Citations: Footnotes/End Notes and Popular Abbreviations

Citation simply means to cite or mention a source. It is a method of documenting a source and it is an integral part of research practice and ethics. A researcher should authenticate his arguments by supporting reliable sources. This is the chief difference between a work of history and a work of fiction. The method of using footnote gives the researcher an opportunity to display his sources and supporting documents. It also helps the researcher to avoid plagiarism and uphold research ethics. 

The important objectives of citations are:

• to substantiate a statement made in the work
• to record or acknowledge the indebtedness to a source used
• to provide less important discussion or information without affecting the textual body
• to give cross-references to the matter appearing elsewhere in the work itself

A historian should acknowledge not only the sources of his facts but also the sources of any new idea or opinion or conclusion borrowed from others. In the text, he should clearly distinguish between his own ideas or conclusions and those of others borrowed by him. Ideas and opinions are like the property of somebody, and whenever they were borrowed, the ethics of historical scholarship demands that such borrowings be acknowledged.

The narration in the textual body must not be interfered with by less important or irrelevant matters. These matters can be given in the footnotes. Sometimes the personal details of the historical person dealt with within the text are provided in the footnotes. But care must be taken to avoid very lengthy footnotes.

There are three popular methods for giving citations in the text - Footnote, End Note and in-text Citation. The difference between these types lies in the position in the text.

Footnotes

It is placed at the bottom of the page. If the footnotes are given at the bottom of each page, then it is easy to look for references. It provides the immediate cross-verification of an argument.

End Note

It is placed at the end of the chapters or at the end of the whole work chapter-wise.  If it is given at the end of the chapter or the end of the book, the reader needs to look for a reference at the end and come back to the test. Then reading will be interrupted.

In-text Citation

In this method, the sources were cited in the text itself. Here, the name of the author, year of the publication and page number were given within parenthesis at the end of the sentence. The reader has to look for the other details of the source in the bibliography.

Methods of Giving Footnote/End Note Numbers

The footnote/endnote numbers in the text should be given in superscripts or raised numerals. There are three methods of giving these reference numbers.

• give fresh numbers for each page and give the footnotes at the bottom of the page
• give consecutive numbers for each chapter and give the footnotes either at the bottom of each page or at the end of each chapter as an endnote in a continuous order
• give consecutive numbers for each chapter and give the footnotes at the end of the whole book in chapter wise

Content of a Footnote/End Note

Generally, the first reference to a source should contain all relevant details of that source. Thus the first footnote/endnote for a book may contain the following details:

1. The name of the author/editor as entered in the cover page of the book
2. Title of the work in italics
3. The name of the publisher
4. The place of publication
5. The page number is preceded by the letter “p.” (for one-page number) and “pp.” (for more than one page) in the lower case
6. Number of the page or pages

Popular Abbreviations

Only the first reference to a source is to be given in its complete form. The subsequent reference to the same source should be given in an abbreviated form. The commonly used abbreviations are given below:

Ibid – Abbreviation for the Latin ibidem meaning ‘in the same place’. It is used for a footnote if it comes immediately after the earlier footnote to the same source. If the page number is different, then it is also given.

op.cit. – Abbreviation for the Latin term opera citato meaning ‘the work cited’. It is used for a footnote cited previously (not just above) but with a different page number.

loc cit. – Abbreviation of the Latin term loco citato meaning ‘in the place cited’. It is used for a footnote cited previously (not just above) with the same page number.

Popular Style Manuals for giving citations

MLA - Modern Language Association

APA – American Psychological Association

Chicago Manual