In-Text Citations: Parenthetical Documentation or Footnotes?
A. Parenthetical Documentation vs. Footnotes
No matter what your documentation style (APA, MLA, Chicago), you and your supervisor must decide on whether you
will use parenthetical documentation or footnotes to cite sources in the body of your paper. Both forms are acceptable for
the extended essay, and both have benefits and drawbacks. Whatever you choose, you must be consistent throughout;
there can be no mixing. Let’s take a look at what these styles look like, starting with parenthetical documentation:
“The metropolitan representation of Muslim women is invariably couched in the language of victimhood. It seems that
female Muslim subjects have never been able to fully transcend the passive state of existence allotted to them in the
metropolitan imaginary” (Raja 266).
By parenthetical, of course, we mean that each time you have a paraphrase, summary, or direct quote, you will use a set of
parentheses and page number to indicate your source and tie it to your bibliography. Here is how a footnote appears, with
the superscript number 1 indicating the source at the bottom of this actual page, as it would appear in your extended essay:
“The metropolitan representation of Muslim women is invariably couched in the language of victimhood. It seems that
female Muslim subjects have never been able to fully transcend the passive state of existence allotted to them in the
metropolitan imaginary.”1
Visually, there you have it. That’s the simple part…how it appears. The question now is which choice you should make,
and personal preference alone should not be the sole decision in doing so.
B. Benefits and Drawbacks of Parenthetical Documentation vs. Footnotes
Type
Parenthetical Documentation
Benefits
1. most familiar style to you
2. IB evaluator required to read
Drawbacks
1. less clean/more distracting on paper
2. more page turning by evaluator
3. words in parentheses must be
counted in final word count of
essay
4. becomes difficult if using more than
one work from the same author
5. see letter “C,” the eight questions
below!
Footnotes
1. much cleaner on paper
1. may be unfamiliar to you
2. less page turning by evaluator
2. IB evaluator not required to read
3. most frequently used by students
3. requires some new skills
4. no extra words to rob from
final word count in essay
5. almost a simple copy/paste from
bibliography page
Honestly, your supervisor may not give you an option in this case, but it’s important to know the benefits and drawbacks of
both sides anyway, especially if your essay is hovering around 4,000 words. If you’re doing parenthetical documentation
and not counting your parenthetical words, you’re in trouble if they spot check you!
C. Parenthetical Documentation
1
Raja, Masood Ashraf. “Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith & Sexuality.” Postcolonial Text. Ed.
Sarah Husain. Emeryville: Seal Press, 2006. Page 266.
If you are doing parenthetical documentation for your extended essay, you will need to consult your specific
documentation manual to see what formatting is used and information is included in the parentheses. Typically, this
includes the author and page number, but it is not always this straightforward. Questions that will arise for you include the
following that you will have to answer, most likely:
1. What do I use when no author is given? Editor? Title?
2. What if there is no page number?
3. When is it appropriate to use just the page number, if ever?
4. For a scholarly journal, how do I cite volume and issue number rather than page number?
5. When should I not use page numbers at all?
6. My source was written by multiple authors. How should the names appear before the page number?
7. How do I cite a TV show, movie, musical piece, piece of art parenthetically?
8. I have multiple sources by one author in my bibliography. How do I clarify which book I mean when I use the author’s
last name and the page number?
For MLA citation, all of these answers and examples are given in chapter six of the MLA handout, “Documentation: Citing
Sources in the Text.” There should also be a section in the APA guide and Chicago style manuals as well, with examples
for each.
D. Footnotes
Footnotes are probably a new concept to most of you. Please be aware that footnotes are slow to learn at first but are very
easy with just a little practice. In some ways, they take less time than parenthetical documentation because you will not
spend the time trying to answer all of the questions above. Follow the steps below, and you will not have a difficult time
adding footnotes to your extended essay. I am assuming that you are using Microsoft Office Word 2007. If not, you will
have to use the question button or ask the dog or paperclip for help.
1. Have your complete and alphabetized bibliography open on your computer for cutting and pasting purposes. Without it,
this will be meaningless.
2. Begin writing your paper. As you follow your outline, you will come across a note card you would like to either
paraphrase, summarize, or directly quote from. Use the information from the note card in whatever you need. When you
are done, make sure the cursor is exactly where you want the superscript to appear. Click on the “References” tab at the
top of the menu bar.
3. Just underneath, you will see the button “Insert Footnote.” Click it.
4. A superscript will appear directly where your cursor was located, and you will be taken to the bottom, or “foot,” of the
paper. Whatever source you are using from your bibliography, go to your bibliography and copy the entire source from
the bibliography. Copy the entire entry from your bibliography for your first footnote from this source
only ! Now, paste it into the footer of the page. (Note that when you now add a footnote later in the body of your paper,
it will automatically chronologically number the footnote for you. You shouldn’t have to do it manually.)
5. You’re not quite done with your first footnote. Just like in parenthetical documentation, you need to specifically
indicate where in the source you found the material. This is where you need to be familiar with your documentation
requirements. If you look back at your handout on “Successful Note-Taking,” I had this general list for you:
Whatever your choice, never forget to include the exact location of your information. Copy down the
following, depending on your source:
Book, novel: page number (34)
Newspaper or magazine: date of issue (day, month, year) and page (A12+, B4, 46-47)
Academic journal or other periodical: (volume number, issue number, and page numbers)
TV episode: episode title, show title
Play: act, scene, line numbers
Website: date of access
Poetry: page and line numbers
The problem with this list is that it’s not specific to MLA, APA, or Chicago. You need to check your manual about what it
requires you to include for each source. But let’s assume that you have a traditional book, straight up, with page numbers.
Again, here’s the example from the previous page:
1
Raja, Masood Ashraf. “Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith & Sexuality.” Postcolonial Text.
Ed.
Sarah Husain. Emeryville: Seal Press, 2006. 266.
Page number added to complete
footnote.
Everything except page number is exact
From bibliography page.
6. Your first footnote is complete! However, if you continue to reference the same source, and you probably will, things
change a bit. There is no need to re-copy and re-paste the entire entry again for the next entry. This would be largely
redundant. Until very recently, the use of Ibid, which is abbreviated for the Latin term “Ibidem,” meaning “In the same
place” was used. While it is still used in Harvard and Cornell style manuals, it is most recently falling out of favor in MLA
and even APA. Here’s what we’ll do instead. Say you are using the same entry later on in your paper. Rather than copy
the entire entry again, or use “Ibid,” the general rule is to simply state the author’s name and the page number (or lines of
poetry, or whatever information on your note indicates the exact location of the information for your reader). I would
look like this from the example above:
2
Raja. 267.
In this case, the reader can assume from the last name that the source is exactly the same as the footnote originally given
that is also cited in the bibliography. It’s that neat, short, and simple!
7. “But wait! What if I have two or more sources written by Massod Ashraf Raja! How will my reader know which source
it’s from?!” Okay, so, here’s a trick. Say you’re writing about an author with multiple books out. All you would need to
include to distinguish which work you’re citing in your paper is the title:
2
Raja, Masood Ashraf. “Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith & Sexuality.” Postcolonial Text.
267.
Now, if I have two “Rajas” in my bibliography, my reader can tell which text I’m citing and the page number where the
quotation can be found. Note that I don’t include the entire entry which gives the publisher and year of publication
because I already did this in the first footnote, and I only have to do this once.
The example on the next page shows how this might all look in an Extended Essay. I have included the bibliography for
you to see how these are pulled and highlighted the paraphrases and direct quotations. Note that an essay on Harry Potter
requires the use of the titles to not confuse the reader which of the seven novels quotations are being pulled from. The first
entry of The Order of the Phoenix and The Order of the Phoenix has the entire entry placed from the bibliography, but the
subsequent entries do not because they are repeated. The titles for all of the Harry Potter novels MUST be included in every
entry because there are seven novels. However, the second entry for Anatol just includes the author and page number
because the bibliography contains only one entry for Anatol.
2
say, blood’s important.” Hagrid is a kind character who does not appear to be racist in any way; yet, whether he
agrees with it or not, he still shares the belief that bloodlines matter. Arguably, this opinion could be a byproduct of
the hatred has received from being a half-giant. However, his sentiment is echoed by Aunt Marge when she tells
Harry: “If there’s something wrong with the bitch, there’ll be something wrong with the pup…It all comes down to
3
blood…Bad blood will out.” Beyond the obvious derogatory implications her statements has toward Harry’s
mother, Marge is saying that bloodlines are inescapable; family defines a person. Her attention to blood is rather
ironic, given that she is a Muggle and knows nothing of its importance in the wizarding world. Nevertheless, her
background reinforces the universality of her conviction; it is important because it is a belief that transcends the
barrier between the magic and non-magic worlds.
Consequently, many of the pure-blood families have become obsessed with lineage. Rowling characterizes
two families in particular, the Blacks and the Gaunts, to illustrate the development of a pure-blood superiority
4
complex. Both families share the belief that their lineage makes them “practically royal,” which is greatly reflected
in their behavior. Whenever anyone with questionable magical lineage walks into Grimauld Place, Mrs. Black’s
5
portrait screams, “Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks…”; likewise,
6
Marvolo Gaunt refers to Muggles and Muggle-borns as “filthy” and “dirt-veined.” Not only do the Blacks and
Gaunts believe Muggles and Muggle-borns are of a lower social class, they are convinced that those lacking in
magical ancestry are less than human. The two families also are concerned with proving the purity of their
bloodlines, so they keep several heirlooms on display in their household. For the Blacks, this includes the book,
7
Nature’s Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy and “an ornate crystal bottle with a large opal set into the stopper, full
of…blood.”
2
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York, Scholastic, 2003. 564.
3
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York, Scholastic, 1999. 25, 28.
4
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. 111.
5
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. 78.
6
Anatol, Giselle Liza. 2003. “The Fallen Empire: Exploring Ethnic Otherness in the World of Harry Potter.”
Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays. Ed. Giselle Liza Anatol. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. 12.
7
Anatol. 14.
Bibliography
Anatol, Giselle Liza. 2003. “The Fallen Empire: Exploring Ethnic Otherness in the World of Harry
Potter.” Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays. Ed. Giselle Liza Anatol. Westport, CT: Praeger
Publishers.
Harper, Douglas. “Untouchable.” Online Etymology Dictionary. 2010-11. Web.
<http://www.etymonline.com/index.php>
The NIV Classic Reference Bible. 3rd Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1988.
Ostry, Elaine. 2003. “Accepting Mudbloods: The Ambivalent Social Vision of Rowling’s Fairy Tales.”
Reading Harry Potter: Critical Essays. Ed. Giselle Liza Anatol. Westport, CT: Praeger
Publishers.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. New York: Scholastic, 1997.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York, Scholastic, 1999.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York, Scholastic, 1999.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York, Scholastic, 2000.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York, Scholastic, 2003.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. New York, Scholastic, 2005.
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York, Scholastic, 2007.
Rowling, J.K. Interview. Accio Quote. BBC. Web. 19 Dec. 2011.
Rowling, J.K. “Slytherin Welcome Message.” Pottermore. J.K. Rowling. 2011. Web. 25 Sept. 2011.
<http://www.pottermore.com>.
Van de Lagemaat, Richard. Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. 2nd Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2011.