First off, before even starting, study how your writing program handles footnotes and endnotes. Footnotes are done at the bottom of the page they are on (word processing programs are wonderful at this), while endnotes are done at the end of the chapter or book. Endnotes are nearly always numbers, while footnotes may be numbers or symbols. Obviously, if you have both endnotes and footnotes, then the endnotes get numbers and footnotes get symbols.
And a lot of this ultimately depends upon the publisher and the scholarly nature of your book. The more scholarly, the more formal the endnotes and footnotes.
Hello,
I'm back with another question.
I've begun a non-fic book and am wondering about citing sources. I'm putting a definition of a word in a chapter, and am using Webster's online. Do I cite it like in paper? Do I put a little number and then cite it at the end of the chapter and/or book?
I'm really confused. Any help is appreciated.
Personally, with a definition I'd put it as a footnote. It should be near the word so that it is useful. However, if you're defining more than a couple of words, it all goes in the glossary. Personally I'd use a symbol like a pound symbol. Don't use a web site when a book exists. Period. The reason is the web is not as permanent as paper. You'd use a standard book citation format.
Thank you.
But how should I cite any reference?
At the moment, style isn't as important as consistency. But you want to have all the possible information you're going to need. And for something that will make you life so much easier, copy the front page of the book with the important information, as well as what you're using. You'll be amazed how often you'll need it.
Thank you, Tempered Steel, for asking this question because I have a similar question which I feel I should know but I never read a direct answer to it.
My question is like yours, as in, I want to know about citing sources but where it differs is the etiquette in citing them.
What I mean is, if I want to mention Amazon or recommend a book or website do I need permission? I have read that you can mention them in a book if it is positive but that was from an article I read over three years ago. Would a thanks on the acknowledgements page be enough?
You can cite to any source, whether positive or negative, but you have to quote or paraphrase the source accurately. Recommended sources are used all the time and don't require permission. I would not include this sort of stuff on the acknowledgment page unless some personal service was involved.
Is there a rule of thumb for which is better when?
I learned to write papers in APA style, but a couple of my professors randomly required Chicago style on case studies...
Any of the recommended sources are fine, and the differences are minor. Most important is to have everything available. Ultimately, this is up to the publisher.
Because I've used the MLA format for school, and I know all about that. But I don't usually see that type of citing in a book - with the parantheses and the last name of the author and all that. Is MLA a way to cite in a book or is another format usually used?
Actually, that stuff is usually in the bibliography. That way you don't have to include it as much in the endnotes.
Right at the moment, don't sweat this stuff too much. In the drafting stage, I'd do everything as endnotes. (With EQUINE LIABILITY, what became the footnotes (I knew which were going to be footnotes from the beginning) started out as endnotes. It was just easier to work with that structure for both my editor and me in the editing stage.) Guess what? With Word you can change from endnotes to footnotes to endnotes as many times as you need to. More information at the drafting stage is better than too little. Cutting is easier than digging through all of your sources to find a cite.
Best of luck,
Jim Clark-Dawe
