I could use some help with footnotes!

[coolshannie]

Hi there Disboards!
An online class I am in requires I use footnotes for a paper. It's surprising, but I've never had to use footnotes before this. The professor has been helpful trying to clarify what she wants as far as footnotes, but I am still a bit confused and she hasn't gotten back to me in clarification. Plus, the way she wants her footnotes seems different then what I've found for MLA formatted footnotes on purdue...

She said for a footnote to write the last name and first name of the author and then the page number. If there was more then one quote from the same source to write the title of the book. Well I'm not sure if that is in edition too the author's name or not. I'm curious to see how you diser's would do it. The way I took it was like this...

1 Last name, First name, p. 18
2 Title of Book, Last name, First name, p. 19

Also how would you cite a website? I always get so confused when it comes to citing an official website opposed to citing a web-based document. It's an artist's main website with a biography and other important information about the artist. Because it's not a document, but a website I am citing I am not quite sure hot to cite it correctly.

 

[kaytieeldr]

First, printed sources:
Title of book, last name, first name, page number

additional consecutive usage from same source
Ibid, page number

Website (my thoughts only)
Name of site, link to exact page

 

[crashbb]

For website, you should always include the date on which you accessed it.

 

[dakcp2001]

I always use Bibme.org for my bibliographys, it is a great resource. Not sure if it does footnbotes, but worth looking. And you select if you want APA or MLA format.

 

[can84]

Chicago, MLA, and APA have different ways of citing sources. For website, this is how I cited for a paper in 2008 using Chicago. Not sure if the rules have changed since then, since they change them sometimes

Footnote:

4The National Archives, “Start Your Genealogy Research," The National Archives, http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/start-research/.

Works Cited:

The National Archives. “Start Your Genealogy Research." The National Archives.
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/start-research/ (accessed October 21, 2008).

Hope this helps!

 

[Pigeon]

I teach this to university students.

If she's making up her own style, which it sounds like is the case here, there's no way to know how to cite without asking her. MLA generally does not use footnotes, but rather a separate bibliography (works cited). I haven't come across a faculty member asking for footnotes, unless they were doing Chicago, in years.

If she's using a standard style, Perdue OWL is a good, authoritative source. Your institution should also have style guide sheets linked to their website. If she's identified a style, use the manual for that style.

Perdue OWL shows how to cite websites in MLA here http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/

Both MLA and APA have been revised since 2008.

As far as citation formatting software goes, the best is Noodlebib. Individual subscriptions are cheap, it's much more accurate than most other software, it has extensive online help, and the producers stay on top of all the style changes.

 

[dakcp2001]

CHeck out your school library as well, ours offers free use of noodlebib and you can link it from home

 

[coolshannie]

Thanks so much for the help. I did find it strange because she said she wanted a work cited as in MLA format but with footnotes...

 

[Tiana]

.

 

[MrsPete]

Hi there Disboards!
An online class I am in requires I use footnotes for a paper. It's surprising, but I've never had to use footnotes before this. The professor has been helpful trying to clarify what she wants as far as footnotes, but I am still a bit confused and she hasn't gotten back to me in clarification. Plus, the way she wants her footnotes seems different then what I've found for MLA formatted footnotes on purdue...

She said for a footnote to write the last name and first name of the author and then the page number. If there was more then one quote from the same source to write the title of the book. Well I'm not sure if that is in edition too the author's name or not. I'm curious to see how you diser's would do it. The way I took it was like this...

1 Last name, First name, p. 18
2 Title of Book, Last name, First name, p. 19

Also how would you cite a website? I always get so confused when it comes to citing an official website opposed to citing a web-based document. It's an artist's main website with a biography and other important information about the artist. Because it's not a document, but a website I am citing I am not quite sure hot to cite it correctly.

English teacher here.

If you're supposed to do footnotes, you're being asked to use a paper format that's been considered antique since the 80s. I graduated in 1984, and we learned this style in our early high school years, but then by the time I was a senior our teachers were switching over to in-text citations/MLA. If you're really supposed to use footnotes, google Kate Turabian. She was the research paper guru for a generation. Footnotes go at the bottom of each page, they are numbered, and they connect to a Bibliography/Works Cited page at the back of the paper. The whole format is too detailed to write out on a message board, but you'll find her handbook easily enough.

MLA -- Modern Language Association -- is the most commonly accepted style today. It uses in-text citations or parenthetical citations, and its handbook can also be easily googled.

Regardless of which format you're using, websites are difficult to cite. Think about it: Books are highly regulated by their publishers, which makes them easy to cite. Who regulates websites? No one. And don't forget that data bases are different from websites. Google either Turabian or MLA, and you'll find plenty of examples -- even citation generators.

And no matter what, follow your teacher's directions. He or she is grading the paper, and -- right or wrong -- you'd better do what the grader expects!