The Use of Footnotes
Usually, the various academic papers would require footnotes. This is a very important part of a paper so as to give credit to the resources used throughout the paper. There are a couple of ways on how writers put such in their paper. It can be by way of notes, endnote and of course footnotes. The use of footnote is among the most common and most preferred by many. It is because notes are written on the same page of the content. Thus, there is no need for the reader to switch pages to read it. The best and fastest way to have footnotes is to write directly in MS word. Below are some of the ways on how to use footnotes.
a. While on MS word, place the mouse or the cursor on the part where you want the footnote to appear. Then click on ‘reference’ tab and click ‘Insert Footnote’. You will see that there will automatically be a line separator at the bottom of the page. There will be a superscript number that you can see after the reference that you have written.
b. The use of customized footnote formats. Customizing the format is also possible. Still under the reference tab, you have to click the small arrow. In here, you can choose your own special character and number format to use. Moreover, the footnotes can even be converted into endnotes. You simply need to click the radio button that can be found under ‘Location’ part.
c. Reuse of footnotes. Another great thing about MS word is that it also maintains the lists of footnotes that you have written. it is under the ‘cross-reference’ tab. It means that you can use the same footnote in the other parts of the paper.
The use of footnotes is very important in most academic writing. It is the way for the writer to give the necessary credits for the references used in the paper.