What is the difference between a footnote and an endnote?

A footnote appears at the bottom of the page where its reference mark appears. An endnote is collected at the end of the chapter, section or whole document. Both use numbers in the text that link to the note.

Use whatever your style guide or instructor requires. If you have a choice, footnotes are easier for readers because the information is on the same page, while endnotes keep pages cleaner.

Do footnotes count toward the word limit?

It depends on the course. Some instructors count them, some exclude citation-only notes and some count only explanatory text. Check the assignment brief.

Where does the note number go?

After the punctuation mark in most note styles, such as Chicago and OSCOLA. Place it at the end of the clause or sentence it supports.

Can I use notes in APA or MLA?

Both allow content notes for extra information that does not fit in the text, but citations themselves go in the text. Keep notes few and brief, and check your instructor's preference.

Footnotes vs Endnotes: Differences and When to Use Each

Notes are a small tool with a long history. They let a writer give a source, add a comment or explain a point without breaking the flow of the main text. Footnotes and endnotes do the same job in different places, and which one you use is usually decided by your style or your instructor.

This guide explains the difference, shows which styles use them, covers how to insert them in common word processors and helps you decide what belongs in a note. For the citation formats themselves, see our guides to Chicago and OSCOLA.

What they are

Both footnotes and endnotes work the same way. A small superscript number appears in the text, and a matching note gives the source or extra information.

A footnote sits at the bottom of the same page.
An endnote sits at the end of the document, or at the end of a chapter or section in a longer work.

The difference is only placement, but placement changes how readers use them.

Side by side

Feature	Footnotes	Endnotes
Location	Bottom of the page	End of chapter or document
Reader access	Immediate, without turning pages	Requires flipping to the end
Page layout	Reduces space on the page	Keeps pages cleaner
Best for	Short papers, law, history, citation-heavy text	Long works, books, where notes are bulky
Common in	Chicago notes, OSCOLA, law reviews	Some books and humanities journals
Numbering	Continuous or restarts by page or chapter	Usually continuous or by chapter

For most student papers, footnotes are more convenient for the reader, which is why styles such as OSCOLA specify them.

Which styles use notes

Chicago notes-bibliography: footnotes or endnotes for citations, plus a bibliography. See our guide to Chicago style.
OSCOLA: footnotes for all citations, used in UK law. See OSCOLA referencing.
Some MLA and humanities uses: notes for commentary, with citations in the text.
APA and Harvard: citations go in the text, and notes are for brief content only.
Numbered styles such as IEEE and Vancouver: use numbers in the text pointing to a reference list, not notes.

If your course does not name a style, ask whether notes are expected.

Citation notes and content notes

Notes serve two purposes.

Citation notes give the source of a quotation or idea, as in Chicago and OSCOLA.
Content notes add information that would interrupt the main argument: a brief definition, a comment on a related issue, a note on a disagreement or a pointer to further reading.

Keep content notes short. A note that runs to a long paragraph probably belongs in the text, or should be cut.

Where the number goes

In most note styles, the number goes after punctuation, at the end of the clause or sentence it supports.

The court held that a manufacturer owes a duty of care.¹

Place it after the closing quotation mark if you are quoting, and avoid placing it in the middle of a sentence unless it refers to a specific phrase. Do not put a number in a heading unless your style allows it.

How to insert notes

Microsoft Word

Place the cursor where the number should appear.
Go to the References tab.
Choose Insert Footnote or Insert Endnote.
Type the note. Word numbers them automatically and renumbers them if you add or move one.

To switch between footnotes and endnotes, use the Footnote and Endnote dialog from the References tab and convert them.

Google Docs

Place the cursor where the number should appear.
Choose Insert, then Footnote.
Type the note at the bottom of the page.

Google Docs supports footnotes but not true endnotes in the same way, so check your assignment if endnotes are required.

Other tools

Reference managers such as Zotero have plugins that insert and format notes for Word and Google Docs, which keeps your citations and notes in sync.

Formatting rules

Style guides set details, but common practice includes:

Font size: often 10 point for notes, with 12 point for the main text.
Spacing: single spacing within notes, with a blank line between them in some styles.
Alignment: left aligned, with the first line indented in some styles.
Numbering: Arabic numerals, continuous through the paper.
Punctuation: each note usually ends with a full stop in Chicago and OSCOLA.

Always follow your course guide when it differs.

When to choose footnotes

The paper is short or medium length.
Readers will want to check sources quickly, as in law and history.
Your style or instructor specifies footnotes.
You use many short notes.

When to choose endnotes

You are writing a book or long document and notes would crowd pages.
Your style or publisher requires endnotes.
Notes are long and would take up much of a page.
You want a cleaner reading layout.

For a student paper, the instructor's instruction decides the choice.

Notes and the word limit

Check whether notes count toward the limit. Some instructors count all text, including notes. Others exclude pure citations but count explanatory notes. Some law schools exclude footnotes entirely. If the brief does not say, ask. Do not use notes to hide extra argument beyond the limit, since many markers read notes carefully and treat misuse as a breach of the word count.

Shortened and repeated notes

Note styles avoid repeating a long citation every time. After the first full note for a source, later notes use a short form, usually the author's surname, a short title and the page. Chicago encourages this, and OSCOLA adds cross-references such as (n 4). Some older guides use Latin abbreviations such as ibid. for the immediately preceding source, but recent editions of Chicago discourage them, so use whatever your instructor prefers. Keep the short form consistent through the paper, and make sure each full first citation appears before any short form that refers to it.

Notes in different disciplines

Practice differs by field. In law, footnotes carry nearly all the citations and sometimes lengthy discussion, so many law reviews have pages with more note text than body text.

In history, notes often document archival sources and add context, so they can be long and detailed. In the sciences, notes are rare because citations are numbered or author-date. In literature, notes may comment on textual variants or critical debates. If you are writing in an unfamiliar field, read a few recent journal articles from it and notice how much work the notes do, then match that level in your own paper.

Accessibility and layout

Notes should be readable. Use a font size that is small but clear, avoid cramming notes into narrow columns and keep enough spacing that numbers are visible. For digital submissions, check that the numbers link correctly and survive when you convert to PDF. If a screen reader is used by your audience, simple, short notes work better than long ones, since they interrupt the flow of the text less.

Common mistakes

Putting the number before the punctuation.
Long essays in the notes.
Mixing footnotes and endnotes in one paper.
Typing numbers by hand instead of using the software, which breaks the numbering when you edit.
Repeating the full citation every time instead of using a shortened form.
Leaving out the bibliography where the style requires one.
Using notes in a style that expects in-text citations.

A quick checklist

Which type of note does my style or instructor require?
Are the numbers inserted with the software?
Are they after punctuation and in order?
Is each note short and relevant?
Do notes count toward the word limit?
Is there a bibliography if needed?

Final thoughts

Footnotes and endnotes are two places to put the same thing. Follow your instructor's choice, use the software to number them, keep each one brief and make sure the notes support, not compete with, your argument. When in doubt, choose footnotes for a short paper, since they keep the evidence next to the claim.