In academic writing the writing part of it is still relatively simpler. No matter how difficult the topic of your assignment paper, you, as the writer who is actually penning the paper, has a fair enough idea of exactly what you will write and how you should write it down. What gets really difficult and can lower both the quality of your paper as well as the marks that you will eventually score on it, is the fact that it is not referenced properly. One of the most basic aspects of academic writing that gets students down is that they do not place their footnotes and endnotes right.
Let us consider this instance that you may come across in academic writing: you have a very large piece of information that is actually too big to be incorporated in the parentheses itself. However, since it is crucial information, it needs to be used within the paper itself to ensure that a completed piece of work is submitted further.
- Now, the basic difference between footnotes and endnotes is their placement; footnotes need to be placed at the end of every page, so for instance, if you need to add some sort of note to any piece of information provided on page 10 that is where the relevant footnote should appear also, on page 10. The endnote is what is written at the end of all the text in an entire paper. In essence, that makes footnotes a form of in-text referencing style.
- Footnotes are also smaller in font size than the rest of the text on any given page, and in texts that contain a lot of footnotes, a numerical value typically alerts the reader to the presence of a footnote. Other than that an asterisk or any other non-alphanumeric symbol that shows there is a footnote here that needs to be read also. Since endnotes are on separate pages altogether or at the very end of the text, they really do not need to be flagged down so very obviously.
- The reason why footnotes or endnotes are so important is because of the sole similarity between them. They both contain information that is very relevant to the reading and proper understanding of the text at hand. This information can also include background material, bibliographical material and references.
That said, it can get confusing as to when a student should use an endnote or when they should supplement the text with a footnote. That decision actually rests with the student themselves since both footnotes and endnotes have their own advantages. Footnotes are easier to find and because of this a reader on any particular page can read them as they go through any particular part of the text itself. Supplemental material may be used here. Endnotes however, are easier to both compile as well as to print out. What is more, they do not spoil the look of a particular page the way too many footnotes can make a page look over-cluttered. Downside though, is that to read an endnote, you need to go to the very end of the chapter or book to read it. That could cause some sort of inconvenience for a reader. However, based on the text they are writing, assignment writers may use either of these two referencing styles to help elucidate their work further. In case if you need any help with your footnotes and endnotes, contact us, British Assignments Help.