Proper citation is the backbone of credible academic writing. Whether you’re referencing a book, a journal article, a sacred scripture, or a webpage, knowing exactly how to format your footnotes and endnotes – and when to use shortened versions – is a skill that separates polished scholarship from careless work. This post walks through concrete, practical examples of footnote and endnote usage across the most common source types you’ll encounter in academic writing, with particular attention to first and subsequent citations, sacred texts, and internet sources.
Table of Contents
- The anatomy of a footnote or endnote
- First citations: full notes
- Books
- Journal articles
- Chapters in edited volumes
- Subsequent citations: short notes
- Citing sacred texts
- The Bible
- The Qur’an
- Other sacred texts
- Citing internet sources
- Basic structure for a website footnote
- When there is no named author
- Online journal articles
- Putting it all together: a practical summary
The anatomy of a footnote or endnote
Before diving into examples, it’s worth grounding ourselves in the basics. The Chicago Manual of Style – the most widely used guide for humanities footnoting – operates on a “notes and bibliography” system. Each time a source is quoted or paraphrased, a superscript number is placed in the text, and that number corresponds to a note either at the bottom of the page (footnote) or on a separate page at the end of the document (endnote).
There are two types of notes in Chicago style: full notes and short notes. A full note provides the complete publication details and is used the first time a source is cited. A short note – giving only the author’s last name, a shortened title, and the page number – is used for all subsequent citations of the same source.
A few rules apply to all footnotes and endnotes regardless of source type. Each note begins with the same superscript number as in the text, followed by a period. Notes always include a specific page number, and numbering runs consecutively throughout the entire essay. In terms of formatting, information within a footnote is separated by commas (unlike a bibliography, where periods are used), and the author’s first name is listed first – the reverse of bibliographic convention.
First citations: full notes
The first time you cite any source, you must provide a complete note with all relevant publication information. This allows the reader to locate the source independently. Below are examples for the most common source types.
Books
For a single-author book, the full note format follows this pattern: First name Last name, Title: Subtitle (City of Publication: Publisher, Publication Date), page number.
For example:
1. Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (New York: Penguin, 2006), 88.
For a book with two authors, both names appear in natural order (first name first). For four or more authors, only the first-listed author’s name is given in the note, followed by et al.
Journal articles
For a journal article, the article title appears in quotation marks while the journal name is italicised. Volume or issue number, publication date, and specific page numbers of the citation are all required elements. For example:
1. John T. Kirby, "Aristotle on Metaphor," American Journal of Philology 118 (1997): 520.
If you accessed the article through a database, include the DOI (digital object identifier) or, where no DOI exists, the stable URL at the end of the citation.
Chapters in edited volumes
When citing a chapter from an edited book, the chapter author’s name comes first, the chapter title goes in quotation marks, and the editor’s name follows the book title with the abbreviation “ed.” (or “eds.” for multiple editors). The full note looks like this:
1. Glenn Gould, "Streisand as Schwarzkopf," in The Glenn Gould Reader, ed. Tim Page (New York: Vintage, 1984), 310.
Subsequent citations: short notes
Once a source has been cited in full, every later reference to it uses a shortened form. Subsequent notes provide only the author’s last name, a shortened version of the title, and the page number. For example, after the Pollan book has been cited in full, a later reference would appear as:
4. Pollan, Omnivore's Dilemma, 102.
It is worth noting that the current edition of The Chicago Manual of Style no longer recommends the use of ibid. for notes that cite the same source as the one immediately preceding. The shortened citation format – last name, short title, page number – is now the standard preferred approach across most academic contexts.
Citing sacred texts
Sacred and scriptural texts follow a distinct set of conventions that differ significantly from standard source citations. This is an area where many students make avoidable errors.
The Bible
References to Jewish or Christian scriptures normally appear in text citations or notes rather than in bibliographies. References should include the book name, chapter, and verse – never a page number. The name of the version should be identified, spelled out in full on the first citation and abbreviated in subsequent ones.
A Bible footnote looks like this:
1. 1 Thess. 4:11, 5:2–5, 5:14 (New Revised Standard Version).
2. Heb. 13:8 (NRSV).
When referring to a generic religious text in the body of the paper – such as the Bible, Old Testament, Genesis, Gospels, Talmud, Qur’an, or Upanishads – do not italicise or place the title in quotation marks. Italics are reserved for individually published editions with a specific editorial title, such as The Interlinear Bible.
The Qur’an
The Qur’an should be written in roman type (not italics), and citations of its sections use arabic numerals and colons. Since the Qur’an uses a standardised chapter-and-verse numbering system, the citation format is straightforward. In Chicago style, the footnote provides the sura and verse numbers separated by a colon, with no difference between full and short notes for Qur’anic citations. For example:
1. Qur'an 19:17–21.
If multiple translations are in use within the same paper, the translator’s name can be included in the footnote to differentiate between them.
Other sacred texts
For other scriptural traditions, references to the sacred and revered works of other religious traditions may be treated in a manner similar to those of biblical or classical works. Citations of transliterated texts should indicate the name of the version or translator. Collective terms such as the Vedas or the Upanishads are capitalised but not italicised; however, the titles of specific texts within such collections – such as the Rig Veda – are italicised.
Citing internet sources
Web sources are an increasingly unavoidable part of academic research, but they require careful handling in footnotes and endnotes. The core challenge is instability: a webpage you visit today may be altered or removed tomorrow. This is why both the citation format and the access date matter.
Basic structure for a website footnote
A concrete example:
1. Nick Stone, "Hidden History: Myths – Tombland, Norwich and the Plague," Invisible Works, last modified June 5, 2015, http://www.invisibleworks.co.uk/myths-tombland-and-the-plague/.
Web sources should generally be cited with their specific publication date. When a date of last revision or update is listed, use this instead, preceded by the words “Last modified.” When no date can be found at all, an access date is used instead. Including the access date is especially important because the internet is not stable – the site you visited may be changed or updated at any time. By noting when you accessed the page, you alert the reader that the version they find may differ from the one you cited.
When there is no named author
When a page has no named author, the page title is placed in the first position of the footnote. In the bibliography, the organisation or website name takes the author’s place for alphabetical ordering. For example:
2. "The Murderers Pub History," The Murderers & The Gardeners Arms, accessed July 31, 2017, http://www.themurderers.co.uk/norwich-pub-history.html.
Online journal articles
Online periodicals are cited exactly as their print counterparts, with the addition of a DOI or URL at the end of the citation. Access dates are not required for formally published electronic sources such as journal articles, though some disciplines may request them. A DOI is preferred over a URL when available, as it provides a more stable and permanent link to the content.
Putting it all together: a practical summary
Understanding footnote and endnote conventions becomes clearer when you see all the principles working together. The key distinctions to keep in mind are these: full notes are always used for a source’s first appearance; short notes follow for every subsequent reference. Sacred texts use chapter-and-verse references rather than page numbers, and the version must be identified. Internet sources require a date – either publication, last modification, or access – alongside the URL. Most academic style guidelines recommend limited use of footnotes and endnotes – they exist to support the argument, not overwhelm the reader. Used with discipline and precision, they signal scholarly rigor and allow your reader to trace every claim back to its source.
What do you think? Now that you’ve seen how citation conventions vary across source types, do you find the rules for sacred texts or internet sources more challenging to apply than those for standard books and articles – and why might that be? If academic citation standards continue to evolve alongside new media formats, what kinds of sources do you think will require entirely new footnote conventions in the future?
References
- https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html
- https://www.scribbr.com/chicago-style/footnotes/
- https://www.trentu.ca/academicskills/documentation-guide/chicago-style/footnotes-and-endnotes
- https://felician.libguides.com/ChicagoManualofStyle/footnotesandintext
- https://library.georgetown.edu/tutorials/research-guides/turabian-footnote-guide
- https://library.ulethbridge.ca/chicagostyle/other/sacred
- https://columbiacollege-ca.libguides.com/chicago/religioustexts
- https://knowadays.com/blog/a-guide-to-referencing-and-religious-texts/
- https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/how-to-cite-the-quran/
- https://libguides.wvu.edu/c.php?g=418946&p=2853966
- https://columbiacollege-ca.libguides.com/chicago/websites
- https://www.scribbr.com/chicago-style/website-citations/
- https://www2.oberlin.edu/faculty/svolk/citation.htm
- https://proofed.co.uk/writing-tips/chicago-website-footnote-style/
- https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/web_sources.html
- https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_endnotes_and_footnotes.html
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