Using Footnotes and Endnotes in Your Thesis

Microsoft Word is used by many doctoral candidates for writing not only their thesis chapters, but also their course assignments and any articles they submit for publication. The automatic footnote and endnote functions in this program are fabulous for creating and organising both kinds of notes and for laying footnotes out on the page, which used to be a rather tricky and frustrating process. To add notes to a document in Word, simply click on ‘References’ in the top menu bar, then choose either ‘Insert Footnote’ or ‘Insert Endnote’ depending on which type of notes you are using. The program will then insert a note number wherever your cursor was located when you made your choice (so be sure you have it in the correct position) and it will place the same number for the note itself at the bottom of the page (for a footnote) or at the end of the document (for an endnote). It will also relocate the cursor to the note itself so that you can type in the information that should appear in the note. The same procedure is used each time you need a new note. By clicking on the little arrow at the bottom right of the ‘Footnotes’ part of the ‘References’ menu, you can access a box in which you can customise the format of the note numbers and the precise location of the notes themselves. Footnotes can also be converted into endnotes and vice versa by clicking the ‘Convert’ button in this box.

Although the automatic note functions in Word are definitely a tool worth using when writing scholarly work, do be aware that Word’s automatic footnotes (not the endnotes) have a nasty habit of suddenly disappearing in whole or (more often) in part as a complex document is edited, and the program faces the challenge of rearranging notes and text on a rapidly changing page. In my experience, the note numbers in the text are not altered, but the notes themselves at the bottom of pages can be cut short, usually at the point where a footnote breaks to be continued on the following page, so the note simply stops before it is finished and does not continue on that next page. In most cases, the notes have not actually been deleted by the program, and a little fiddling can generally bring them back: adding a new footnote number to the main text a few words before the number of the missing or defective footnote usually nudges the program into remembering the lost footnote, which will then reappear. At this point, you can simply delete the unnecessary note number you added (or use the ‘Undo’ button) and the restored note will remain. In some documents, however, this process may need to be repeated whenever the file is opened or major changes are made, and there are rare situations in which footnotes will need to be replaced entirely, so footnotes always require an especially careful visual check before work is submitted to your supervisor and other members of your thesis committee.

Why Is Academic Proofreading Important?

Effective academic proofreading is absolutely vital to the production of high-quality scholarly and professional documents. When done carefully, correctly and thoroughly, academic proofreading can make the difference between writing that communicates successfully with its intended readers and writing that does not. No author creates a perfect text without reviewing, reflecting on and revising what he or she has written, and academic proofreading and scientific editing are extremely important of this process.

Why are scientific editing and academic proofreading important for academic and scientific authors??First and foremost, a proofreader brings a fresh and ideally objective perspective to your writing. He or she will almost certainly not be as familiar with your research as you are and in most cases will have no predetermined idea about what you are trying to communicate. This means that a proofreader will be able to focus on exactly what your text does say and catch ambiguities and errors that you, as the author well aware of what you want to say, may read right over without noticing. If the proofreader is a trained professional who is an expert in the English language and a specialist in your subject area, he or she will have the skills to correct and polish your grammar, spelling and punctuation, determine if your references are accurate, thorough and consistent, and ensure that your writing meets the high standards expected in your discipline and field. An academic proofreader will also have the disposition and time to give your writing the exacting attention it requires to ensure that every detail is as it should be so that your work communicates with precision and sophistication. Many members of our research paper editing and proofreading team focus on journal editing, manuscript editing, dissertation proofreading services, thesis editing services and phd thesis proofreading. An academic proofreader can be thought of as an author’s ambassador, and while an author can and should be his or her own ambassador whenever possible, it is always wise to benefit from an ambassador with the appropriate linguistic and academic skills to ensure that your writing represents both you and your work as professionally and effectively as possible. Some of our carefully trained editors and proofreaders work exclusively on PhD thesis editing, master’s dissertation proofreading, bachelor’s dissertation proofreading, thesis editing, dissertation editing, thesis proofreading and dissertation proofreading, applying their education and instructional skills in providing thesis editing and dissertation proofreading services that help advanced students to improve the formatting and language of their theses and dissertations.

Why is journal article editing important for the readers you hope to reach? The most obvious answer is that a journal proofreader is a reader, often the first reader beyond the author of a text, and a reader who acts as an advocate for all future readers. Professional journal proofreaders serve the needs of authors by anticipating the needs of readers, and doing so with an objective but critical eye alert to potential problems. Descriptions of methodology and explanations of trends that seem perfectly clear to the author who is familiar with the material may in fact prove ambiguous, confusing and even misleading for readers who do not possess the same knowledge. Tables and figures that are not clearly designed, labelled and referred to may obscure procedures and findings for viewers instead of highlighting and clarifying them. Arguments presented in language that contains errors of grammar, spelling and punctuation may fail to convince readers even when the evidence presented is extremely persuasive, and terminology designed for communicating in sophisticated and specific ways may lose readers entirely if it is not defined, explained and used with care. An academic proofreader, scientific proofreader, medical proofreader or journal proofreader can detect and help you resolve these and many other kinds of problems that prevent the successful communication of complex and ground-breaking research.

Why is proofreading services important when submitting your scholarly writing for publication? As a general rule, the editors responsible for accepting or rejecting the manuscripts that academics and scientists submit for publication are inundated with text. They receive far more submissions than the journals and publishers for whom they work can ever publish, so they are looking for reasons to reject manuscripts as much as they are seeking reasons to accept them. A manuscript that accurately and precisely adheres to a publisher’s guidelines, boasts a structure that organises material in a logical and effective fashion, and uses language that clearly and efficiently communicates facts and ideas is sure to receive more positive attention and far more likely to be successfully published than a manuscript that does not achieve such a high standard. Since these are the very aspects of scholarly writing that a professional proofreader can help you perfect, engaging the services of a qualified academic or scientific proofreader can prove invaluable, particularly if your manuscript has been rejected due to problems with language and formatting. Once you have benefitted from the proofreading services of a professional proofreader, you will no doubt be able to determine for yourself why PRS proofreading is so very important to successful authors.

If you are in the process of preparing an article for an academic or scientific journal, or planning one for the near future, you may well be interested in a new book, Guide to Journal Publication, which is available on our Tips and Advice on Publishing Research in Journals website.

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