Do Footnotes Belong in an APA Thesis at All?
Malaysian postgraduate students who have studied in different academic traditions — or who have read extensively from humanities scholarship — sometimes wonder whether footnotes have a place in their APA-formatted thesis. The short answer is: yes, but sparingly and for specific purposes. Understanding footnotes in academic writing and APA format helps you use this feature correctly when it genuinely serves your work, rather than avoiding it entirely out of uncertainty or misusing it to sidestep APA’s conventions.
APA style is explicitly not a footnote-heavy citation system. It uses in-text author-date citation for references, not footnote numbering. But APA 7th does recognise two legitimate types of footnotes: content footnotes and copyright attribution footnotes. Knowing the difference between these and the conditions under which each is appropriate is the starting point for using footnotes correctly in a Malaysian postgraduate thesis.
Content Footnotes: When Additional Information Does Not Fit the Main Text
Content footnotes in APA are used to provide supplementary information that would disrupt the flow of the main text but that some readers may find useful. The key criterion is that the content must be genuinely supplementary — important enough to include somewhere in the document but not important enough to warrant a place in the main argument. If the information is essential to understanding your argument, it belongs in the main text. If removing it would not affect the logic of your argument at all, it probably does not need to be a footnote either.
Typical appropriate uses for content footnotes in a Malaysian postgraduate thesis include: providing an extended methodological note that is technically important but would slow down the reading of the methodology chapter; clarifying an abbreviation or translated term for readers from outside Malaysia who may not know the local institutional context; or acknowledging a related study that is tangential to your main argument but worth noting for completeness. Content footnotes should be brief — a few sentences at most. If a footnote is growing into a paragraph, reconsider whether the information actually belongs in the main text.
Copyright Attribution Footnotes
The second legitimate type of footnote in APA academic writing is the copyright attribution footnote, used specifically when you reproduce or adapt a table, figure, or extended quotation from a copyrighted source. The footnote in this case is attached to the table, figure, or quotation and provides the formal copyright statement required under APA’s republication conventions.
This type of footnote follows a specific format in APA 7th. For adapted content: “Note. Adapted from [Title], by A. Author, Year, Publisher (p. XX). Copyright Year by Name of Copyright Holder. Adapted with permission.” For reprinted content: “Reprinted from [Title], by A. Author, Year, Publisher (p. XX). Copyright Year by Name of Copyright Holder. Reprinted with permission.” This note appears below the relevant table or figure, not as a numbered footnote at the bottom of the page — which is an important distinction from the numbered content footnote format.
How to Format Numbered Footnotes in APA 7th
When content footnotes are used, APA 7th has specific formatting requirements. Footnotes are numbered sequentially throughout the document using superscript Arabic numerals — ¹, ², ³ — placed after the punctuation mark at the end of the relevant sentence or clause in the main text. In Microsoft Word, footnotes are inserted using the Insert > Footnote function, which automatically handles the numbering and places the footnote text at the bottom of the page.
The footnote text at the bottom of the page begins with the same superscript number, followed by the footnote content written in the same font as the main text but typically at a smaller size — 10-point if the main text is 12-point, as specified in APA 7th. The footnote is indented on the first line. Footnote text should be formatted consistently throughout the thesis — same font, same size, same indentation for every footnote regardless of which chapter it appears in.
What Footnotes Should Not Be Used For in APA
Understanding footnotes in academic writing and APA format also means knowing what not to use them for. Footnotes should not be used for additional references — all citations belong in the main text using the author-date format and in the reference list. Footnotes should not be used to provide definitions that belong in your definitions section or literature review. They should not be used to include data that belongs in the appendix, or to hedge claims that you are uncertain about but should either state confidently or not state at all.
A common misuse of footnotes in Malaysian theses is using them to include information that the student knows is relevant but cannot fit neatly into the chapter structure. If you find yourself adding multiple footnotes to a chapter, this is often a signal that the chapter structure needs revision rather than that footnotes are the right solution. A well-structured chapter should be able to accommodate its own important content without needing supplementary notes to carry the intellectual load.
Checking Your Footnotes During Proofreading
When proofreading your thesis, include footnotes in your review — they are easily overlooked because they exist outside the main flow of reading. Check that every numbered footnote marker in the text corresponds to a footnote at the bottom of the same page. Check that footnote numbering is sequential and has not been disrupted by editing — adding or removing content in a Word document sometimes shifts footnote numbering in ways that are not immediately visible. Check that the footnote text itself is grammatically correct and complete, and that any sources referenced within a footnote are included in your reference list. Footnotes in academic writing and APA format, when used correctly and sparingly, add precision to your thesis — but they must be as carefully proofread as any other part of the document.
