Create Footnotes and Endnotes

Unit 4: Word Processing

Any time you use an idea that is not your own (in print, on a Web site, etc.) it is important to give credit to the person who originally wrote the information. This process is called citing your source, and you must do this if you quote the information exactly or even if you rewrite the information using your own words. (Rewriting someone else's ideas in your own words is called paraphrasing.)

Microsoft Word offers two ways to quickly create citations within your document: footnotes and endnotes. Every quotation or piece of cited text in the document has a number or letter next to it, indicating that an idea is being referenced. The same number or letter is then used in a footnote, which appears at the bottom of each page that contains a citation. Or the citation can be referenced in endnotes, which is a complete list of all citations at the end of the document.

To open the data file in Step 1, click on the link. If you are not able to download the file, ask your teacher for help.

Start Microsoft Word.

Open the data file Digital Music. (9.0K) Save the file as Your Name Digital Music. Check with your teacher for the best place to save your file.

The text contains information that should be cited. Position the insertion point after the word "Guidelines."

Click the References tab on the Ribbon, and click the Insert Endnote button (Figure 1).

A lowercase i appears after the word Guidelines and the insertion point is moved to the end of the document.

Next to the superscript letter, key Nguyen, Kelly. "Face the Music." North High Newsletter January 2010.

Figure 1 References tab

Select the words "North High Newsletter" and click the Underline button on the Home tab of the Ribbon.

Click the References tab on the Ribbon, and click the Footnote and Endnote Dialog Box Launcher. The Footnote and Endnote dialog box displays (Figure 2).

Figure 2 The Footnote and Endnote dialog box

In the Footnote and Endnote dialog box, click the Convert button.

In the Convert Notes dialog box, click OK. Click Close to close the Footnote and Endnote dialog box. The "i" is changed to a "1," and the reference is moved to the bottom of the page (Figure 3).

Figure 3 The completed footnote