21 October 2014
Researchers and writers typically handle reference notes in one of four ways: as endnotes, footnotes, parenthetical citations, or hypertext.
- Endnotes and footnotes are used in Humanities Style (which EE follows). It is the common style for historians and others in the social sciences who use a goodly amount of original, unpublished records that create complex citations.
- Parenthetical citations (e.g.: "Jones, 1963") are generally known as Scientific Notation Style. It is the standard style of the hard sciences, where almost all citations are to published sources that can be handled in a cryptic fashion.
- Hypertext, a recent innovation for electronic publishing, might be adapted to either style, depending upon the nature of the material it covers.
All four of these options are not of equal merit for history researchers. EE 2.39 delves into the matter much more deeply.
PHOTO CREDIT: Adapted from the "References" menu bar in Word 2010.