APA How-To: Using Footnotes
Recently, during a Paper Review Appointment, a student came
to me with a question about footnotes. They had received some feedback from an
instructor indicating that footnotes were appropriate in their piece, and they
wanted to know how to properly incorporate them. I immediately started to do
some research. I always associated footnotes with other citation styles, but I
hadn’t encountered them in working with scholar-practitioners here at Walden. So,
I turned straight to my trusty Sixth Edition APA Publication Manual. To my
surprise, APA-style research writing allows for two types of footnotes: content
footnotes and copyright permissions.
Before I get too far into explaining these, here’s a word of
caution. Footnotes should not be haphazardly thrown into your writing. They are
meant for these specific instances and are discouraged by APA for general use.
So, use these rarely if ever. But, nonetheless, here are the instances where
footnotes are appropriate:
Content Footnotes: Content footnotes, as the APA Publication
Manual states, “supplement and amplify substantive information in the text” (p.
37). This may sound like an element that could easily be included in many
pieces, but be careful. The manual goes on to stipulate some pretty specific
rules about how to use these. As these distract the reader from text in the
body of your writing, they should be short and convey only one idea. As the
manual indicates, “an author integrates and article best by presenting
important information in the text, not in a footnote” (p. 37). So, if possible,
you want to incorporate ideas into your writing the old-fashioned way, by using
sentences.
Copyright Footnotes: If you are using copyrighted
information, you need to reference that in a footnote. To again quote my
beloved manual, “Copyright permission footnotes acknowledge the source of
lengthy quotations, scale and test items, and figures and tables that have been
reprinted or adapted” (p. 37). The key here is that these have been
copyrighted. Most commonly, this is appropriate when using a table from another
source.
When a copyright footnote is called for, it should be at the
bottom of the page and formatted in the following way:
From a Journal – From [or The data in column 1 are from] “Title of Article,” by A. N. Author and C. O. Author, year, Title of Journal, Volume, p. xx. Copyright [year] by the Name of the Copyright Holder. Reprinted [or adapted] with permission.
From a Book – From [or The data in column 1 are from] Title of Book (p. xxx) by A. N. Author and C. O. Author, year, Place of Publication: Publisher. Copyright [year] by the Name of Copyright Holder. Reprinted [or adapted] with permission.
Other guidelines state that footnotes should be consecutively numbered in the order in
which they appear in the text. They should be superscripted and be followed by
any punctuation with the exception of a dash. They should look like this: Text 1 . In the text of
the document, you should reference the footnote in a parenthetical, like this:
(see Footnote 3).
As often happens, this student’s question launched me into a
research experience that resulted in a discovery of a new nuance of APA style
and formatting. In trying to best manage a specific writing situation, digging
a bit into my APA Publication Manual yielded some interesting results. So, if
you encounter a case where you need to provide copyright information for a
source that you use, format it in this way. If you would like to read a bit
more about footnotes, check out pages 37 and 38 of the Sixth Edition APA
Publication manual.
Michael Dusek is a Writing Instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. He has taught writing at universities in both Minnesota and Wisconsin, and enjoys helping students improve their writing. To Michael, the essay is both expressive and formal, and is a method for creative problem solving. In his personal life, he enjoys the outdoors, books, music, and all other types of art.
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