research paper examples with footnotes

How to Use Footnotes in Research Papers

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• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

A footnote is a reference, explanation, or comment 1 placed below the main text on a printed page. Footnotes are identified in the text by a numeral  or a  symbol .  

In research papers and reports , footnotes commonly acknowledge the sources of facts and quotations that appear in the text.

" Footnotes are the mark of a scholar," says Bryan A. Garner. "Overabundant, overflowing footnotes are the mark of an insecure scholar — often one who gets lost in the byways of analysis and who wants to show off" ( Garner's Modern American Usage , 2009).

Examples and Observations

• " Footnotes: vices . In a work containing many long footnotes, it may be difficult to fit them onto the pages they pertain to, especially in an illustrated work."
• " Content footnotes  supplement or simplify substantive information in the text; they should not include complicated, irrelevant, or nonessential information..." " Copyright permission footnotes  acknowledge the source of lengthy quotations, scale and test items, and figures and tables that have been reprinted or adapted."
• Content Footnotes "What, after all, is a content footnote but material that one is either too lazy to integrate into the text or too reverent to discard? Reading a piece of prose that constantly dissolves into extended footnotes is profoundly disheartening. Hence my rule of thumb for footnotes is exactly the same as that for  parentheses . One should regard them as symbols of failure. I hardly need to add that in this vale of tears failure is sometimes unavoidable."
• Footnote Forms All notes have the same general form: 1. Adrian Johns. The Nature of the Book: Print and Knowledge in the Making (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 623. If you cite the same text again, you can shorten subsequent notes: 5. Johns. Nature of the Book , 384-85.
• The Disadvantages of Footnotes "More than one recent critic has pointed out that footnotes interrupt a narrative . References detract from the illusion of veracity and immediacy . . . . (Noel Coward made the same point more memorably when he remarked that having to read a footnote resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door while in the midst of making love.)"
• Belloc on Footnotes "[L]et a man put his foot-notes in very small print indeed at the end of a volume, and, if necessary, let him give specimens rather than a complete list. For instance, let a man who writes history as it should be written — with all the physical details in evidence, the weather, the dress, colors, everything — write on for the pleasure of his reader and not for his critic. But let him take sections here and there, and in an appendix show the critic how it is being done. Let him keep his notes and challenge criticism. I think he will be secure. He will not be secure from the anger of those who cannot write clearly, let alone vividly, and who have never in their lives been able to resurrect the past, but he will be secure from their destructive effect."
• The Lighter Side of Footnotes "A footnote is like running downstairs to answer the doorbell on your wedding night."

1 "The footnote has figured prominently in the fictions of such leading contemporary novelists as Nicholson Baker 2 , David Foster Wallace 3 , and Dave Eggers. These writers have largely revived the digressive function of the footnote." (L. Douglas and A. George, Sense and Nonsensibility: Lampoons of Learning and Literature . Simon and Schuster, 2004)

2 "[T]he great scholarly or anecdotal footnotes of Lecky, Gibbon, or Boswell, written by the author of the book himself to supplement, or even correct over several later editions, what he says in the primary text, are reassurances that the pursuit of truth doesn't have clear outer boundaries: it doesn't end with the book; restatement and self-disagreement and the enveloping sea of referenced authorities all continue. Footnotes are the finer-suckered surfaces that allow tentacular paragraphs to hold fast to the wider reality of the library." (Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine . Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1988)

3 "One of the odd pleasures in reading the work of the late David Foster Wallace is the opportunity to escape from the main text to explore epic footnotes , always rendered at the bottoms of pages in thickets of tiny type." (Roy Peter Clark, The Glamour of Grammar . Little, Brown, 2010)

• Hilaire Belloc,  On , 1923
• Chicago Manual of Style , University of Chicago Press, 2003
• Anthony Grafton,  The Footnote: A Curious History . Harvard University Press, 1999.
• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 6th ed., 2010.
• Paul Robinson, "The Philosophy of Punctuation."  Opera, Sex, and Other Vital Matters . University of Chicago Press, 2002.
• Kate Turabian,  A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations , 7th ed. University of Chicago Press, 2007 .
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A Guide to Writing Research Papers with Footnotes

Footnotes are an integral part of research papers. They provide the reader with additional information about a particular point or source in order to support and back up your arguments. When utilized effectively, footnotes can be used to add depth and perspective to an academic paper. This guide will provide readers with a detailed overview on how to write research papers using footnotes, as well as tips on best practices for utilizing them most effectively within their work.

I. Introduction to Research Papers and Footnotes

Ii. understanding the purpose of footnotes in writing a research paper, iii. different types of sources used for citing evidence in a research paper with footnotes, iv. how to structure and format your document for writing with footnotes, v. using software tools to automate the insertion of citation references into your work, vi. tips on avoiding common mistakes when creating citations through the use of footnoting, vii. conclusion: best practices for successful integration of reference notation in a scholarly manuscript.

Research Papers and Footnotes The objective of a research paper is to critically analyze the sources that are cited in order to provide an informed, scholarly opinion. A key component of research papers involves including footnotes as citations for the information used within the paper. In essence, this approach allows readers to access more detailed and varied information related to topics being discussed in-depth within a text.

A footnote should always include the author’s name or abbreviation (e.g., JW), date published (in parentheses) followed by page number(s) where content was found (e.g., John Wilson 2020: 23). As these details can be cumbersome when working with multiple works from different authors at once, it is highly recommended that researchers use reference management software such as Zotero or Endnote for their writing needs. These applications allow users store citation data quickly and accurately across many mediums – particularly helpful if your research spans several decades!

Additionally, while most modern day styles have shifted towards parenthetical citations instead of traditional footnotes; certain disciplines still require students cite texts exclusively through the latter method – making them an essential skill set even in today’s digital world!

When writing a research paper, footnotes are an important tool for providing additional information to the reader. Footnotes can be used in several ways: to provide evidence and backup arguments, expand on ideas or concepts from sources without overly disrupting the flow of your own work, and support definitions with reputable references.

• Evidence & Backup Arguments – Footnotes can be used as primary source material when crafting a well-researched argument. This is especially helpful when making bold statements or introducing controversial topics. Supporting these assertions with reliable facts and data helps build credibility among readers.

For example , if you’re writing a research paper about gun control laws in the United States, citing credible studies within footnotes will help substantiate any claims made regarding their effects on crime rates.

• Expanding Ideas & Concepts – Writing long stretches of text about various topics discussed in other works can often lead to excess redundancy that leaves readers bored or confused. If there’s an idea or concept discussed by another author that needs further elaboration but is too lengthy for inclusion into your original piece then it should instead be referred to using a footnote.

For instance , while discussing chemical reaction pathways related to photosynthesis you could use one sentence containing all relevant details followed by “[insert Author Name] discusses this mechanism at length [see footnote xyz].” By directing readers’ attention towards previously established knowledge via footnotes they’ll not only avoid confusion but also gain insight into different perspectives presented elsewhere.

Primary Sources are documents or other materials which provide the first-hand information about an event, time period, person, etc. These can be in different forms such as letters, newspaper articles and reports from organizations or government institutions. In a research paper with footnotes these primary sources should always be included to support any claims made within the paper. Examples of Primary Sources:

• Book published by an author during their lifetime
• Speeches given by historical figures

Secondary Sources , on the other hand, refer to material that is derived from analysis of primary sources. This could include books written about events based off evidence found in primary source documents or magazine/newspaper pieces discussing current issues supported through facts originating from original source material. Examples of Secondary Sources:

• Biographies written after someone’s death

Creating Footnotes The use of footnotes in a research paper provides an additional source for the reader to refer to and look up citations. They are also a great way of providing supplementary information that does not necessarily fit into the body of your essay, yet is still relevant or important enough to be included. To create effective footnotes, you must first identify what type of footnote you want to include in your writing; whether it’s factual-based (e.g., citing sources), analytical (commenting on certain aspects) or personal opinion-related (expressing opinions). Depending on these factors, you can structure the contents accordingly.

Structuring & Formatting Your Document with Footnotes Once identified which type(s) will best suit your purpose, you should then move onto formatting them correctly within the document itself: add superscript numbers after any direct quotes used from sources as well as at other places where appropriate throughout your writing; cite bibliographical details related to cited resources below each respective number; separate facts and analysis by using subheadings before further discussing each concept in detail; avoid excessively long paragraphs so readers can easily locate pertinent points discussed through concise phrasing – if needed break them down into bullet point lists etc.; choose fonts consistent with those adopted for main text such as Times New Roman size 12 with 1/2 inch indentation. In summary, following the right format while creating footnotes helps make more sense out of complex texts making it easier both for writers and their intended audiences alike.

In the age of digital technology, software tools have become invaluable for automating tedious tasks. While writing an academic paper, one often has to cite a large number of references. This can take up a lot of time and cause considerable headaches if done manually. Fortunately, there are now various software solutions available that can automate the insertion of citation references into your work.

One such program is Referencer – a web-based tool designed specifically to save authors from having to painstakingly insert citations in their research papers by hand. 1 All you need do is enter your source material into its database and it will generate bibliographies according to whatever style you desire (e.g., APA or MLA). Furthermore, citing sources becomes as easy as clicking on entries in the ‘Cite’ menu when typing out your document 2 . For instance: To create footnotes for websites Referencer automatically generates HTML tags.

• “With Referencer’s click-and -cite feature enabled… inserting new cites takes only seconds.” (Langridge et al., 2016)

Apart from automated reference generation other features include realtime collaboration between coauthors as well as compatibility with most common Word processor programs. 3 .This allows team members working on different machines no matter where they are located around the world share documents without difficulty so they may continue editing them jointly . Indeed this type of convenience comes at no additional cost making Referencer ideal for university students collaborating on projects together!

Developing a Systematic Approach: To ensure accuracy and reliability when creating citations, it is recommended to develop a systematic approach. Start by establishing which style guide will be used for the paper (e.g., MLA, APA). This should then be followed consistently throughout the document. As an additional measure of quality control, check any newly-developed citations against existing ones from reliable sources such as published research papers.

Exploring Automation Options: Footnoting can also be automated through tools like Microsoft Word’s “References” tab or websites like EasyBib and Zotero that generate bibliographies in various formats with minimal input required on your part. Although these technologies offer significant convenience benefits compared to manual formatting techniques, they may not always yield accurate results since citation styles continue to evolve over time; therefore periodic review of generated documents is highly recommended.

Conclusion: Best Practices for Successful Integration Of Reference Notation In A Scholarly Manuscript

Having an effective reference notation system is essential to successful academic writing. It not only helps readers understand the flow of information, but also serves as a means of verification and validation by which authors can back up their claims with reliable evidence from credible sources. While there are numerous systems available for referencing material in scholarly manuscripts, this article has discussed some best practices that should be considered when selecting one.

For instance, adhering to proper guidelines set forth by publication style guides ensures consistency throughout a paper’s text and citation sections. Additionally, it is important that writers make use of high quality databases like JSTOR or EBSCOhost when looking up citations; these provide access to respected peer-reviewed research papers complete with footnotes [1] . Finally, if possible it would be beneficial to have other editors double check references before submitting an article; they may catch any errors overlooked during the initial review process. By considering these points while integrating reference notation into scholarly manuscripts researchers can improve overall accuracy and enhance reader comprehension.

[1] Hinchliffe LJ., What Are Footnotes? Journal Of Documentation 59 (3): 363–384

At the end of this article, we have gained an understanding of how to properly format and compose a research paper with footnotes. In addition to acquiring knowledge about citation styles, readers now know how these notes can be used for further exploring into particular topics or providing additional evidence and support for one’s argument. Moreover, readers understand that there is more than one style when it comes to citing sources which necessitates critical thinking in order to determine which would be most suitable depending on the context. This guide has provided sufficient information so that learners can take away something valuable from their experience in writing research papers with footnotes; thus equipping them with important skills they will carry over into future assignments.

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Endnote Note citing a particular source or making a brief explanatory comment placed at the end of a research paper and arranged sequentially in relation to where the reference appears in the paper.

Footnote Note citing a particular source or making a brief explanatory comment placed at the bottom of a page corresponding to the item cited in the corresponding text above.

Fiske, Robert Hartwell. To the Point: A Dictionary of Concise Writing . New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2014.

Structure and Writing Style

Advantages of Using Endnotes

• Endnotes are less distracting to the reader and allows the narrative to flow better.
• Endnotes don't clutter up the page.
• As a separate section of a research paper, endnotes allow the reader to read and contemplate all the notes at once.

Disadvantages of Using Endnotes

• If you want to look at the text of a particular endnote, you have to flip to the end of the research paper to find the information.
• Depending on how they are created [i.e., continuous numbering or numbers that start over for each chapter], you may have to remember the chapter number as well as the endnote number in order to find the correct one.
• Endnotes may carry a negative connotation much like the proverbial "fine print" or hidden disclaimers in advertising. A reader may believe you are trying to hide something by burying it in a hard-to-find endnote.

Advantages of Using Footnotes

• Readers interested in identifying the source or note can quickly glance down the page to find what they are looking for.
• It allows the reader to immediately link the footnote to the subject of the text without having to take the time to find the note at the back of the paper.
• Footnotes are automatically included when printing off specific pages.

Disadvantages of Using Footnotes

• Footnotes can clutter up the page and, thus, negatively impact the overall look of the page.
• If there are multiple columns, charts, or tables below only a small segment of text that includes a footnote, then you must decide where the footnotes should appear.
• If the footnotes are lengthy, there's a risk they could dominate the page, although this issue is considered acceptable in legal scholarship.
• Adding lengthy footnotes after the paper has been completed can alter the page where other sources are located [i.e., a long footnote can push text to the next page].
• It is more difficult learning how to insert footnotes using your word processing program than simply adding endnotes at the end of your paper.

Things to keep in mind when considering using either endnotes or footnotes in your research paper :

1.    Footnotes are numbered consecutively throughout a research paper, except for those notes accompanying special material (e.g., figures, tables, charts, etc.). Numbering of footnotes are "superscript"--Arabic numbers typed slightly above the line of text. Do not include periods, parentheses, or slashes. They can follow all punctuation marks except dashes. In general, to avoid interrupting the continuity of the text, footnote numbers are placed at the end of the sentence, clause, or phrase containing the quoted or paraphrased material. 2.    Depending on the writing style used in your class, endnotes may take the place of a list of resources cited in your paper or they may represent non-bibliographic items, such as comments or observations, followed by a separate list of references to the sources you cited and arranged alphabetically by the author's last name. If you are unsure about how to use endnotes, consult with your professor. 3.    In general, the use of footnotes in most academic writing is now considered a bit outdated and has been replaced by endnotes, which are much easier to place in your paper, even with the advent of word processing programs. However, some disciplines, such as law and history, still predominantly utilize footnotes. Consult with your professor about which form to use and always remember that, whichever style of citation you choose, apply it consistently throughout your paper.

NOTE:   Always think critically about the information you place in a footnote or endnote. Ask yourself, is this supplementary or tangential information that would otherwise disrupt the narrative flow of the text or is this essential information that I should integrate into the main text? If you are not sure, it's better to work it into the text. Too many notes implies a disorganized paper.

Cermak, Bonni and Jennifer Troxell. A Guide to Footnotes and Endnotes for NASA History Authors . NASA History Program. History Division; Hale, Ali. Should You Use Footnotes or Endnotes? DailyWritingTips.com; Tables, Appendices, Footnotes and Endnotes. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Lunsford, Andrea A. and Robert Connors. The St. Martin's Handbook . New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989; Saller, Carol. “Endnotes or Footnotes? Some Considerations.” The Chronicle of Higher Education 58 (January 6, 2012): http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2012/01/06/endnotes-or-footnotes-some-considerations/.

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How to Write Footnotes

Information on how to write footnotes and endnotes. Footnotes, a type of citation format, are most often used for history and philosophy papers. As such, scientists rarely encounter it, but it is still useful to know how to follow the practice.

This article is a part of the guide:

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Many biology journals, for example, prefer footnotes because they allow annotation of the in-text citation on the same page.

Whilst footnotes are a little more cumbersome than the 'author/date' system, they are useful where sources require elaboration and short explanatory notes.

What is a Footnote

The footnote takes the form of a superscripted number, just after a paraphrased piece of information. Subsequently, a cross-reference to this number is inserted at the bottom of the same page.

In fact, for dissertations and theses, many writers use footnotes to keep track of their citations , adding a short note of what exactly each one adds to the paper.

Once the paper is complete, the writer converts them to endnotes at the end or every chapter, or even removes them all together, and uses a standard APA or MLA bibliography instead.

Automatically Inserting Footnotes

The reason that footnotes are still popular in some fields is that most word processing programs now include a function that makes it very easy to include footnotes in any paper.

In Microsoft Word, clicking Insert > Reference > Footnote allows you to insert footnotes automatically, and automatically numbers them. This function is so useful, that even if you cut and paste, and swap information around, it automatically adjusts the footnotes.

This is why it is an excellent resource for keeping track of your sources during the course of a research paper .

How to Write Footnotes - Protocols

If you are using footnotes, the common convention is to insert a full citation, including author, year and the title of the book, followed by the page number. Afterwards, the surname of the author and the page number is sufficient.

Older journals often use the word ibid, to show that a footnote uses the same source as the previous one, but this has become much rarer.

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Martyn Shuttleworth (Nov 21, 2009). How to Write Footnotes. Retrieved May 10, 2024 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/how-to-write-footnotes

You Are Allowed To Copy The Text

The text in this article is licensed under the Creative Commons-License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) .

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That is it. You don't need our permission to copy the article; just include a link/reference back to this page. You can use it freely (with some kind of link), and we're also okay with people reprinting in publications like books, blogs, newsletters, course-material, papers, wikipedia and presentations (with clear attribution).

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / APA Format / How to do APA footnotes

How to do APA footnotes

Footnotes are a way for the author to provide additional content to their papers without distracting the reader from the text. The information in footnotes is different from the information provided in APA annotated bibliographies . Footnotes can be content based, providing a little more insight on an idea you raise in the text, or they can be used to provide copyright attribution for long quotes and passages.

Properly formatted APA footnotes can be placed at the bottom of the page. Alternatively, you can put them on their own page after the references. This guide on footnotes, end notes, and parentheticals provides information about the differences between these different types of notes. Either way, it’s important to know how to use footnotes properly.

In this guide, students can learn about the different uses for footnotes as well as how to format footnotes according to APA Style. All of the information here comes straight from the 7th edition of the Publication Manual .

Why use footnotes? What information goes into them?

There are two primary reasons why an author would use footnotes:

1. Using a footnote for content

As mentioned above, there are a few different ways to use footnotes. The more common way is when an author wants to provide extra insight on an idea without disrupting the flow of the text. This is called a content footnote.

In this case, you would write a a couple sentences about the extra insight. For example:

______________________

1 This data refers to the situation in 2010, and it includes emissions from industrial processes. Emissions from the latter are released during the physical and chemical transformation of materials like clinker production. Since these industrial production processes are also consumers of energy, here we made the choice to combine them with CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion.

2. Using a footnote for copyright attribution

When you are reproducing a portion of a copyrighted work, like an extended passage from a book or journal, it is necessary to provide copyright attribution. This can be done inside a footnote. The footnote is used instead of a parenthetical in-text citation, and you will still need to add the source as an entry in the reference list.

If it is an image or graph you are reproducing, copyright attribution can go in the figure note or table note.

A copyright footnote should start with “ From ” or “ Adapted from ” and the format will change slightly depending on the source.

Here is a template for copyright attribution for a website followed by two examples:

1 From  Webpage title , by Group Author OR Author FirstMiddleName Initials. Author Surname. Year Published, Website Name (URL).

*Note: If the Group Author and Website Name are the same, omit the Website Name slot.

2 From  First images from the James Webb Space Telescope , by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2022 (https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages).

3 From  Question of what now for Syria remains as vexed as ever , by M. Chulov. 2022, The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/19/question-of-what-now-for-syria-remains-as-vexed-as-ever).

Endnotes vs. footnotes: What’s the difference?

According to APA Style, the author may choose to place the footnotes on the bottom of the page on which the callout appears or at the end of the paper on their own page(s).

“Endnotes” is a function on many word processors that inserts callouts and place the notes at the end of the document. While this is the same idea as footnotes, APA calls for a specially-formatted footnotes page.

To place the footnotes at the end of your document, check the preferences of the footnote function. You should be able to select “End of Document” instead of “End of Page.”

How to format APA footnotes

Always use the footnotes function of your word processor to insert footnotes. This will make it much easier to keep track of everything even as page content changes.

How to format footnotes correctly:

• Always use the footnotes function.
• The callout should be in superscript, like this. 1
• The callout should come after the punctuation, like this. 2
• If there’s a dash 3 —the callout comes before the punctuation, not after.
• All callouts should appear in numerical order, like this. 4

APA footnotes example

Now let’s have a look at what properly formatted APA footnotes look like in action.

Here is an example of a concise, relevant, and properly formatted footnote from “The role of renewable energy in the global economy transformation,” published in Energy Strategy Reviews.

. . . A transition away from fossil fuels to low-carbon solutions will play an essential role, as energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions represent two-thirds of all greenhouse gases (GHG). 1

In this example, the footnotes function automatically created a dividing line at the bottom of the document. It has also reduced the font size by 1pt, which is neither required nor discouraged by APA.

The reason this is a good example, however, is because the footnote provides supplemental information that is both relevant and substantive.  The information would have been too distracting to appear in the main text, but it provides helpful insight on the author’s research method.

Published October 28, 2020.

APA Formatting Guide

APA Formatting

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• et al Usage
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• Multiple Authors
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
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• Reference Page
• Sample Paper
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You can include more than one footnote on the same page in APA style. There is no restriction on the number of footnotes to be included on a page. Depending upon the number of footnotes on the page, the text area of the page will be automatically adjusted to fit the footnotes.

Footnotes in APA are used to provide the reader some additional information about the idea or the element being discussed. Footnotes are used in all types of publications such as journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers.

Two types of footnotes are used in APA style: content footnotes and copyright attribution footnotes. A content footnote provides additional explanation or information about something mentioned in the text, while a copyright attribution footnote provides copyright information for lengthy content that has been reprinted in the text. For both types, the in-text citation remains the same. Remember the following guidelines when you want to cite a footnote:

• Footnotes (whether content footnotes or copyright attribution footnotes) are numbered consecutively in the order in which they appear in the text.
• Use superscript Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) to designate a footnote callout.
• This is a footnote. 1
• In this footnote, 2 the author tries to clarify the idea.
• A footnote callout—unlike in-text reference citation 3 —is simple to add.
• You should not add space before the footnote callout.
• If you want to refer to the same footnote again in the text, do not add any superscript Arabic numeral. Instead, write “see Footnote 3.” In this case, the footnote description need not be given again.

Note that a footnote should have only one idea. If you want to add more information, it is advisable to add the content in the text or create an appendix.

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How to Create Footnotes

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What Are They

Footnotes are short numbered notes that are placed at the bottom of the page in an essay or article. They are used for a variety of reasons including, citing materials, providing notes on a source or topic, and to acknowledge copyright status. 

Although you will find footnotes in many journal articles, they are not typically required in APA or MLA formatted essays. They are most heavily used when applying the CMOS style. 

For information on footnotes in the  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association  see section 2.13 "Footnotes.". For information on using footnotes with MLA see the " Using Notes in MLA Style " article from the MLA Style Center .  For information on footnotes in  The Chicago Manual of Style  see Chapter 14 "Notes and Bibliography."

Using Google Docs:

• Cómo incorporar notas al calce en Google Docs Vea éste video en español.

Using Microsoft Word:

• Cómo incorporar notas al calce en Microsoft Word Vea éste video en español.
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How to use and write Footnotes and Endnotes in academic papers

Research papers and reports often include adjuncts such as charts and graphs, tables , diagrams, a hierarchy of headings, citations and references etc. Notes – whether footnotes or endnotes – are an important adjunct. They primarily serve the role of supplying additional information , which, if weaved into the main text, may reduce its ease of readability .

Footnotes vs. endnotes

• Location : By definition, footnotes appear at the foot of a page on which appears the text they support. Endnotes are placed at the end of a paper, a chapter or a book.
• Space : Footnotes, being located at the bottom of each individual page, are constrained by the amount of space available, whereas endnotes, located right at the end of the text, are afforded much more ample room.
• Amount of information (and flow) : The above point (space) is a useful distinction that tells readers what to expect. Footnotes offer small bits of information that you can choose to take in without breaking stride. You could take a quick look and return to the main text on the same page. On the other hand, endnotes may sometimes contain sizeable amounts of information, but you do not have to interrupt your reading of the main text. You can choose to read them once you have reached the end of the document.

Footnotes: Examples

As discussed, footnotes comprise small bits of information short enough to take in at a glance. Here are a couple of examples to illustrate the function of footnotes.

• A text may mention the name of an organisation and use a footnote to explain that the organisation had a different name in the past.
• A text may mention a certain sum of money in Korean Won, and the corresponding footnotes will indicate the equivalent sum in US dollars. 

Endnotes: Examples

As discussed too, endnotes can comprise much longer parcels of information. Here too are a couple of examples to illustrate the use of endnotes.

• While you may describe a certain method in your main text, you might use an endnote to outline in more detail some other tangential studies , perhaps from a slightly different field, which used that same method , the results they produced and why this may be of interest.
• You might cite an important quotation within the main body of your text and then include in a related endnote the full paragraph or section from which that quotation was taken, thus enabling interested readers to explore the wider context and additional insights if they wish. 

Usage in academic papers and digital documents

As an author of an academic paper, you can choose between footnotes and endnotes depending on how much additional information you want to give. Be aware, however, that footnotes and endnotes, especially endnotes, are virtually never used in research papers in the physical and biological sciences . They may sometimes be used in the social sciences and are more commonly seen in the humanities .

In digital documents, the distinction between footnotes and endnotes and their placement is less important, because the additional information can be connected to the main text with hyperlinks .

Writing footnotes and endnotes

• Superscripts and symbols : Within the main text, both footnotes and endnotes are typically signalled, or announced, using superscript numbers, although, for footnotes, other symbols such as a star or an asterisk (*), a dagger or obelisk (†), a double dagger or diesis (‡), a section mark (§), a pilcrow or blind p (¶), and so on are also employed, usually in that order. Do note that these symbols are never used with endnotes .
• Numbers : With numbered footnotes, the sequence either begins afresh on each page or can be continued throughout within a paper, a chapter (e.g. if the book has chapters by different contributors) or a book. Endnotes are always numbered and the sequence is always continuous .
• Heading for endnotes : Note that the heading for endnotes, when all of them are gathered at the end, is simply ‘Notes’ and not ‘Endnotes’.
• Footnotes for tables : Table titles, column or row headings, or specific cells within a table can all carry footnotes. Those footnotes are explained at the foot of the table in question and not at the foot of a page on which the table appears.

As a scholar, try to familiarise yourself with the idea of notes and their related mechanics as early on in your writing process as possible. These details can seem numerous at first, but once you master them, you will be able to spontaneously incorporate them into your writing.

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Turabian Footnote/Endnote Style

Table of Contents: Books E-books Journal Articles (Print) Journal Articles (Online) Magazine Articles (Print) Magazine Articles (Online) Newspaper Articles Review Articles Websites For More Help

The examples in this guide are meant to introduce you to the basics of citing sources using Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (seventh edition) .  Kate Turabian created her first "manual" in 1937 as a means of simplifying for students The Chicago Manual of Style ; the seventh edition of Turabian is based on the 15th edition of the Chicago Manual . For types of resources not covered in this guide (e.g., government documents, manuscript collections, video recordings) and for further detail and examples, please consult the websites listed at the end of this guide, the handbook itself or a reference librarian .

Whenever you refer to or use another's words, facts or ideas in your paper, you are required to cite the source. Traditionally, disciplines in the humanities (art, history, music, religion, theology) require the use of bibliographic footnotes or endnotes in conjunction with a bibliography to cite sources used in research papers and dissertations. For the parenthetical reference (author-date) system (commonly used in the sciences and social sciences), please refer to the separate guide Turabian Parenthetical/Reference List Style . It is best to consult with your professor to determine the preferred citation style.

Indicate notes in the text of your paper by using consecutive superscript numbers (as demonstrated below). The actual note is indented and can occur either as a footnote at the bottom of the page or as an endnote at the end of the paper. To create notes, type the note number followed by a period on the same line as the note itself. This method should always be used for endnotes; it is the preferred method for footnotes. However, superscript numbers are acceptable for footnotes, and many word processing programs can generate footnotes with superscript numbers for you.

When citing books, the following are elements you may need to include in your bibliographic citation for your first footnote or endnote and in your bibliography, in this order:

1. Author or editor; 2. Title; 3. Compiler, translator or editor (if an editor is listed in addition to an author); 4. Edition; 5. Name of series, including volume or number used; 6. Place of publication, publisher and date of publication; 7. Page numbers of citation (for footnote or endnote).

Books with One Author or Corporate Author

Author: Charles Hullmandel experimented with lithographic techniques throughout the early nineteenth century, patenting the "lithotint" process in 1840. 1

Editor: Human beings are the sources of "all international politics"; even though the holders of political power may change, this remains the same. 1

Corporate Author: Children of Central and Eastern Europe have not escaped the nutritional ramifications of iron deficiency, a worldwide problem. 1

First footnote:

1 Michael Twyman, Lithography 1800-1850 (London: Oxford University Press, 1970), 145-146.

1 Valerie M. Hudson, ed., Culture and Foreign Policy (Boulder: L. Rienner Publishers, 1997), 5.

1 UNICEF, Generation in Jeopardy: Children in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union , edited by Alexander Zouev (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1999), 44.

Note the different treatment of an editor's name depending on whether the editor takes the place of an author (second example) or is listed in addition to the author (third example). 

Subsequent footnotes:

       Method A: Include the author or editor's last name, the title (or an abbreviated title) and the page number cited.

2 Twyman, Lithography 1800-1850, 50.

2 Hudson, ed., Culture and Foreign Policy, 10.

2 UNICEF, Generation in Jeopardy, 48.

       Method B: Include only the author or editor's last name and the page number, leaving out the title.  

2 Twyman, 50.

2 Hudson, ed., 10.

2 UNICEF, 48.

Use Method A if you need to cite more than one reference by the same author.

1. Michael Twyman, Lithography 1800-1850  (London: Oxford University Press, 1970), 145-146.

Ibid., short for ibidem, means "in the same place."  Use ibid. if you cite the same page of the same work in succession without a different reference intervening.  If you need to cite a different page of the same work, include the page number.  For example:   2 Ibid., 50.

Bibliography:

Hudson, Valerie, N., ed. Culture and Foreign Policy . Boulder: L. Rienner Publishers, 1997.

Twyman, Michael. Lithography 1800-1850 . London: Oxford University Press, 1970.

UNICEF.  Generation in Jeopardy: Children in Central and Eastern Europe and the             Former Soviet Union . Edited by Alexander Zouev. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1999.

Books with Two or More Authors or Editors

1 Russell Keat and John Urry, Social Theory as Science, 2d ed. (London: Routledge and K. Paul, 1982), 196.

1 Toyoma Hitomi, "The Era of Dandy Beauties," in Queer Voices from Japan: First-Person Narratives from Japan's Sexual Minorities,  eds. Mark J. McLelland, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker ( Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007), 157.

For references with more than three authors, cite the first named author followed by "et al." Cite all the authors in the bibliography.

1 Leonard B. Meyer, et al., The Concept of Style , ed. Berel Lang (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1979), 56.

2 Keat and Urry, Social Theory as Science , 200.

2 Meyer, et al., The Concept of Style , 90.

Keat, Russell, and John Urry. Social Theory as Science , 2d. ed. London: Routledge and K. Paul, 1982.

Hitomi, Toyoma. "The Era of Dandy Beauties." In Queer Voices from Japan: First-Person Narratives from Japan's Sexual Minorities,  edited by Mark J. McLelland, Katsuhiko Suganuma, and James Welker, 153-165.   Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2007.

Meyer, Leonard B., Kendall Walton, Albert Hofstadter, Svetlana Alpers, George Kubler, Richard Wolheim, Monroe Beardsley, Seymour Chatman, Ann Banfield, and Hayden White. The Concept of Style . Edited by Berel Lang.  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1979.  

Electronic Books

Follow the guidelines for print books, above, but include the collection (if there is one), URL and the date you accessed the material.

1 John Rae, Statement of Some New Principles on the Subject of Political Economy (Boston: Hillard, Gray and Company, 1834), in The Making of the Modern World,   http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/MOME?af=RN&ae=U104874605&srchtp=a&ste=14  (accessed June 22, 2009).  

2 Rae, Statement of Some New Principles on the Subject of Political Economy .

Rae, John.  Statement of Some New Principles on the Subject of Political Economy. Boston: Hillard, Gray and Company, 1834. In The Making of the Modern World,   http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/MOME?af=RN&ae=U104874605&srchtp=a&ste=14  (accessed June 22, 2009).  

PERIODICAL ARTICLES

For periodical (magazine, journal, newspaper, etc.) articles, include some or all of the following elements in your first footnote or endnote and in your bibliography, in this order:

1. Author; 2. Article title; 3. Periodical title; 4. Volume or Issue number (or both); 5. Publication date; 6. Page numbers.

For online periodicals   , add: 7. URL and date of access; or 8. Database name, URL and date of access. (If available, include database publisher and city of publication.)

For an article available in more than one format (print, online, etc.), cite whichever version you used.

Journal Articles (Print)

1 Lawrence Freedman, "The Changing Roles of Military Conflict," Survival 40, no. 4 (1998): 52.

Here you are citing page 52.  In the bibliography (see below) you would include the full page range: 39-56.

If a journal has continuous pagination within a volume, you do not need to include the issue number:

1 John T. Kirby, "Aristotle on Metaphor," American Journal of Philology 118 (1997): 520.

Subsequent footnotes :

2 Freedman, "The Changing Roles of Military Conflict," 49.   

2 Kirby, "Aristotle on Metaphor," 545.

Freedman, Lawrence. "The Changing Roles of Military Conflict."   Survival 40, no. 4 (1998): 39-56.

Kirby, John T. "Aristotle on Metaphor."  American Journal of Philology 118 (1997): 517-554.  

Journal Articles (Online)

Cite as above, but include the URL and the date of access of the article.

On the Free Web

1 Molly Shea, "Hacking Nostalgia: Super Mario Clouds," Gnovis 9, no. 2 (Spring 2009), http://gnovisjournal.org/journal/hacking-nostalgia-super-mario-clouds  (accessed June 25, 2009).

Through a Subscription Database

1 John T. Kirby, "Aristotle on Metaphor," American Journal of Philology 118, no. 4 (Winter 1997): 524, http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_journal_of_philology/v118/118.4.kirby.html  (accessed June 25, 2009).

1 Michael Moon, et al., "Queers in (Single-Family) Space," Assemblage 24 (August 1994): 32, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3171189  (accessed June 25, 2009).

Subsequent Footnotes:

2 Shea, "Hacking Nostalgia."

2 Kirby, "Aristotle on Metaphor," 527. 

2 Moon, "Queers in (Single-Family) Space," 34. 

Shea, Molly. "Hacking Nostalgia: Super Mario Clouds," Gnovis 9, no. 2 (Spring 2009), http://gnovisjournal.org/journal/hacking-nostalgia-super-mario-clouds  (accessed June 25, 2009).

Kirby, John T. "Aristotle on Metaphor," American Journal of Philology 118, no. 4 (Winter 1997): 524, http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_journal_of_philology/v118/118.4.kirby.html  (accessed June 25, 2009).

Moon, Michael, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Benjamin Gianni, and Scott Weir. "Queers in (Single-Family) Space." Assemblage 24 (August 1994): 30-7, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3171189  (accessed June 25, 2009).

Magazine Articles (Print)

Monthly or Bimonthly

           1 Paul Goldberger, "Machines for Living: The Architectonic Allure of the Automobile," Architectural Digest, October 1996, 82.

1 Steven Levy and Brad Stone, "Silicon Valley Reboots," Newsweek , March 25, 2002, 45.

          2 Goldberger, "Machines for Living," 82.

          2 Levy and Stone, "Silicon Valley Reboots," 46.

Goldberger, Paul.  "Machines for Living: The Architectonic Allure of the Automobile." Architectural Digest, October 1996.

Levy, Steven, and Brad Stone. "Silicon Valley Reboots." Newsweek , March 25, 2002.

Magazine Articles (Online)

Follow the guidelines for print magazine articles, adding the URL and date accessed.

1 Bill Wyman, "Tony Soprano's Female Trouble," Salon.com, May 19, 2001, http://www.salon.com/2001/05/19/sopranos_final/ (accessed February 13, 2017).

1 Sasha Frere-Jones, "Hip-Hop President." New Yorker , November 24, 2008, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=35324426&site=ehost-live (accessed June 26, 2009).

Wyman, Bill. "Tony Soprano's Female Trouble." Salon.com, May 19, 2001, http://www.salon.com/2001/05/19/sopranos_final/ (accessed February 13, 2017).

Frere-Jones, Sasha. "Hip-Hop President." New Yorker , November 24, 2008. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=35324426&site=ehost-live (accessed June 26, 2009).

Newspaper Articles

In most cases, you will cite newspaper articles only in notes, not in your bibliography. Follow the general pattern for citing magazine articles, although you may omit page numbers.

        1 Eric Pianin, "Use of Arsenic in Wood Products to End," Washington Post , February 13, 2002, final edition.

        1 Eric Pianin, "Use of Arsenic in Wood Products to End," Washington Post , February 13, 2002, final edition, in LexisNexis Academic (accessed June 27, 2009).

Note: In the example above, there was no stable URL for the article in LexisNexis, so the name of the database was given rather than a URL.

Review Articles

Follow the pattern below for review articles in any kind of periodical.

1 Alanna Nash, "Hit 'Em With a Lizard," review of Basket Case, by Carl Hiassen, New York Times , February 3, 2002, http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=105338185&sid=2&Fmt=6&clientId=5604&RQT=309&VName=PQD (accessed June 26, 2009).  

1 David Denby, "Killing Joke," review of No Country for Old Men , directed by Ethan and Joel Coen,  New Yorker, February 25, 2008, 72-73, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=fah&AN=30033248&site=ehost-live (accessed June 26, 2009). 

Second footnote:

2 Nash, "Hit 'Em With a Lizard."

2 Denby, "Killing Joke."

In most cases, you will be citing something smaller than an entire website. If you are citing an article from a website, for example, follow the guidelines for articles above. You can usually refer to an entire website in running text without including it in your reference list, e.g.: "According to its website, the Financial Accounting Standards Board requires ...".

If you need to cite an entire website in your bibliography, include some or all of the following elements, in this order:

1. Author or editor of the website (if known) 2. Title of the website 3. URL 4. Date of access

Financial Accounting Standards Board .  http://www.fasb.org  (accessed April 29, 2009).

FOR MORE HELP

Following are links to sites that have additional information and further examples:

Turabian Quick Guide (University of Chicago Press)

Chicago Manual of Style Online

RefWorks Once you have created an account, go to Tools/Preview Output Style to see examples of Turabian style.

Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL) Excellent source for research, writing and citation tips.

Citing Sources Duke University's guide to citing sources. The site offers comparison citation tables with examples from APA , Chicago , MLA and Turabian for both print and electronic works.

How to Cite Electronic Sources From the Library of Congress. Provides MLA and Turabian examples of citing formats like films, photographs, maps and recorded sound that are accessed electronically.

Uncle Sam: Brief Guide to Citing Government Publications The examples in this excellent guide from the University of Memphis are based on the Chicago Manual of Style and Kate Turabian's Manual .

Training videos   |   Faqs

Limitations in Research – A Simplified Guide with Examples

Limitations are flaws and shortcomings of your study. It is very important that you discuss the limitations of your study in the discussion section of your research paper. In this blog, we provide tips for presenting study limitations in your paper along with some real-world examples.

1. Should I Report the Limitations of My Work?

Most studies will have some form of limitation. So be honest and don’t hide your limitations. You have to tell your readers how your limitations might influence the outcomes and conclusions of your research.  In reality, your readers and reviewers will be impressed with your paper if you are upfront about your limitations. 

2. Examples

Let’s look at some examples. We have selected a variety of examples from different research topics.

2.1. Limitations Example 1

Following example is from a Medical research paper.

✔ The authors talk about the limitations and emphasis the importance of reconfirming the findings in a much larger study Study design and small sample size are important limitations. This could have led to an overestimation of the effect. Future research should reconfirm these findings by conducting larger-scale studies. _   Limitation s  _   How it might affect the results?   _   How to fix the limitation?

The authors are saying that the main limitations of the study are the small sample size and weak study design. Then they explain how this might have affected their results. They are saying that it is possible that they are overestimating the actual effect they are measuring. Then finally they are telling the readers that more studies with larger sample sizes should be conducted to reconfirm the findings.

As you can see, the authors are clearly explaining three things here: (1) What is the limitation? (2) How it might affect the study outcomes? and (3) What should be done to address the limitation?

2.2. Limitations Example 2

Following example is from an Engineering research paper.

✔ The authors are acknowledging the limitations and warning readers against generalizing the research findings However, some study limitations should be acknowledged. The experiments do not fully consider the problems that can appear in real situations. Hence, caution should be taken with generalizing the findings and applying them to real-life situations. _   Acknowledging limitations   _   Explaining the limitation   _   How it might affect the results?

The authors acknowledge that their study has some limitations. Then they explain what the limitations are. They are saying that their experiments do not consider all problems that might occur in real-life situations. Then they explain how this might affect their research outcomes. They are saying that readers should be careful when generalizing the results to practical real-world situations, because there is a possibility that the methods might fail.

2.3. Limitations Example 3

It is important to remember not to end your paper with limitations. Finish your paper on a positive note by telling your readers about the benefits of your research and possible future directions. In the following example, right after listing the limitations, the authors proceed to talk about the positive aspects of the work.

✔ The authors finish their paper on a positive note by talking about the benefits of their work and possible future work With this limited study, it is not known whether this finding can be applied to all clinical scenarios. Notwithstanding these limitations, this study has proven that Ultrasound can potentially serve as a more efficient alternative to X-rays in diagnosis. Future directions include studying the effects of different ultrasound pulsing schemes on pain relief. Another interesting direction would be to consider applications in nonhuman primates. _   Limitations   _   Benefits of the work   _   Possible future directions

The authors are saying that their experiments were somewhat limited and are not sure if their findings apply to the wider clinical practice. Then the authors highlight the benefits of their research. The authors say that their study has proven that ultrasound can be used instead of X-rays for diagnosis of certain types of diseases. Then they are explaining how future research can extend this work further. The authors are suggesting that it will be interesting to explore if ultrasound can be used for the treatment of chronic pain. And they are also suggesting that future studies can explore treating certain types of animal diseases with ultrasound. This is a very good example of how to finish the discussion section of your paper on a positive note.

Limitations are a vital component of the discussion section of your research paper. Remember, every study has limitations. There is no such thing as a perfect study. One of the major mistakes beginner writers make is hiding the limitations in the paper. Don’t do this, reviewers will reject your paper. Explain clearly how your limitations might have impacted your results, and provide ideas to mitigate them in the future. For further reading, please refer to our blogs on handling negative results and advanced tactics to address study limitations.

If you have any questions, please drop a comment below, and we will answer as soon as possible. We also recommend you to refer to our other blogs on  academic writing tools ,   academic writing resources ,  academic writing phrases  and  research paper examples  which are relevant to the topic discussed in this blog. 

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Study Suggests Genetics as a Cause, Not Just a Risk, for Some Alzheimer’s

People with two copies of the gene variant APOE4 are almost certain to get Alzheimer’s, say researchers, who proposed a framework under which such patients could be diagnosed years before symptoms.

By Pam Belluck

Scientists are proposing a new way of understanding the genetics of Alzheimer’s that would mean that up to a fifth of patients would be considered to have a genetically caused form of the disease.

Currently, the vast majority of Alzheimer’s cases do not have a clearly identified cause. The new designation, proposed in a study published Monday, could broaden the scope of efforts to develop treatments, including gene therapy, and affect the design of clinical trials.

It could also mean that hundreds of thousands of people in the United States alone could, if they chose, receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s before developing any symptoms of cognitive decline, although there currently are no treatments for people at that stage.

The new classification would make this type of Alzheimer’s one of the most common genetic disorders in the world, medical experts said.

“This reconceptualization that we’re proposing affects not a small minority of people,” said Dr. Juan Fortea, an author of the study and the director of the Sant Pau Memory Unit in Barcelona, Spain. “Sometimes we say that we don’t know the cause of Alzheimer’s disease,” but, he said, this would mean that about 15 to 20 percent of cases “can be tracked back to a cause, and the cause is in the genes.”

The idea involves a gene variant called APOE4. Scientists have long known that inheriting one copy of the variant increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s, and that people with two copies, inherited from each parent, have vastly increased risk.

The new study , published in the journal Nature Medicine, analyzed data from over 500 people with two copies of APOE4, a significantly larger pool than in previous studies. The researchers found that almost all of those patients developed the biological pathology of Alzheimer’s, and the authors say that two copies of APOE4 should now be considered a cause of Alzheimer’s — not simply a risk factor.

The patients also developed Alzheimer’s pathology relatively young, the study found. By age 55, over 95 percent had biological markers associated with the disease. By 65, almost all had abnormal levels of a protein called amyloid that forms plaques in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. And many started developing symptoms of cognitive decline at age 65, younger than most people without the APOE4 variant.

“The critical thing is that these individuals are often symptomatic 10 years earlier than other forms of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Reisa Sperling, a neurologist at Mass General Brigham in Boston and an author of the study.

She added, “By the time they are picked up and clinically diagnosed, because they’re often younger, they have more pathology.”

People with two copies, known as APOE4 homozygotes, make up 2 to 3 percent of the general population, but are an estimated 15 to 20 percent of people with Alzheimer’s dementia, experts said. People with one copy make up about 15 to 25 percent of the general population, and about 50 percent of Alzheimer’s dementia patients.

The most common variant is called APOE3, which seems to have a neutral effect on Alzheimer’s risk. About 75 percent of the general population has one copy of APOE3, and more than half of the general population has two copies.

Alzheimer’s experts not involved in the study said classifying the two-copy condition as genetically determined Alzheimer’s could have significant implications, including encouraging drug development beyond the field’s recent major focus on treatments that target and reduce amyloid.

Dr. Samuel Gandy, an Alzheimer’s researcher at Mount Sinai in New York, who was not involved in the study, said that patients with two copies of APOE4 faced much higher safety risks from anti-amyloid drugs.

When the Food and Drug Administration approved the anti-amyloid drug Leqembi last year, it required a black-box warning on the label saying that the medication can cause “serious and life-threatening events” such as swelling and bleeding in the brain, especially for people with two copies of APOE4. Some treatment centers decided not to offer Leqembi, an intravenous infusion, to such patients.

Dr. Gandy and other experts said that classifying these patients as having a distinct genetic form of Alzheimer’s would galvanize interest in developing drugs that are safe and effective for them and add urgency to current efforts to prevent cognitive decline in people who do not yet have symptoms.

“Rather than say we have nothing for you, let’s look for a trial,” Dr. Gandy said, adding that such patients should be included in trials at younger ages, given how early their pathology starts.

Besides trying to develop drugs, some researchers are exploring gene editing to transform APOE4 into a variant called APOE2, which appears to protect against Alzheimer’s. Another gene-therapy approach being studied involves injecting APOE2 into patients’ brains.

The new study had some limitations, including a lack of diversity that might make the findings less generalizable. Most patients in the study had European ancestry. While two copies of APOE4 also greatly increase Alzheimer’s risk in other ethnicities, the risk levels differ, said Dr. Michael Greicius, a neurologist at Stanford University School of Medicine who was not involved in the research.

“One important argument against their interpretation is that the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in APOE4 homozygotes varies substantially across different genetic ancestries,” said Dr. Greicius, who cowrote a study that found that white people with two copies of APOE4 had 13 times the risk of white people with two copies of APOE3, while Black people with two copies of APOE4 had 6.5 times the risk of Black people with two copies of APOE3.

“This has critical implications when counseling patients about their ancestry-informed genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” he said, “and it also speaks to some yet-to-be-discovered genetics and biology that presumably drive this massive difference in risk.”

Under the current genetic understanding of Alzheimer’s, less than 2 percent of cases are considered genetically caused. Some of those patients inherited a mutation in one of three genes and can develop symptoms as early as their 30s or 40s. Others are people with Down syndrome, who have three copies of a chromosome containing a protein that often leads to what is called Down syndrome-associated Alzheimer’s disease .

Dr. Sperling said the genetic alterations in those cases are believed to fuel buildup of amyloid, while APOE4 is believed to interfere with clearing amyloid buildup.

Under the researchers’ proposal, having one copy of APOE4 would continue to be considered a risk factor, not enough to cause Alzheimer’s, Dr. Fortea said. It is unusual for diseases to follow that genetic pattern, called “semidominance,” with two copies of a variant causing the disease, but one copy only increasing risk, experts said.

The new recommendation will prompt questions about whether people should get tested to determine if they have the APOE4 variant.

Dr. Greicius said that until there were treatments for people with two copies of APOE4 or trials of therapies to prevent them from developing dementia, “My recommendation is if you don’t have symptoms, you should definitely not figure out your APOE status.”

He added, “It will only cause grief at this point.”

Finding ways to help these patients cannot come soon enough, Dr. Sperling said, adding, “These individuals are desperate, they’ve seen it in both of their parents often and really need therapies.”

Pam Belluck is a health and science reporter, covering a range of subjects, including reproductive health, long Covid, brain science, neurological disorders, mental health and genetics. More about Pam Belluck

The Fight Against Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, but much remains unknown about this daunting disease..

How is Alzheimer’s diagnosed? What causes Alzheimer’s? We answered some common questions .

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Determining whether someone has Alzheimer’s usually requires an extended diagnostic process . But new criteria could lead to a diagnosis on the basis of a simple blood test .

The F.D.A. has given full approval to the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi. Here is what to know about i t.

Alzheimer’s can make communicating difficult. We asked experts for tips on how to talk to someone with the disease .

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Google helped make an exquisitely detailed map of a tiny piece of the human brain

A small brain sample was sliced into 5,000 pieces, and machine learning helped stitch it back together.

• Cassandra Willyard archive page

A team led by scientists from Harvard and Google has created a 3D, nanoscale-resolution map of a single cubic millimeter of the human brain. Although the map covers just a fraction of the organ—a whole brain is a million times larger—that piece contains roughly 57,000 cells, about 230 millimeters of blood vessels, and nearly 150 million synapses. It is currently the highest-resolution picture of the human brain ever created.

To make a map this finely detailed, the team had to cut the tissue sample into 5,000 slices and scan them with a high-speed electron microscope. Then they used a machine-learning model to help electronically stitch the slices back together and label the features. The raw data set alone took up 1.4 petabytes. “It’s probably the most computer-intensive work in all of neuroscience,” says Michael Hawrylycz, a computational neuroscientist at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, who was not involved in the research. “There is a Herculean amount of work involved.”

Many other brain atlases exist, but most provide much lower-resolution data. At the nanoscale, researchers can trace the brain’s wiring one neuron at a time to the synapses, the places where they connect. “To really understand how the human brain works, how it processes information, how it stores memories, we will ultimately need a map that’s at that resolution,” says Viren Jain, a senior research scientist at Google and coauthor on the paper, published in Science on May 9 . The data set itself and a preprint version of this paper were released in 2021 .

Brain atlases come in many forms. Some reveal how the cells are organized. Others cover gene expression. This one focuses on connections between cells, a field called “connectomics.” The outermost layer of the brain contains roughly 16 billion neurons that link up with each other to form trillions of connections. A single neuron might receive information from hundreds or even thousands of other neurons and send information to a similar number. That makes tracing these connections an exceedingly complex task, even in just a small piece of the brain..  

To create this map, the team faced a number of hurdles. The first problem was finding a sample of brain tissue. The brain deteriorates quickly after death, so cadaver tissue doesn’t work. Instead, the team used a piece of tissue removed from a woman with epilepsy during brain surgery that was meant to help control her seizures.

Once the researchers had the sample, they had to carefully preserve it in resin so that it could be cut into slices, each about a thousandth the thickness of a human hair. Then they imaged the sections using a high-speed electron microscope designed specifically for this project. 

Next came the computational challenge. “You have all of these wires traversing everywhere in three dimensions, making all kinds of different connections,” Jain says. The team at Google used a machine-learning model to stitch the slices back together, align each one with the next, color-code the wiring, and find the connections. This is harder than it might seem. “If you make a single mistake, then all of the connections attached to that wire are now incorrect,” Jain says. 

“The ability to get this deep a reconstruction of any human brain sample is an important advance,” says Seth Ament, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland. The map is “the closest to the  ground truth that we can get right now.” But he also cautions that it’s a single brain specimen taken from a single individual. 

The map, which is freely available at a web platform called Neuroglancer , is meant to be a resource other researchers can use to make their own discoveries. “Now anybody who’s interested in studying the human cortex in this level of detail can go into the data themselves. They can proofread certain structures to make sure everything is correct, and then publish their own findings,” Jain says. (The preprint has already been cited at least 136 times .) 

The team has already identified some surprises. For example, some of the long tendrils that carry signals from one neuron to the next formed “whorls,” spots where they twirled around themselves. Axons typically form a single synapse to transmit information to the next cell. The team identified single axons that formed repeated connections—in some cases, 50 separate synapses. Why that might be isn’t yet clear, but the strong bonds could help facilitate very quick or strong reactions to certain stimuli, Jain says. “It’s a very simple finding about the organization of the human cortex,” he says. But “we didn’t know this before because we didn’t have maps at this resolution.”

The data set was full of surprises, says Jeff Lichtman, a neuroscientist at Harvard University who helped lead the research. “There were just so many things in it that were incompatible with what you would read in a textbook.” The researchers may not have explanations for what they’re seeing, but they have plenty of new questions: “That’s the way science moves forward.” 

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• Antonio Regalado archive page

The quest to legitimize longevity medicine

Longevity clinics offer a mix of services that largely cater to the wealthy. Now there’s a push to establish their work as a credible medical field.

• Jessica Hamzelou archive page

There is a new most expensive drug in the world. Price tag: $4.25 million

But will the latest gene therapy suffer the curse of the costliest drug?

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