rationale

On one level, the form of documentation really doesn't matter. The ultimate test is: Does it work? That is, does it acknowledge the sources and enable the reader to locate them? Is it clear, accurate, and consistent? (Who cares? See the discussion of plagiarism. [to be added])

The rest is icing on the cake. Still, professions and disciplines crave order, and so they adopt standards.

Most historians prefer foot- or endnotes to in-text citations because this format enables them to (a) cite multiple sources; (b) include discussion. It is rare that one can adequately make a point simply by inserting a quotation or citing a single source. The task of historical writing is often to distilll the results of voluminous research, so as to make the point concisely while demonstrating that the example given is representative or otherwise compelling.

An accompanying bibliography (more common in books than articles) provides the reader with an overview of the works undergirding the publication. Often, because the number of sources used is so large, a scholarly bibliography confines itself to "works cited" or the most important sources. [more detail to follow].
When preparing your term papers or theses, you should generally list all works consulted—that is, those that you consulted and found to be of substantial use, even if you do not cite or othewise directy address them. The aim is not to pad your source list, but simply to give the reader the best possible sense of the scope of your inquiry.

examples

Most historians use the so-called "Chicago Style" (named after the format developed at the University of Chicago). The basic format is quite simple:

foot- or endnote

• book
First name Last name, Title (Place: Publisher, Date), page numbers.

• article
First name Last name, "Title," Journal Title vol. no. (year): page numbers.

• web site
First name Last name, "Title" Series Title [e.g., of online journal] and date of issue, if applicable [format: date month year] <URL> (date source was consulted).

bibliography

• book
Last name, First name. Title. (Place: Publisher, Date).

• article
Last name, First name. "Title." Journal Title vol. no. (year): page numbers.

• web site
Last name, First name. "Title." Series Title. date of issue [format: date month year]. <URL> (date consulted).



Titles of articles are placed in quotation marks. Titles of books, periodicals, and the like are italicized or underlined.

—It used to be the custom to include some form of abbreviation for the words, "page" or "pages" (p. and pp., respectively—not pg.!) In the interests of simplification, many formats now just give the numbers alone. If we are citing a work with a volume number, the practice is to separate volume number and page number by a colon. Thus: Goethe, Werke ("Weimarer Ausgabe"), 14:163-69

—It is becoming customary to omit the name of the publisher, but many of us still find that information useful. It tells us, for example, whether the work is commercial or academic in nature. It may give us clues as to the political orientation or degree of diffusion of the work.

There are of course many details that you will need to learn, but everything else is just a variation on the basic models above.

more thorough guidance

There are many excellent guides to documentation, many of which also include valuable information about the tasks of writing and research as a whole. A sample is listed below.

Research and Documentation Online

(=online version of Diana Hacker, Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age, third edition (Boston & NY: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001)
Note: a comprehensive guide, which includes sample papers in Chicago (history and many other humanities fields) APA (psychology, behavioral sciences), MLA (literature), and CBE (natural sciences)

A good online summary. of the Chicago style (from U. Chicago): gives both "humanities" style (used by most historians) and "author-date" system used in the natural and social sciences

a list of style manuals for the various disciplines (from Diana Hacker's Research and Documentation, above)

Modern Language Association MLA guide to citing resources from the Web.

Printed guides [information to follow.]

learn more

The footnote also often serves as a place to insert discussion that is tangential, subversive, or otherwise not appropriate in the body of the text. One of my favorites is the oft-cited example from the great Enlightenment historian Edward Gibbon (1737-94). Speaking of the third-century Emperor Gordian II, he observed:

"Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a library of 62,000 volumes, attested the variety of his inclinations; and from the productions which he left behind him, it appears that both the one and the other were designed for use rather than ostentation."

Then he characteristically added in a footnote, "By each of his concubines the younger Gordian left three or four children. His literary productions, though less numerous, were by no means contemptible."

Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [1776 ff.], 5 vols. (Chicago: Donahue Bros., 1900), 1:232.

Further examples can (and will) be added.

On the history of documentation, a topic at once larger and more humorous than one might at first imagine, see, e.g.:

• Anthony Grafton, The Footnote: A Curious History (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997)

• Chuck Zerby, The Devil's Details: A History of Footnotes (Montpelier, VT: Invisible Cities Press, 2002 [appeared late 2001]).
It is worth noting that Chuck has ties to the Hampshire community. A former columnist for the Amherst Record and former dean of campus and director of admissions, he lives in Hadley, MA.

[further resources to be added]