Finding A Sample Research Paper With Footnotes: A Quick Guide
For many students, creating a research paper is a boring, time consuming process. If you look at it this way, you will never be able to fully concentrate and create whatever you have to make. Try to be relaxed and optimistic, and it will not be long before you will finish your homework. Footnotes are not always required in this kind of papers, but they are useful and they can bring you some extra marks. This means that you will write at the bottom of the page supplementary notes and details that can be interesting for the reader. Here is how to build your own footnotes:
- Write them at the end of the page. If you are thinking to build a separate page that will contain only these supplementary notes, already you are neglecting one of the primary requirements. Try, however, to not add them at the end of every page because it can be disturbing for any reader. They have to be present only when it’s absolutely necessary and to not be longer than a few lines.
- You can introduce the references that did not belong in the text. For example, if you are mentioning a specific term in your text and you can not add the reference, leave it for the footnotes. On a similar note, when you have to explain a complicated word, it’s better to do it at the end of the page so you will not interrupt the text. When it’s imperative to explain something before moving on, you can edit the text and introduce the explanation at the end of a sentence, using an editing program.
- Use the same font as you used for the text. It’s quite disturbing to see a page that is divided in two sides, each one of them written with different fonts. You want everything to look perfect. You can make it obvious that those are footnotes by separating them with a line from the rest of the content, but keep the italic font only for special terms or words in another language.
- Proofread it at the end. Many students neglect this part, because they don’t think that it is important. However, your professor will also read this and if he will find any mistake, it will look like you did not want to bother anymore.