Notes are the heart of the Turabian notes-bibliography system. The last three lessons showed what goes in a note for each type of source. This lesson covers how notes behave in the paper: where the number goes, how notes are numbered and formatted, and how they shorten.
Where the note number goes
The note number is a small raised (superscript) number in your text. Put it:
- After the punctuation. After a period, comma, or closing quotation mark: …of black bears.”3 The one exception is a dash, which the number goes before.
- At the end of the sentence or clause that uses the source, not in the middle of a phrase.
- One number per spot. If one sentence draws on two sources, use one note and list both inside it (see below).
Notes are numbered 1, 2, 3, and on through the whole paper. Don't restart on each page.
How a note looks
At the bottom of the page, below a short separator line:
- Single-spaced, with a blank line between notes
- The first line indented half an inch, like a paragraph
- Turabian prefers a full-size number followed by a period (1.) at the start of the note. Many word processors insert a superscript number there instead, and most instructors accept it; just be consistent.
- Every note ends with a period, including one that ends with a URL
The first note: full
The first time you cite a source, the note gives the full details: everything a reader needs to find it, plus the page you used. Lessons 10 to 12 build full notes for a book, a journal article, and a website.
Every note after: shortened
After the first full note, every note for that source is shortened. A shortened note has three parts:
- The author's last name. Two or three authors: all their last names. Four or more: the first last name and et al.
- A short title. The main title, cut to four words or fewer if it's longer, keeping its italics or quotation marks.
- The page you used, if the source has pages.
| Source | First note (full) | Later notes (shortened) |
|---|---|---|
| Book | 1. Jeff Meldrum, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science (New York: Forge, 2007), 45. | 4. Meldrum, Sasquatch, 52. |
| Journal article | 2. J. D. Lozier, P. Aniello, and M. J. Hickerson, “Predicting the Distribution of Sasquatch…,” Journal of Biogeography 36, no. 9 (2009): 1626, https://doi.org/… | 5. Lozier, Aniello, and Hickerson, “Predicting the Distribution,” 1624. |
| Website | 3. Jane Y. Lin, “Exploring Cryptid Migration Patterns,” National Institute for Cryptozoological Studies, July 12, 2022, https://… | 6. Lin, “Exploring Cryptid Migration Patterns.” |
Meldrum's page numbers and the Lin webpage are for illustration.
What about Ibid.?
Ibid. is Latin for "in the same place." Older papers use it when a note cites the same source as the note right before it: Ibid., 52.
Turabian's 9th edition lets you use a shortened note in place of Ibid., even for two notes in a row. Use Ibid. only if your instructor or school asks for it. A shortened note names the source right there, so no one has to flip back to find it, and it stays correct when you move a paragraph. PERRLA uses shortened notes.
If your instructor does require Ibid.: use it only when the note directly before cites the same single source. Write Ibid. alone for the same page, or Ibid. followed by a comma and the new page for a different one.
More than one source in a note
If one sentence relies on two sources, put both in a single note, separated by a semicolon, in the order that makes sense for your point:
7. Meldrum, Sasquatch, 52; Lozier, Aniello, and Hickerson, “Predicting the Distribution,” 1626.
Notes that say more
A note can also add a short comment: a definition, a side point, or a pointer to another source. These are called content notes. Keep them short, and keep anything essential to your argument in the body.
Footnotes on a real page
…Hair offered as proof keeps matching animals we already know.1 Lozier and his colleagues suspected that “many Bigfoot sightings are, in fact, of black bears.”2 Their model, they noted, could make almost any creature look plausible.3
1. Bryan C. Sykes et al., “Genetic Analysis of Hair Samples Attributed to Yeti, Bigfoot and Other Anomalous Primates,” Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281, no. 1789 (2014): 20140161, https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0161.
2. J. D. Lozier, P. Aniello, and M. J. Hickerson, “Predicting the Distribution of Sasquatch in Western North America: Anything Goes with Ecological Niche Modelling,” Journal of Biogeography 36, no. 9 (2009): 1626, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2009.02152.x.
3. Lozier, Aniello, and Hickerson, “Predicting the Distribution.”
- Note 1A full note: Sykes is cited for the first time.
- Note 2A full note for a new source, with the quoted page.
- Note 3The same source as the note right before it, shortened, not Ibid.
- The numbersSuperscript, after the period or closing quotation mark.
Quick checklist
- Note number superscript, after the punctuation (before a dash)
- Notes numbered straight through the paper
- Notes single-spaced, a blank line between, first line indented
- First note full; every later note shortened: last name, short title, page
- Ibid. only if your instructor requires it
- Two sources for one point share one note, separated by a semicolon
How PERRLA handles footnotes
In a Turabian 9 paper, type # and the citation picker opens at your cursor. Pick the source and the page, and PERRLA places the superscript after the punctuation and writes the full note at the bottom of the same page. The next time you cite that source, even in the very next note, the note is shortened for you. PERRLA never writes Ibid. Add, move, or delete a note and every note renumbers.
1. J. D. Lozier, P. Aniello, and M. J. Hickerson, “Predicting the Distribution…,” Journal of Biogeography 36, no. 9 (2009): 1626, https://doi.org/…
Same source, next note: 2. Lozier, Aniello, and Hickerson, “Predicting the Distribution,” 1624.
Real footnotes in PERRLA Online, Word, and Google Docs. Right-click a footnote to edit it. Before you download, Suggested Fixes points out a note marker in the wrong place.