narrow column in the middle of each page between two columns of biblical text.
In English, a footnote or endnote is normally flagged by a superscripted number immediately following that portion of the text the note references, each such footnote being numbered sequentially. Occasionally, a number between brackets or parentheses is used instead, thus: [1], which can also be superscripted.
Typographical devices such as the asterisk (*) or dagger (†) may also be used to point to notes; the traditional order of these symbols in English is *, †, ‡, §, ‖, ¶. [1] Other symbols, including the #, Δ, ◊, ↓, and ☞, have also been used. [2] [3] In documents like timetables, many different symbols, letters, and numbers may refer the reader to particular notes.
In CJK languages, written with Chinese characters, the symbol ※ (called reference mark; Japanese: komejirushi; Korean: chamgopyo) is used for notes and highlighting, analogously to the asterisk in English.
Footnote reference numbers ("cues") in the body text of a page should be placed at the end of a sentence if possible, after the final punctuation. This minimizes the interruption of the flow of reading and allows the reader to absorb a complete sentence-idea before having their attention redirected to the content of the note. [4]
The cue is placed after any punctuation (normally after the closing point of a sentence). ... Notes cued in the middle of a sentence are a distraction to the reader, and cues are best located at the end of sentences. [5]
Notes are most often used as an alternative to long explanations, citations, comments, or annotations that can be distracting to readers. Most literary style guidelines (including the Modern Language Association and the American Psychological Association) recommend limited use of foot- and endnotes. However, publishers often encourage note references instead of parenthetical references. Aside from use as a bibliographic element, notes are used for additional information, qualification, or explanation that might be too digressive for the main text. Footnotes are heavily utilized in academic institutions to support claims made in academic essays covering myriad topics.
In particular, footnotes are the normal form of citation in historical journals. This is due, firstly, to the fact that the most important references are often to archive sources or interviews that do not readily fit standard formats, and secondly, to the fact that historians expect to see the exact nature of the evidence that is being used at each stage.
The MLA (Modern Language Association) requires the superscript numbers in the main text to be placed following the punctuation in the phrase or clause the note is about. The exception to this rule occurs when a sentence contains a dash, in which case the superscript would precede it. [6] However, MLA is not known for endnote or footnote citations, rather APA and Chicago styles use them more regularly. Historians are known to use Chicago style citations.
Aside from their technical use, authors use notes for a variety of reasons:
The US Government Printing Office Style Manual devotes over 660 words to the topic of footnotes. [9] NASA has guidance for footnote usage in its historical documents. [10]
Former Associate Justice Stephen Breyer of the Supreme Court of the United States is famous in the American legal community for his writing style, in which he never uses notes. He prefers to keep all citations within the text (which is permitted in American legal citation). [11] Richard A. Posner has also written against the use of notes in judicial opinions. [12] Bryan A. Garner, however, advocates using notes instead of inline citations. [13]
This section's tone or style may not reflect the
encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (February 2024) |
HTML, the predominant
markup language for web pages, has no mechanism for adding notes. Despite a number of different proposals over the years, and repeated pleas from the user base, the
working group has been unable to reach a consensus on it.[
citation needed] Because of this,
MediaWiki, for example, has had to introduce its own <ref></ref>
tag for citing references in notes.
It might be argued that the hyperlink partially eliminates the need for notes, being the web's way to refer to another document. However, it does not allow citing to offline sources and if the destination of the link changes, the link can become dead or irrelevant. [14] A proposed[ by whom?] solution is the use of a digital object identifier.
In instances where a user needs to add an endnote or footnote using HTML, they can add the superscript number using <sup></sup>
, then link the superscripted text to the reference section using an
anchor tag. Create an anchor tag by using <a name="ref1"></a>
and then link the superscripted text to "ref1".
This section needs expansion. You can help by
adding to it. (July 2019) |
The London printer Richard Jugge is generally credited as the inventor of the footnote, first used in the Bishops' Bible of 1568. [15]
Early printings of the Douay Bible used a four-dot punctuation mark (represented in Unicode as U+2E2C “⸬”) to indicate a marginal note.[ citation needed] It can often be mistaken for two closely-spaced colons.
At times, notes have been used for their comical effect, or as a literary device.
But beyond the ... double dagger, this order is not familiar to most readers, and never was.