When do you stop to fill in your footnotes?

[11Q13]

I'm pretty far along in my academic career, but I feel like, at some point along  the way, I've either forgotten or never properly learned how to use footnotes. By that I mean, when writing, do you write an entire paragraph out, and then go back and insert footnotes into the sentences that require them, do you stop after each sentence and put some kind of basic footnote before moving on to the next sentence, or do you stop at the end of a sentence before completing say, a paragraph or section of a paper, and fill out everything you'll need in that footnote? I'm in a field where footnotes can balloon into huge digressions and often demand a ton of different sources, but doing that I find really derails me when I'm trying to write. but I also find it immensely intimidating knowing that if I don't fill out the footnote then and there I'll have to go back at some later stage to flesh it out, might not remember what I wanted to put in the note, and so on. I'm having a really hard time writing lately, it's mostly in my head, but this is on of the things that I think is getting me hung up.

[fuzzylogician]

I think there are substantial enough differences between our fields that I'm not sure if this is helpful, but I always have at least a handout with all my data typeset before I start writing. I create a skeleton and place my data along with keywords for what text needs to go there. Then when I flesh out the text, it's easier to remember what I'm working on at any particular time. If something comes to mind that needs to be added in a footnote, I do whatever works for my flow at that moment. That's usually one of two things: either I make a quick note about what should be there (in latex, just a commented out line with some text that I will later use to structure my fn), then quickly go back to my previous train of thought on my sentence/paragraph; I go back to the fn when the flow breaks, which could be a sentence, a paragraph, or a page of text. Or if I'm working in a place where my outline is clear and stopping won't cause a major interruption, I just write the footnote as it comes up. Either way, I always leave myself some indication that I thought a footnote was needed, so I don't later forget. Some footnotes get added when the text is done, while reading and editing, and those I always add as soon as they come to mind. That said, I don't think footnotes in my field get as substantial in yours. In most cases it's "for an alternative analysis see Doe (1999)," "although a remaining issue is blah," "more data supporting this analysis comes from [other language]: [data]," or after reviews "a reviewer suggests [clearly wrong thing]; however [that couldn't possibly work, and here's why]."

[dr. t]

Half of my word count usually comes from my footnotes. I fill in my footnotes (or at least throw in a reference to what I want there using zotero) as I go along. It's a bit derailing, I agree, but I don't know a better solution.

A lot of the time, digressions in my main text become footnote digressions as I edit.

Edited November 10, 2015 by telkanuru

[Deadwing0608]

I do not fill out footnotes completely as I go. I could not write that way. At the same time I could not fill them out from scratch at the end. For basic footnotes without digressions I put in a shortened title of the book/article/report + page number. When I'm using a bunch of different archival collections (I'm in history) I assign them all a letter or a number or something and use that + short title + box # + folder # when I'm writing. I fill those ones in and format them properly at the end. As far as digressions go, if I think I will use a footnote that way I just type in whatever pops into my head in a very informal format to get the idea down. Sometimes it's just me talking to myself, you know, remember to say that x scholars matters or reasons y + z but those are less important for your work than b thing talked about in the body. I usually highlight those so I don't forget and leave a conversation with myself in the footnote....

[Chiqui74]

I always insert notes as I go.  I'd hate to have to go back and do it and/or make mistakes.