Notes
The Notes section describes an APSA Style Specific—notes should only be used to present short substantive material or to cross reference other sources. Notes should not be used to cite sources better left for the reference list. The exceptions to this rule are references to unpublished interviews, ethnographic data, or legal and public documents, described in more detail in the References section of this manual. Ultimately, notes should be used sparingly.
General Rules
- Footnotes are notes placed at the bottom of every page of the manuscript. Endnotes are notes placed only at the end of the manuscript. These two systems should not be mixed during manuscript preparation. Where notes are ultimately placed for publication, as footnotes or endnotes, is dictated by each journal’s style.
- For manuscript preparation, it is acceptable to use your software’s footnotes feature to facilitate automatic numbering, even if the journal’s style ultimately changes them to endnotes. In electronic publishing, readers can now view or jump directly to notes mid-text. Therefore, the use of footnotes over endnotes does not have much consequence. Using this software feature also helps editor(s) manage the manuscript with better efficiency.
- Arabic numerals should be used in the text to represent notes. They should be ordered chronologically, typed in superscript, and placed at the end of a sentence, unless used to add emphasis to a mid-sentence element. The numeral should follow end punctuation (exception: before an em dash) and be placed outside of closing parentheses (unless the note explicitly refers to what is inside the parentheses) (14.19).
- A note that applies to more than one location must be repeated under a new number. Numbered notes can never appear in-text next to each other, or appear out of chronological sequence (14.28).
- Attaching a specific note to the title or any headings is not recommended. If the text needs a general note that applies to the entire piece, it should be indicated with an asterisk and placed before the numbered notes. Special acknowledgments may appear as an unnumbered note as well, before numbered notes begin (14.55).
- Some journals may ask for an unnumbered biographical note that includes the (co)author’s name, title, affiliation, and email address.
- If a source is used in a note, use parenthetical citations just as in regular text, and include the reference on the reference list.
- See and cf. can be used in endnotes, followed by a parenthetical citation as a form of cross-referencing (14.42). A source must be referenced on the reference list in these instances.
See Locke (1975) Locke, John. 1975. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding Book 4, Chapter 19.