1 of 1- sirius
- Touch Typist
Offline - From: Germany
- Registered: 12-6-2016
- Posts: 104
Footnotes
Hi all!
So I write academic documents on my typewriter. For that, I need footnotes. Typing the raised number is pretty easy (I recommend using 1 1/2 spacing if you need footnotes), but the actual footnote text gives me some headache. Until now, I have been writing it out by hand on a separate sheet of paper, and then, when I've finished my current page, type it onto yet another sheet of paper. This duplicates work, but the alternative would be to roll up the page an arbitrary distance and hope that I never need to type a footnote text that is too long for the arbitary space chosen at the bottom of the page. Besides, I am bad at guessing and have had the paper ejected from the platen every now and when using this technique.
Does somebody have suggestions for a better approach?
Maybe a luxury problem as I finally scan the end-result anyway and process it with an OCR tool, because nowadays nobody accepts typoscripts anymore. But still...
- Phil_F_NM
- Speed Champion
Offline
- From: Mid-Atlantic region
- Registered: 16-4-2020
- Posts: 267
Re: Footnotes
Before you begin, make a light pencil mark on your page near the left side which corresponds to maybe 3cm from the bottom of the page, so you know how much room you have left?
I had intended on writing my master's thesis with a typewriter but my only working machine at the time, my SC Super, had some really badly aligned type slugs and I just couldn't make it work. Perhaps I'll rewrite it on my "new" (to me) SM9, even though it's now complete. It would be good typing practice and another great way to be my harshest critic.
Phil Forrest
- Laurenz van Gaalen
- Speed Champion
Offline
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 20-7-2019
- Posts: 389
Re: Footnotes
Hi sirius, what an interesting question.
If ease of use is important, consider to switch to endnotes. In that case yu can use a seperate typewriter for the endnotes.
If footnotes are required, and you don't mind some copy and paste, you can still take advantage of a seperate typewriter. Just write the footnote and cut it from the paper. Continue with the writing process and stop in time. Because you already created the footnote, you know how much space it takes up.
Triumph Tippa comes to mind as ideal footnote machine. It has a sharp paperbail, especially designed to tear off paper.
Lau
- Laurenz van Gaalen
- Speed Champion
Offline
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 20-7-2019
- Posts: 389
Re: Footnotes
Laurenz van Gaalen wrote:
... Because you already created the footnote, you know how much space it takes up.
I forgot the last step: paste the footnote at the bottom of the page 
- sirius
- Touch Typist
Offline
- From: Germany
- Registered: 12-6-2016
- Posts: 104
Re: Footnotes
Before you begin, make a light pencil mark on your page near the left side which corresponds to maybe 3cm from the bottom of the page, so you know how much room you have left?
I have tried this and it does work. Occasionally I find the space is too small, but it seems I make about the same number of footnotes on every page so I've now settled on an amount of space at the bottom that fits for me. The bottom marker idea was very helpful, thank you!
So what I now do is the following: I draw the footnote divider line at about 8 cm from the bottom (I have a lot of footnotes -- I work in Law, where this is custom; also it includes space if one or two footnotes get longer, usually it leaves me with about 1.5cm more space than needed) and then a small extra line at 1.5 cm from the bottom. When that line appears I know I am at the final line. If the footnote gets longer, I continue it on the next page as one can see occasionally in books.
If ease of use is important, consider to switch to endnotes.
I was effectively using endnotes before, but this does not work for me. The problem with my quite large amount of footnotes is that when I have finished the main text, I have forgotten what exactly should have gone at that specific footnote. So I needed to make a note (by hand, see above) for each footnote and then copy-typed the endnotes all in one go from my handwritten document. Since I type much faster than I write by hand, this slowed down my thinking process.
In that case yu can use a seperate typewriter for the endnotes.
I have not yet thought of using a separate typewriter. It is an interesting idea, but I would rather like not to do that. The space on my desk is limited and a typewriter already occupies quite a bit of that. Then I have the already typed pages next to it, my notes on the other side, another empty sheet for quick spontaneous thoughts that do not yet belong into the text and mondane things like a glass of water and a lamp. Copies of cited articles and some physical law books complete the picture. This way, my desk is pretty much filled and I do not think I have space for another typewriter on it.
If footnotes are required, and you don't mind some copy and paste
This is the most literal application of "copy and paste" I have ever seen. Except, it is rather "cut and paste" -- but still, I think I know now where the phrase originated.
Just write the footnote and cut it from the paper. Continue with the writing process and stop in time. Because you already created the footnote, you know how much space it takes up.
This is good advice, but as outlined above I would like to stay with one typewriter. But maybe others will profit from this idea.
sirius
- •
Thread Starter
