Real-world examples of examples of endnotes for essays

Let’s skip the abstract theory and go straight to what most students actually need: examples of endnotes for essays they can model. Then we’ll unpack why each one works.

Imagine you’re writing a history essay on public health policy. In your first paragraph, you quote a statistic about vaccination rates in the United States. Here’s how that might look in the body of your essay:

Childhood vaccination coverage in the United States has remained high over the past decade, despite regional variation in uptake.¹

At the end of the essay (on a separate page titled Endnotes), that note 1 might look like this in Chicago style:

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Childhood Vaccination Coverage in the United States,” last updated March 15, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/.

That’s a simple, real example of an endnote: a superscript number in the text, and a matching numbered entry in the endnotes section.

Best examples of endnotes for essays in Chicago style

Most students first meet endnotes through Chicago style, especially in history, art history, and some social sciences. If you’re searching for the best examples of examples of endnotes for essays in a traditional academic format, Chicago is the classic model.

Here are several real examples, each doing something a little different.

Example of a book citation as an endnote

In your essay text:

As Jill Lepore argues, political myths often grow out of “a selective reading of the past.”²

In your endnotes section:

2. Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States (New York: W. W. Norton, 2018), 47.

Why this works:

• Author’s full name
• Title in italics
• Publication city, publisher, year
• Page number where the quote appears

This is one of the best examples of endnotes for essays that rely heavily on books because it shows exactly what your reader needs to find the source.

Example of a journal article in an endnote

In your essay text:

Recent research suggests that social media use is associated with both positive and negative mental health outcomes.³

In your endnotes section:

3. Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, “Associations Between Screen Time and Lower Psychological Well-Being Among Children and Adolescents: Evidence From a Population-Based Study,” Preventive Medicine Reports 12 (2018): 271–283, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.10.003.

This example of an endnote shows how to handle:

• Multiple authors
• Article title in quotation marks
• Journal title in italics
• Volume, year, page range
• DOI link

Example of a government report in an endnote

Say you’re writing a policy essay and you cite a federal report. In your text:

According to the U.S. Department of Education, college enrollment patterns shifted significantly after 2020.⁴

In your endnotes section:

4. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education 2024 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2024), https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/.

This is one of those real examples of endnotes for essays that students often overlook: reports from .gov sites are powerful sources, and Chicago-style endnotes handle them cleanly.

Example of a website with no individual author

In your essay text:

Harvard University’s Writing Center recommends choosing either footnotes or endnotes and using them consistently throughout the paper.⁵

Endnote:

5. Harvard College Writing Center, “Using Sources,” Harvard University, accessed November 10, 2024, https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/using-sources.

This example of an endnote is helpful when you’re citing institutional pages that don’t list a specific author.

Examples of explanatory endnotes (not just citations)

Endnotes are not only for source citations. Some of the best examples of endnotes for essays use them to tuck away side comments, translations, or short explanations that would clutter the main text.

Example of a translation note

In your essay text:

The French phrase “esprit de l’escalier” describes the feeling of thinking of a perfect comeback too late.⁶

Endnote:

6. Literally “staircase wit,” referring to the moment on the stairs after leaving a conversation when the perfect response finally occurs to you.

No source here—just clarification. This is a real example of an endnote used as a brief aside.

Example of a short methodological note

In your essay text:

For this analysis, survey responses were grouped into three age categories.⁷

Endnote:

7. Participants were grouped as follows: 18–29, 30–49, and 50 and older.

This kind of example of an endnote keeps technical details available for interested readers without interrupting the flow of your argument.

MLA-style examples of endnotes for essays

MLA usually favors in-text citations, but it does allow endnotes when you need brief additional comments. If your instructor wants MLA and still asks for endnotes, these examples of examples of endnotes for essays in MLA format will help.

Example of an MLA-style explanatory endnote

In your essay text:

Shakespeare’s use of the word “nothing” in Much Ado About Nothing is loaded with double meanings.⁸

Endnote (MLA prefers shorter, more conversational notes):

8. In Shakespeare’s time, “nothing” could also be a slang term with sexual connotations, adding another layer to the play’s title.

Example of an MLA-style source endnote

If your instructor allows you to put full citations in endnotes rather than a Works Cited page (less common, but sometimes permitted), a real example of an endnote might look like this:

In your essay text:

Recent studies emphasize that sleep quality is as important as sleep duration.⁹

Endnote:

9. See Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams (New York: Scribner, 2017), for a detailed overview of the science of sleep.

MLA’s official guidelines on notes are summarized by the Modern Language Association itself; for current guidance, you can check the MLA Style Center at https://style.mla.org.

APA-style examples of endnotes for essays

APA style relies heavily on in-text parenthetical citations, but it does allow endnotes (called “footnotes” or “content notes”) in some situations. If you’re writing in psychology, education, or other social sciences, these examples of endnotes for essays will show you how APA handles them.

Example of an APA content note

In your essay text:

Participants completed the survey online using a secure platform.¹⁰

Endnote (APA 7th edition style):

10. The survey was administered via Qualtrics, a widely used online survey tool for academic research.

APA would still expect your source citations in the reference list and in-text parentheses, but this kind of example of an endnote lets you add context without overloading the sentence.

For current APA guidance, the American Psychological Association provides updated examples at https://apastyle.apa.org.

Putting it together: a short paragraph with multiple endnotes

Sometimes the best way to understand formatting is to see several examples of endnotes for essays in one short passage.

Imagine this paragraph in a college-level essay about public health messaging:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, public health agencies had to adapt their communication strategies rapidly.¹¹ While organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided detailed guidance,¹² misinformation on social media spread just as quickly.¹³ Researchers have since highlighted the importance of clear, consistent messaging to maintain public trust.¹⁴

Now, look at the matching endnotes in Chicago style:

11. For an overview of early communication challenges, see W. Timothy Garvey, “Public Health Messaging in a Pandemic,” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 28, no. 4 (2022): 320–327.

12. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “COVID-19 Guidance,” last updated September 30, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/index.html.

13. For discussion of misinformation, see National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Addressing Health Misinformation (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2023), https://www.nap.edu.

14. See also the World Health Organization’s recommendations on risk communication, which emphasize transparency and timeliness in public messaging.

This cluster gives you several real examples of endnotes for essays at once: a journal article, a government site, a report from a major organization, and a general reference to guidelines.

Practical tips drawn from the best examples of endnotes for essays

Looking across all these examples of examples of endnotes for essays, a few patterns show up that you can copy safely in almost any assignment.

Match the number
Every superscript number in your text must match exactly one note in your endnotes list. Don’t reuse numbers for different sources.

Keep one source per note (usually)
Most of the best examples keep each source in its own numbered note. If you list multiple sources in one endnote, do it clearly and sparingly.

Follow your style guide’s punctuation
Notice how Chicago, MLA, and APA handle titles, italics, quotation marks, and dates differently. When in doubt, check a trusted university writing center, like Purdue OWL or a major campus writing guide such as Harvard’s Writing Center.

Use endnotes strategically
The strongest examples of endnotes for essays don’t turn the back pages into a second essay. They use endnotes to:

• Give full source information
• Add short clarifications
• Explain unusual terms
• Note limitations or methods briefly

If you find yourself writing a paragraph-long note, consider whether that content belongs in the main text instead.

FAQ: Common questions about examples of endnotes

Can you give an example of an endnote for a YouTube video?

Yes. In Chicago style, you might write in your essay:

The documentary highlights the impact of climate change on coastal communities.¹⁵

Endnote:

15. Before the Flood, directed by Fisher Stevens, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, National Geographic, 2016, YouTube video, 1:35:00, posted October 30, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URL.

This example of an endnote shows how to treat a video like a media source.

Do I need both endnotes and a bibliography?

In many Chicago-style essays, yes. Your endnotes provide full citation details the first time you cite a source, and your bibliography (or reference list) gathers all sources alphabetically at the end. Some instructors, however, accept full information in endnotes without a separate bibliography. Always check your assignment instructions.

Are there examples of endnotes for essays that mix styles?

You’ll sometimes see essays that use Chicago-style endnotes but borrow some habits from MLA or APA, especially in undergraduate work. That said, the cleanest, most professional examples of endnotes stick to one style guide from start to finish.

Where can I see more real examples of endnotes?

Look at sample papers and style guides from universities and professional organizations. Helpful starting points include:

• Chicago Manual of Style’s Quick Guide (via many library subscriptions)
• University writing centers like Harvard, Purdue, or UNC
• The APA Style site and the MLA Style Center

Studying these real examples of endnotes for essays side by side with your own writing is one of the fastest ways to improve your formatting.

If you keep these patterns in mind and refer back to the real models above, you’ll find that creating polished, consistent endnotes is far less intimidating than it first appears. Treat these examples of examples of endnotes for essays as templates, adapt them to your topic, and your notes page will start to look like it belongs in a professional academic paper.