Research Support: How to format Footnotes

About Footnotes

Each time you refer to a source in your writing, whether through a direct quote, paraphrase, or summary, you must include a corresponding footnote that provides bibliographic information about the original source. 

Whenever you refer to material from a source, you must insert a "footnote number" at the end of the paraphrased section or direct quotation. This directs readers to a corresponding footnote (with the same footnote number) at the bottom of the page on which the reference to the source is made. The first footnote number will be 1, the second will be 2, and so on. In the body of your text you use superscript (like this1) for the footnote number, while in the footnote you use a regular number followed by a period.

Shortened Footnotes

In Chicago style, the first time you cite a particular source you must provide a full footnote citation. If you refer to the same source again in your paper, you do not need to repeat the same full citation. Instead, you provide a shortened version of the footnote, which includes enough information for the reader to find the full citation in your bibliography or in an earlier footnote.

Shortened footnotes should include the author’s last name, a shortened version of the title (if longer than four words), and any other directing information, such as page numbers (when available).

Examples of Full Footnotes Followed by Shortened Footnotes

1. Steven J. Kirsh, Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence: A Critical Look at the Research, 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2006), 22. 

2. Elizabeth Blodgett Salafia and Jessica Lemer,  "Associations Between Multiple Types of Stress and Disordered Eating Among Girls and Boys in Middle School," Journal of Child and Family Studies 21, no. 1 (January 2012): 149, Academic Search Complete.

3. Amy Morin, "Mom Am I Fat?: Helping Your Teen Have a Positive Body Image," Verywell Family, About Inc., January 18, 2019, www.verywellfamily.com/media-and-teens-body-image-2611245. 

4. Kirsh, Children, Adolescents, and Media, 30. 

5. Salafia and Lemer, "Stress and Disordered Eating," 151.

6. Morin, "Mom Am I Fat?”

Quoting Directly

When you quote directly from a source, enclose the quoted section in quotation marks. Add a footnote number at the end of the quote. The footnote number should be in superscript, and be placed after any punctuation, like this:

"Here's a direct quote."¹ 

Example:

One possible explanation is that "the humanities are viewed by many critics as outdated fields."¹

Paraphrasing

When you write information or ideas from a source in your own words, cite the source by adding a footnote number at the end of the paraphrased portion. The footnote number should be in superscript, and be placed after any punctuation, like this:

​This is a paraphrase.¹

Example:

Improving access to credit is one way to reduce income inequality,¹ which can help break the cycle of poverty.

Long Quotations

What Is a Long Quotation?

If your quotation is longer than five lines, or more than 100 words, it is a considered a long quotation. This can also be referred to as a block quotation. Long quotations should be single-spaced, with a blank line inserted before and after the quotation to separate it from the rest of your text.

Rules for Long Quotations

There are 3 rules that apply to long quotations that are different from regular quotations:

1. Place a colon at the end of the line that you write to introduce your long quotation.

2. Indent the long quotation 0.5 inches from the rest of the text, so it looks like a block of text.

3. Do not put quotation marks around the quotation.

Example of a Long Quotation

At the end of Lord of the Flies the boys are struck with the realization of their behavior:

The tears began to flow and sobs shook him. He gave himself up to them now for the first time on the island; great, shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body. His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too.¹ 

Quoting and Paraphrasing: What's the Difference?

There are two ways to integrate others' research into your assignment: you can paraphrase or you can quote.

Paraphrasing:
Paraphrasing is when you reword a passage from someone else's work, expressing the ideas in your own words, not just changing a few words here and there. You must include a footnote number at end of the paraphrased section and a footnote at the bottom of the page.

Quoting:

Quoting is when you copy a selection from someone else's work, phrasing it exactly it was originally written. When quoting, you place quotation marks (" ") around the selected passage to show where the quote begins and where it ends. You must include a footnote number at end of the quotation and a footnote at the bottom of the page.

Multiple items cited in the same paragraph

Q. If I'm citing something multiple times in a paragraph, how many in-texts do I need? If my paraphrase consists of several sentences, should a citation for the original source appear after each sentence?

A. If you just put one in-text citation at the end of the paragraph, it might not be clear where the ideas at the beginning of the paragraph came from. Therefore, you should include credit to the authors whenever you are quoting, summarizing, or paraphrasing facts and ideas from their work. This also helps differentiate your own ideas from those in your references. 

The best way to solve this problem and still make your paper easy to read is to use a lead-in referring to your source at the beginning of a sentence or at the start of the paragraph (signal phrase). You can alternate this with putting the in-text cite in parentheses at the end of other sentences or the paragraph. Try to make it clear in each following sentence if it is still coming from the same source, using phrases like "According to", "They also state...", "That article concludes...". If it is clear, you don't need to repeat the in-text citation for those sentences. 

Q. When doing footnotes, do you put a footnote after every sentence, even if two or more consecutive sentences are from the same source and same page? Or can it be assumed that, regardless of the punctuation (as long as it is in the same paragraph), all that came after the last citation and before the footnote you just inserted is part of the same source and same page?

A. Footnotes should be placed where you need them, not according to a rule. Whenever you can imagine the reader asking “Says who?” you should add a note. It’s not true that the reader can assume that everything between one footnote and the next is attributable to the first source, since most writers interject their own arguments or conclusions between the borrowed materials.

-- This wonderful Chicago style information was organized by Mr. Douglas, Upper School History. Please tell him thank you!