Adding footnotes to essays and reports in Write by Zaweba

Footnotes let you add a source or an aside without breaking the flow of a sentence. A small number appears in the text, and the note itself sits at the bottom of the page. Readers who want the detail can glance down; those who don't can read on. Write by Zaweba handles footnotes as part of its real page layout, so they appear where they will print.

Inserting a footnote

Put the cursor where the reference should go, usually straight after the word or the full stop it relates to. Then choose the footnote command from the Insert menu, or press Ctrl+Alt+F. A number appears in the text, and the cursor moves to the matching note at the foot of the page, ready for you to type.

When you have finished the note, click back in the main text and carry on writing. Notes are numbered for you, so adding one earlier in the document moves the later numbers along without any fuss.

What footnotes are good for

Students use them most. Many essay styles ask for sources in footnotes rather than in brackets in the text, with the page number of the book or article you are quoting. Putting each reference at the bottom of its page saves a reader flicking to the back.

Reports and proposals use footnotes for the extra detail a careful reader might want: where a figure came from, a definition of a term, or a caveat that would clutter the main sentence. Local history writing and family history notes use them to record where a fact was found, which is invaluable when someone wants to check it later.

They are also handy for small asides. A note can say that a name has changed since, or that a meeting date was moved, without stopping the main story.

Writing good notes

Keep notes short. If a footnote runs to a paragraph or more, the material probably belongs in the main text or in an appendix.

Be consistent in how you cite sources. Pick a format, such as author, title, year and page, and use it every time. If your school or university has a set style, follow it exactly.

Put the number in the right place. In British usage the number usually goes after the full stop or comma when it refers to a whole sentence or clause. Check your style guide, because some prefer it inside.

Footnotes and the page

Because Write draws pages as they will print, you see the notes in place as you work. Print preview shows exactly what the printed page will look like, since it uses the same renderer as the screen and the PDF export.

Footnotes survive when you save as .docx, so a tutor or colleague opening the file in another word processor sees them as real footnotes. They also appear in PDFs you export, which is often how essays are handed in.

Pairing footnotes with other tools

A long piece of work usually needs more than notes. Headings give structure and fill the navigation pane, and Insert > Table of contents builds a contents page from them. The word count in the status bar helps you keep to a limit; check with your tutor whether footnotes count towards it, because rules differ.

When you share a draft, export a PDF so the layout is fixed, and keep the .docx or .zawr to carry on editing. Footnotes in place, a clear structure and a tidy contents page make even a long essay easy to mark.