GUIDE TO FOOTNOTING 17 42 1 WHEN to footnote At MIT everyone students faculty and staff is expected to credit all sources of information except course lectures and textbooks for papers written for that particular subject Failing to credit sources is a form of intellectual theft and puts you at risk of plagiarism a serious offense When you restate ideas which are not your own mention the author and her his work Although when paraphrasing ideas you do not need to formally footnote them you do well to mention authors and sources books articles Whenever you use the actual words of a writer you MUST quote that author and cite the reference where you found the ideas and wording See the format to use below See the following sites for more information about crediting others ideas http web mit edu writing Citation plagiarism html http mit edu uaap learning teach integrity index html http web mit edu academicintegrity 2 The BASICS for proper footnote form Generally use Kate Turabian A Manual for Writers pp 117 146 style footnotes close to the Chicago manual style it uses p 117 rather than just 117 Use footnotes throughout the paper not endnotes eliminating the need for a bibliography in short papers The first time you refer to a source give the full citation in your footnote first name of author last name Title of work place publisher date of publication page number Further references to the same source can cite simply the author s last name then page number Since every source gets fully cited at least once there is no need for a bibliography or works cited at the end of paper That s the standard in political science For example For books Stanley Hoffman Duties Beyond Borders On the Limits and Possibilities of Ethical International Politics Syracuse NY Syracuse University Press 1981 76 82 For articles in a journal Emanuel Adler Seizing the Middle Ground Constructivism in World Politics European Journal of International Relations Vol 3 No 3 September 1997 319363 For Articles in an edited book Samuel E Finer State and Nation Building in Europe The Role of the Military In Charles Tilly ed The Formation of National States in Western Europe Princeton Princeton University Press 1975 103 106 For an Internet source give name of the site organization of source if available full address and date you checked it out 2 If a source appears for a second time immediately after the first that is with no footnotes separating the two use Ibid 34 38 3 If a source appears for a second or more time but not right after the first that is some other footnote separates between the two use a shorthand for the citation Hoffman Duties Beyond Borders 83 85 MIT OpenCourseWare http ocw mit edu 17 42 Causes and Prevention of War Spring 2009 For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use visit http ocw mit edu terms