What is a reference note inserted at the bottom of the page using the references ribbon called?

And now for the pièce de résistance: how to actually incorporate these footnotes into your Word documents. The good news is that this is the easiest part!

As it turns out, Word automates most of the footnote process so you don’t have to worry about any of the formatting — most of your energy will be focused on staying true to whichever style you’re using.

What is a reference note inserted at the bottom of the page using the references ribbon called?

Here are the steps to take:

  1. Place your cursor in the body text where you want the footnote superscript to appear.
  2. Select the References tab in the ribbon toolbar.
  3. Click Insert Footnote. This will immediately bring you to the bottom of the page with the right footnote number to use.
  4. Type your footnote according to style.
  5. Repeat the process for every additional footnote. Word will automatically increment the number for you.

Creating a note

  • To create a note, first insert a footnote in the text of your document.
  • After a direct quote, a paraphrased idea, or a reference to a source of information, insert a superscript number. In Microsoft Word, this can be done by clicking Insert Footnote under the Referencestab in the ribbon. Insert the footnote superscript number after any punctuation.
  • In the corresponding footnote at the bottom of the page, insert your reference, including a relevant page number if the source is paginated.

The manufacture of hard-paste porcelain, a mixture of china clay and stone, was still an unsolvable problem in eighteenth century Saxony.1 As Jacobsen points out, "Von Tschirnhausen had been experimenting with these techniques for almost a decade, without results."2


  1. Jeffrey Munger, "German and Austrian Porcelain in the Eighteenth Century," The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 2003, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/porg/hd_porg.htm.

  2. Dawn Jacobson, Chinoiserie (London: Phaidon, 1999), 96.

Formatting notes

Begin each note with its reference number, either as regular text, followed by a period and a space, or as superscript text, followed by a space but no period.

Either of these reference number formats is acceptable:

  1. Rebecca Herisson, Music Theory in Seventeenth-Century England (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 12.

  2 Jon Krasner, Motion Graphic Design: Applied History and Aesthetics (Amsterdam: Focal Press, 2008), 27.

Every footnote should begin on the page where it is referenced. Put a short ruled line between the last line of text and the first footnote on each page (Microsoft Word and other word processing programs will generally do this automatically). 

Short notes

After you have provided full information about a source in the first note, subsequent notes that reference the same source need only include the author's last name, a shortened version of the title (a short phrase, not more than four words if possible), and the page number.

 4. Clay, Beautiful Thing, 41.

If the work you are citing has no author, for your shortened note use a short version of the title only. Include a page number if there is one.

 12. "A User's Guide to Pinterest."

Use of Ibid.

The abbreviation Ibid.(a short form of ibidem, Latin for ‘in the same place’) can be optionally used when a note references the identical single source cited in the previous note. Because it is an abbreviation, a final period is necessary, even when followed by a comma.

 16. Richard Weston, The House in the 20th Century (London: Laurence King, 2002), 94.

 17. Ibid., 97. 

If the reference is to the same page as the previous note (or the source is not paginated) you can omit the page number.

Multiple references in a note

If you cite several sources to make a single point, group them together in the same footnote. In the note, separate the citations with semi-colons.

Layering flat materials can reverse the dominance of surface and edge, to create a language of visual contradiction.5


 5. Paul Jackson, Cut and Fold Paper Textures (London: Laurence King, 2017), 36; Jason Franz, "Magic Wand: The Power of the Ballpoint Pen," Drawing 14, no. 54 (Summer 2017), Art & Architecture Complete.

Comments in notes

If you want to include a substantive comment in your footnote, as well as a citation, put the citation first, followed by the comment in a new sentence.

Periodicals that supported the radical art of Expressionism conveyed their political position through unorthodox typography and bold woodcuts as cover art.8


 8. Steven Heller, Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Avant-Garde Magazine Design of the Twentieth Century (London: Phaidon, 2003). The Futurists would embrace similar methods to signify their anti-bourgeois stance.

Secondary source - in note

  • If a source that you are using includes a useful quotation from another source, you should try to obtain the original and cite that, in order to verify that the quotation is accurate and quoted in context.
  • However, if the original source is unavailable, you can cite it as quoted in the secondary source.

  24. Michael Rosen, "Nursery Rhymes and Hairy Crimes," Even my Ears are Smiling (London: Bloomsbury Childrens, 2011), quoted in Michael Joseph, "'Orphans of Poetry': The Poetry of Childhood and the Poetry for Children of Robert Graves," Book 2.0 6, no. 1/2 (2016): 9-20, Art Full Text.

What is a reference note inserted at the bottom of the page using the References tab called?

Footnotes appear at the bottom of the page and endnotes come at the end of the document. A number or symbol on the footnote or endnote matches up with a reference mark in the document.

How do you reference at the bottom of a page?

A footnote is a reference placed at the bottom of a page or footer. They are referenced in the text in the same way as a citation i.e. the referenced text is followed by a superscript numeral (1), which corresponds to the numbered footnote at the bottom of the page.

How do you insert a reference at the bottom of the page in Word?

Add a footnote.
Click where you want to add a footnote..
Click References > Insert Footnote. Word inserts a reference mark in the text and adds the footnote mark at the bottom of the page..
Type the footnote text. Tip: To return to your place in your document, double-click the footnote mark..

What is the References tab in Word?

Word has its own, basic referencing system available via the 'References' tab on the ribbon. This lets you add references to a document and then create a bibliography at the end of the text. References are stored in a master list, which can be used to add references to further documents.