Endnote

A numbered note collected at the end of a chapter or a whole paper instead of at the bottom of each page.

An endnote has the same content as a footnote, but it is placed at the end of a chapter or at the end of the whole paper, before the bibliography, and not at the bottom of the page where it is cited.

Footnote or endnote? Library guides to Chicago style say the choice mostly comes down to preference or to what your instructor asks for.

• Footnotes are easy to reach for a reader, so they are common in scholarly books. Their cost is the space they take on each page.
• Endnotes keep the page clear but are slower to check, because the reader has to turn to the end.

The rules for what goes inside the note are the same. Notes are numbered in one continuous list, and a repeat citation of a source gets a short note rather than “ibid.”

Word processors can create either kind and number them for you. Insert the note where the citation belongs and let the program renumber if you move text.

Your instructor’s instructions come first. If the assignment only says “use Chicago,” ask whether footnotes or endnotes are wanted, and whether it means the notes system or author-date.