Before going into how to insert Chicago style footnotes in Word, let’s look at some basic characteristics: Once you've decided to learn and use footnotes, you'll need to decide on which style of footnotes works best for you when citing or attributing: APA, MLA, Chicago, and others.įor this post, we'll focus on the Chicago style, 17th edition.

For example, college essays ask writers to reflect and think critically, but they may also make students learn how to add Chicago style footnotes in Word if they don’t know how already.

Assignment requirements: Your assignment may require using footnotes.

Literary device: Fictional writers have used footnotes in inventive ways, such as to flesh out the details of fantasy worlds, to break the fourth wall, or even to inject comical remarks and asides.

There are many ways to do this, but the easiest is to simply mark the quote with a footnote that attributes the quote to whatever resource it came from.

Quotes and attributions: If you ever include a direct quote in your paper, you'll need to cite it.

Word count limits: When submitting to an academic or legal journal, for example, you may need to adhere to a maximum word count-and because these limits usually don't count footnotes, this is one way to get more of your thoughts in.

Footnotes are cleaner than parentheticals.

Parenthetical explanations: When you're writing a research paper or essay, you may want to expound on a point that isn't critical and without distracting readers who already know.

Not sure if it's worth your time and effort to learn how to properly make and use footnotes? Here are a few scenarios where you might need to know how to do Chicago style citation in Word:

Footnote endnote chicago style