Formatting endnotes in accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style

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If you are using Microsoft Word to write a paper adhering to the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) guidelines for citations that appear in the endnotes section of the paper, references to endnotes should be made in the paper using Arabic numerals at the end of sentences with the numbers put in superscript.

Example

Ludwig considered it an honor that his books were among those burned by the Nazis in 1933.1

Endnote

1. Emil Ludwig, Three Portraits: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin (New York: Alliance Book Corporation: 1940), 49.

You can configure Microsoft Word for CMS style citations by clicking on the References tab and then selecting a Chicago option for the Style option. Microsoft Word 2010 lists "Chicago Fifteenth Edition" as the CMS option.

Word - Chicago style

You can select Arabic numerals for the endnotes by clicking on the small arrowhead that points diagonally downwards to the right at the lower, right-hand corner of the References options block.

Access endnotes settings

On the Footnote and Endnote window that appears, select Endnotes and change the number format to "1, 2, 3, ..."

Endnote number format

If the text isn't already 12 point Times New Roman for endnotes, you can change the font to 12 point Times New Roman by highlighting endnotes you have entered and selecting that font and font size from beneath the Home tab of the Word menu bar. You can still right-click on an endnote in the endnotes secton and choose "Go to Endnote" to be taken to the reference in the body of the paper.

The endnotes section should have the word "Notes" centered at the top of the first page of endnotes. If you wish to remove the horizontal line that Word puts at the top of each page for the endnotes, take the following steps:

  1. Click on one of the superscript numbers in the body of your paper for a citation to be taken to the endnotes section of the paper.
  2. Click on View on the menu bar at the top of the Word window and change the view from "Print Layout" to "Draft."
  3. Click on References at the top of the Word Window to see the options for footnotes and endnotes.

    Word - References

  4. Click on Show Notes. You should then see an endnotes pane open at the bottom of the Word window.

    All endnotes

  5. There will be a drop down list next to "Endnotes" with "All Endnotes" selected by default. Pick "Endnote Separator," instead.

    Endnote Separator

  6. Click at the end of the line you see drawn beneath "Endnote Separator" and then hit the backspace key to delete it.
  7. The above step will remove the line from the top of the first page of endnotes. To remove the line from subsequent pages of endnotes, you need to repeat step 5, but select "Endnote Continuation Separator" instead of "Endnote Separator" and then delete the horizontal line shown for it as well.
  8. You can then click on the View tab again and change the view back to "Print Layout."

Note: the instructions above are for Microsoft Word 2010 on a Microsoft Windows system, but should be similar for other recent versions.

References:

  1. Footnotes/Endnotes - Chicago Style Guide, for 17th Edition
    LibGuides at Western Oregon University