Clear examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers

Let’s begin with what you actually want to see: concrete, sentence-level examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers.

Imagine this sentence in a history paper:

The New Deal fundamentally reshaped the relationship between the federal government and American citizens.¹

A matching Chicago-style footnote at the bottom of the page might look like this:

¹ David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 124–126.

Now imagine you’re writing a public health paper using APA and you want to add a short clarification that doesn’t belong in the main text:

The intervention was considered successful for most participants.¹

An APA-style footnote at the bottom of the page might read:

¹ Participants were considered “successful” if they attended at least 80% of sessions and completed all follow-up surveys.

Those are the kinds of practical examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers we’ll keep coming back to—real wording, real formatting, and clear reasons for using them.

When to use footnotes vs. endnotes (with real examples)

Footnotes and endnotes do the same basic job: they hold information that would interrupt the flow of your main text. The difference is where that information lives.

• Footnotes show up at the bottom of the same page as the text.
• Endnotes are grouped at the end of a chapter or at the end of the entire paper.

Here’s a Chicago-style endnote example in a research paper on climate policy:

Scholars disagree on the long-term effect of cap-and-trade systems on local air quality.¹

At the end of the chapter (or paper), under a heading like Notes, you might see:

¹ For an overview of cap-and-trade outcomes, see U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Overview of Cap-and-Trade Programs,” last modified March 15, 2024, https://www.epa.gov/.

Same superscript number, same basic structure as a footnote—just moved to the back instead of the bottom of the page.

If your professor says, “Use endnotes in Chicago style,” you’ll still be using almost the same formatting as the footnote examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers you’re seeing here. The main change is location.

Style-by-style: examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers

Different citation styles treat notes differently. Here are targeted examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers for the three big ones: APA, MLA, and Chicago.

Chicago style: the classic home of footnotes

Chicago style (especially the Notes and Bibliography system) is where you’ll see the best examples of detailed footnotes in humanities research.

Example: first reference to a book (Chicago footnote)

Recent scholarship has reexamined the political dimensions of the Harlem Renaissance.¹

Footnote:

¹ Cheryl A. Wall, Women of the Harlem Renaissance (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995), 47.

Example: later reference to the same book (shortened Chicago footnote)

This tension between art and politics appears throughout the period.²

Footnote:

² Wall, Women of the Harlem Renaissance, 89.

Example: Chicago endnote with multiple sources

In the text:

Several studies have documented disparities in maternal health outcomes in the United States.³

Endnote (at the end of the paper):

³ See, for example, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System,” updated May 15, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternal-mortality; and Marian F. MacDorman et al., “Recent Increases in the U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate: Disentangling Trends from Measurement Issues,” Obstetrics & Gynecology 128, no. 3 (2016): 447–455.

Notice how that endnote lets you stack multiple sources in one place, keeping the main sentence clean.

APA style: footnotes for explanation, not citations

In APA 7th edition, most citations go in parentheses in the text, not in footnotes. But APA still allows footnotes for extra explanation.

Example: explanatory APA footnote

In the text:

Participants reported higher levels of perceived stress during the winter months.¹

Footnote:

¹ The winter months were defined as December through February, based on average temperatures reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the study region.

Example: copyright permission footnote in APA

In the text (under a table):

Table 2

Adapted Stress Scale Scores by Age Group¹

Footnote under the table:

¹ Adapted from “Perceived Stress Scale,” by S. Cohen, 1994, available from the American Psychological Association. Copyright 1994 by the American Psychological Association. Adapted with permission.

These are important examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers where the note is not a standard citation, but still needed for transparency and ethics.

MLA style: rare, but still possible

MLA prefers in-text citations, but you can use notes sparingly for clarification.

Example: MLA-style footnote for clarification

In the text:

Some early reviewers misunderstood the novel’s political context.¹

Footnote:

¹ For a discussion of the novel’s reception in the 1930s, see Smith 45–52.

The full citation for Smith would appear in the Works Cited list, not in the footnote. MLA notes are usually brief and used only when they really help the reader.

Practical examples: what belongs in a footnote vs. the main text

One of the most helpful ways to understand examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers is to look at borderline cases—things that could go in the text but work better in a note.

Example: extra detail that would interrupt the flow

Main text (history paper):

The treaty was signed under intense diplomatic pressure from neighboring states.¹

Footnote:

¹ France and Austria both threatened to withdraw military support if the treaty was delayed, according to correspondence collected in the National Archives (Record Group 59).

That background is interesting, but it would slow down your main argument. The footnote lets you keep it available but optional.

Example: defining a term without derailing your paragraph

Main text (sociology paper):

The study focused on “food deserts” in mid-sized American cities.²

Footnote:

² “Food desert” is used here to mean a neighborhood where residents have limited access to affordable, nutritious food, following the definition used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Here, the note briefly anchors your term in an official definition (you could even link to USDA: https://www.ers.usda.gov/), without turning your paragraph into a dictionary entry.

Example: acknowledging limitations or side findings

Main text (public health paper):

The intervention significantly reduced self-reported anxiety among participants.³

Footnote:

³ A small subset of participants (n = 7) reported an initial increase in anxiety during the first week of the program, possibly due to heightened self-awareness.

This is a good example of a footnote that adds nuance without cluttering your main results section.

Current trends (2024–2025): how notes are evolving in research writing

In recent years, especially by 2024–2025, a few patterns have emerged in examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers:

More digital and online sources.

You’re more likely to see notes that include DOIs and stable URLs. For instance, a Chicago footnote for a medical article might look like this:

⁴ National Institutes of Health, “NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Research,” updated April 2024, https://www.nih.gov/coronavirus.

Increased transparency about data and methods.

Researchers are using footnotes to point to data repositories and preregistration records:

⁵ All data and analysis code are available at the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/xxxx/.

More guidance from universities.

Many universities now host updated style and writing guides explaining when to use footnotes. For example, the Purdue OWL and major university writing centers like Harvard’s Writing Center offer current examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers tailored to APA, MLA, and Chicago.

Common mistakes in footnotes and endnotes (and how to fix them)

When students first start using notes, the mistakes tend to be predictable. Here are some of the most common ones, with better examples.

Mistake 1: Mixing citation styles in notes

Bad example:

¹ Kennedy, David. 1999. Freedom from Fear. Oxford.

Better Chicago-style example:

¹ David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 124.

Mistake 2: Repeating the same long citation every time

Bad example (third time citing the same book):

³ David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 301.

Better example using a shortened note:

³ Kennedy, Freedom from Fear, 301.

Mistake 3: Putting everything in notes instead of the main text

If half your page is footnotes, something’s off. Ask yourself: Does the reader truly need this information only if they choose to dig deeper? If yes, it’s a good candidate for a note. If no, it probably belongs in your main paragraph.

How to decide: footnote, endnote, or in-text citation?

When you’re stuck, use these questions to guide you. They’re based on the best examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers across disciplines:

• Is this core evidence for my argument? If yes, it usually belongs in the main text with a standard citation.
• Is this background detail, side comment, or extra nuance? That’s perfect for a footnote or endnote.
• Does my style guide or professor specify footnotes or endnotes? Follow that first.
• Will notes make my paper easier to read, or will they distract? In some fields (like history or law), readers expect lots of notes. In others (like psychology), they expect cleaner pages.

If you’re unsure, check your style manual:

• APA Style (7th ed.): https://apastyle.apa.org/
• MLA Handbook (9th ed.): https://style.mla.org/
• Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.): https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/

These sites often include real examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers or at least detailed sample citations.

FAQ: examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers

How do I write a simple example of a footnote in Chicago style?
In the text:

The policy sparked immediate controversy.¹

Footnote:

¹ Jane Doe, Education Policy in the 21st Century (Boston: Beacon Press, 2023), 56.

That’s a clean, standard example of a Chicago-style footnote in a research paper.

Can I use footnotes in APA papers, and what are good examples of that?
Yes, but APA mostly uses them for explanation, not citation. For example:

Participants completed the survey online.¹

Footnote:

¹ The survey was administered using Qualtrics, and participants could complete it on a computer or smartphone.

What’s an example of using endnotes instead of footnotes?
In the text:

Scholars disagree on how to interpret this trend.²

At the end of the paper under Notes:

² For a detailed review of interpretations, see Smith, Rethinking Economic Change, 201–225.

That’s a straightforward example of an endnote: the superscript appears in the text, and the full note appears in a separate notes section.

Where can I see more real examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers?
Look for sample papers from trusted sources:

• The Purdue OWL offers sample APA, MLA, and Chicago papers.
• Many university writing centers (for example, Harvard’s Writing Center) post model essays with notes.
• For health and medical research, you can browse articles on PubMed and follow links to full-text PDFs that use notes.

If you model your own work on these real examples of footnotes and endnotes in research papers, your notes will look professional, consistent, and easy to read.