Why Endnotes and Evidence Should Be Part of Your Lifetime Skills (Not Just Requirements for This Class)

 

What’s on This Webpage:

Why Endnotes—with Microsoft Word or an Equivalent Tool—Are an Efficient “Evidence Trail”

Why Endnotes Are Essential to Identify Your Own Mistakes If You Are Trying to Figure Something Out

Why Endnotes Are Essential in Your Document Even If Your Profs or Bosses Say They Don’t Want Endnotes in Theirs

Student Examples

Example 1: Unit Written Assignment – Incorrect Citation (on Left) and Correct Citation (on Right)

Example 2: Analysis of Primaries – The Same Citations as Example 1 But Now Created with Microsoft Word’s Endnote Feature

Using Microsoft Word’s Endnote Feature to Create Endnotes Automatically

 

Why Endnotes—with Microsoft Word or an Equivalent Tool—Create an Efficient “Evidence Trail”

If you use Microsoft Word or an equivalent word-processing tool, you have an efficient way to make an “evidence trail.” Think of endnotes as an equivalent to the old tip of marking your trail in a forest with something you can use to find your way back in case you get lost. For example, you might tie strips of bright red cloth to high branches.

 

If you are trying to figure something out, you can get as lost as in a forest so you need to create an “evidence trail.”

 

You insert an endnote in a document every time you would use a strip of red cloth in the forest.

 

When you change the source, you insert the endnote with a specific page number, not a range of pages (such as 200-201) and not a series (200, 201). Why?

·         Because both MLA and Chicago Manual of Style require that action. (Your professors may decide they only want to see citations for quotations and that is their right for their class.)

·         Because if you had find something quickly, you would not want to be searching more than 1 page
With evidence as with life, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

 

If you have a situation where multiple places prove the same thing, ask me how to cite that. Glad to help.

 

Why Endnotes Are Essential to Identify Your Own Mistakes If You Are Trying to Figure Something Out

In real life (IRL) on a job or when making decisions that determine how hard your future is, most people learn that everybody makes mistakes. What people don’t know is when they will make that mistake.

 

When your job is figuring things out that are not known yet, you must use an “evidence trail.” Why?

Figuring something out is usually a multi-step process, one filled with mistakes. You are at—for example--step 10 of your process and you suddenly realize that, if what you found out in step 10 is true, then step 4 could be false.

 

If you do not know exactly what your source was in step 4, you can’t go back efficiently and figure out:

·         If 10 is true and 4 is false or vice versa

·         If both 10 and 4 are partly true and false and you have to revise your thinking from step 1 through 10

·         If both are false and you are starting over from scratch

From a long career in industry, I can tell you that all of the above happens IRL so prepare for it by having good habits.

 

Why Endnotes Are Essential in Your Document Even If Your Profs or Bosses Say They Don’t Want Endnotes in Theirs

You want to give professors and bosses what they ask for. Why?

·         Because they would not ask for something if they did not believe they needed it.

·         Because your doing what they ask is proof to them that you are able to follow directions and they can trust your work.

·         Because your grade or your paycheck or your keeping your job are dependent on your figuring out what they require and your doing that well and efficiently.

 

When professors say they don’t want citation (and bosses will not want citation):

·         It means they do not want to see citation

·         It does not guarantee that they will not ask you for proof for a specific fact. — If they ask you to talk with them two weeks later, you probably will not remember every piece of proof.
Tip: This section tells you how to protect yourself in such a situation.

 

For bosses or for professors who say they don’t want citation, do this:

1.     In your working document, do simple endnotes like those done in this class (not the formal formats for Chicago Manual of Style), but use Microsoft Word or an equivalent word-processing tool to create those endnotes.
Tips:

·         To make endnotes efficiently, you must use the Endnote feature with Microsoft Word. Click here for where to find the Endnote feature in Microsoft Word.

·         These endnotes are for your brain only.
Example: If your evidence for a statement in a memo to your boss is an email from Jo, another employee, on April 14, then you might type Email – Jo – 4/14/2016.

2.     When you have finally written your best memo to the boss or paper for the prof, copy the file to create a separate document for the boss or prof and remove the endnotes in that file.
Tip: With Word 10, you can remove all of the endnotes very quickly with a few keystrokes. Ask if you are interested.

3.     Print both files:

·         Provide the version without endnotes to the boss or the professor

·         Keep easily accessible the version with the endnotes for yourself just in case the boss or prof asks

 

Tip: If professors say they want MLA and APA, what is sometimes called “inline citation,” then do that.

 

On the other hand, if the document is one for a boss or for a professor who does not want to see citation, then never use inline citation for your working document for your “evidence trail.” Why? Look at that example on the left below. Inline citation is somewhat like what the student tried to do. Look at it and notice the strikethrough. Think about how many words you’d have to delete and how much you would have to proof to be sure you did not leave in something that did not flow with the text.

 

Student Examples

Example 1: Unit Written Assignment – Incorrect Citation (on Left) and Correct Citation (on Right)

This is from a very kind student who is trying to help other students and who can in the future do much stronger work.

 

Compare the left side with the right:

·         Left = the student’s submission

·         Right = my version showing how easy it is to use the simple version of endnotes for exams in this class, even in Blackboard written exam tool (for a distance learning class) or handwritten on a piece of notebook paper (for an on-campus class)

 

On the left side

Strike through = Incorrect citation and not endnotes at all

Green =  Color to help you see pages 176, 193, and 194, with those on 176 and 194 needing to be in one endnote

On the right side

Red = Factual error as written

Burnt orange=Omission of an essential fact in the source

Pink =Changes in the language of the source that made the author of the textbook look as though he made a grammar error

Yellow = Language error in the student’s own words

 

Not endnotes and not correct citation

 

Major issues in this period that reveal about slaves “the sharpest irony of the American revolution is that Britain offered enslaved blacks more opportunities for freedom than did the united states”. [I got this quote in the first sentence in quality and its limits with paradox of slavery on 176. ]this was a major issue because slaves were finding ways to escape for plantations and join the British army. Even a slave named harry Washington one of George Washington slaves in 1763 escaped an “served in the revolutionary war as a corporal”[my first endnote goes here 176]. General Washington countered this by enlisting free blacks into the American army but congress put this to a stop and said that he could not enlist any African American.[my second endnote goes here page 176]Constitutional convention question the issue of slavery “many of the framers viewed slavery as an embarrassing contraction to the principles of liberty” [my third endnote goes here page 193]another issue with slavery during this period revealed that although George Washington and James Madison hated slavery, they saw no way to eliminate slavery with civil war.[my forth endnote goes here page194]  This caused a issue with the framers who figured that southern would walk out the convention before acknowledging what they were being confronted with so framer didn’t consider abolishing slavery.[my fifth endnote goes here page 194]

Simple endnotes for class exams

Caution: This has unmarked “half-copy” plagiarism.

Major issues in this period that reveal about slaves “the sharpest irony of the American revolution is that Britain offered enslaved blacks more opportunities for freedom than did the united states”. this was a major issue because slaves were finding ways to escape for plantations and join the British army. Even a slave named harry Washington one of George Washington slaves in 1763 escaped an “served in the revolutionary war as a corporal” in the British army. General Washington countered this by enlisting free blacks into the American army but congress put this to a stop and said that he could not enlist any African American. (1) Constitutional convention question the issue of slavery “many of the framers viewed slavery as an embarrassing contraction to the principles of liberty(2) another issue with slavery during this period revealed that although George Washington and James Madison had slaves but hated slavery, they saw no way to eliminate slavery without civil war.”  This caused a issue with the framers who figured that southern would walk out the convention before acknowledging what they were being confronted with so framer didn’t consider abolishing slavery.(3)

ENDNOTES: (1) 176  -  (2) 193   -  (3) 194

Tip: Notice there are only 3 endnotes (not 6 as on the left). If you have several sentences with evidence from 1 page, you only need an endnote after the last sentence supported by that page. For more on this, click here about using endnotes as an “evidence trail.”

 

Example 2: Analysis of Primaries – The Same Citations as Example 1 But Now Created with Microsoft Word’s Endnote Feature

Using Microsoft Word’s Endnote Feature to Create Endnotes Automatically

  1. By placing your cursor immediately after the fact you want to cite
  2. By clicking—if you are using Microsoft Word 10—References and then by clicking Insert Endnote
  3. By typing whatever your instructor requires.

 

Simple endnotes for the Analysis of Primaries

Cautions:

·         This is exactly the same text as on the right side in Example 1, but this uses Microsoft’s Endnote feature to create the Endnotes automatically. The Endnote feature not only inserts the superscript number (like 1) but also automatically places the Endnote separator line and the places for you to type each citation at the bottom of the page. Scroll down to see what that looks like.
If you need help, I will talk you through using this Microsoft feature in a phone conference or meet you on campus.

·         A writing assignment submitted in Turnitin, such as your Analysis of Primaries, will also have citations from the primaries. The instructions for the format for primaries and the textbook are covered with that assignment.

·         The color coding is explained above in the Student Example with Incorrect and Correct Citations for a Unit Written Assignment.

·         This has unmarked “half-copy” plagiarism as well as the other color-coded errors covered with Example 1.

Major issues in this period that reveal about slaves “the sharpest irony of the American revolution is that Britain offered enslaved blacks more opportunities for freedom than did the united states”. this was a major issue because slaves were finding ways to escape for plantations and join the British army. Even a slave named harry Washington one of George Washington slaves in 1763 escaped an “served in the revolutionary war as a corporal” in the British army. General Washington countered this by enlisting free blacks into the American army but congress put this to a stop and said that he could not enlist any African American.[1]  Constitutional convention question the issue of slavery “many of the framers viewed slavery as an embarrassing contraction to the principles of liberty[2]  another issue with slavery during this period revealed that although George Washington and James Madison had slaves but hated slavery, they saw no way to eliminate slavery without civil war.”  This caused a issue with the framers who figured that southern would walk out the convention before acknowledging what they were being confronted with so framer didn’t consider abolishing slavery.[3]

Tip: Scroll down to see how Microsoft Word places these endnotes automatically at the end of the document.

 

Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2016

 

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu

Last Updated:

2016

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/

 

 



[1] Essentials, p. 176

[2] Essentials, p. 193

[3] Essentials, p. 194