How to Write Better Essays

Footnote or endnote system

This is probably the most well-known system, certainly the most

elegant. Each reference is cited in the text by a number, which refers

to either a footnote at the bottom of the page, or a list of references at

the end of your essay. Its main advantage, beyond its simplicity, is that

it doesn’t disrupt the text as much as other systems that enter the

details of the reference in the actual text itself. These tend to clutter

up the text, breaking the flow of ideas as you read. What’s more,

the footnote or endnote system has the advantage that most word-

processing programs create and position footnotes or endnotes auto-

matically for you.

Footnotes

When you write a footnote, it’s usual to abbreviate authors and titles.

In doing this you can choose from two alternative styles, but the same

advice follows as before: choose one and stick to it – be consistent.

You can either cite the full title on the first occasion you cite the work

and then cite the abbreviated title each time after that, or you can adopt

what’s known as the Harvard, or the ‘name–date’, system. Using this,

you cite in the note the author ’s name, the date of publication, and the

relevant page. In both cases the full details of all the titles referred to

would appear in the reference list and bibliography.

Abbreviation system

In this system the first reference to a book would appear as:

P. Rowe, The Craft of the Sub-editor(Cambridge, 1997), p. 37.

Later references to the same book could be abbreviated to:

Rowe,The Craft, pp. 102–3.

A reference to a journal article would appear as:

Brian T. Trainor, ‘The State, Marriage and Divorce’, Journal of Applied

Philosophy, vol. 9, no. 2 (1992), p. 145.

A later reference to the same article could be abbreviated to:

Trainor, ‘The State’, JAP, pp. 138–9.

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