Difference Between Footnotes and Endnotes

Footnotes Vs End notes

Except journalists and seasoned writers, people are often plagued with numerous small texts, numbered entries, superscripts and references in their reading material. They simply continue reading these without paying close attention to the other important details. In one complete text, for example, aside from the table of contents and bibliography, there are many parts of the standard text that need to be given importance. Two of these are the end notes and footnotes.

Often left unread, footnotes and end notes almost share the same definition when actually they don’t. The key difference between the two is their placement in the text. Footnotes, from the term itself, are the notes or small entries placed at the foot of the page. With super scripted numbers indicating a point to which there is a note, the readers are expected to look for its corresponding note below the page that bears the super scripted number in the actual text. On the other hand, end notes are usually seen at the ‘end’ of the entire text or at the last part of every chapter, but these are the notes that always come before the bibliography page.

In terms of the reader’s reading comfort, they usually prefer footnotes over end notes. Footnotes are more accessible than end notes because they are found nearer to the actual text being referred or referenced to. Readers simply can’t constantly flip from the page being actively read to the page where the end notes are placed. In the case of end notes, this becomes worse if every chapter starts with the number one.

However, some readers also like to use end notes. They found end notes to be more organized and neat looking most especially if the notes are very lengthy. Thus, end notes do not affect the overall image of the page being referenced. In this regard, end notes have also become an avenue to discuss any additional material like a long stretch of quotations or a series of graphs and tables.

Hence the next time you get hold of a reading material, please pay attention to all those numbers and notes written for you to know. They are not only necessary but are also vital in making the text more understandable and properly documented.

In summary, footnotes and end notes differ in the following areas:
1.Footnotes and end notes differ in their location because footnotes are placed below the page whereas end notes are placed after the entire text or chapter, but definitely before the bibliography.
2.Footnotes are observed to be more accessible while end notes are seen to be a more organized way of arranging text notes especially if they are long.

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