AQA 7042 · C3.20 - Footnotes, bibliography and an auditable evidence trail
Learn to connect borrowed words, facts and ideas to precise footnotes and a bibliography of sources genuinely consulted. Wholly fictional records let you practise checking an evidence trail while keeping responsibility for your live Historical Investigation with you.
One chain, two jobs
An auditable evidence trail lets a reader move from a statement in the writing to the exact evidence behind it, then identify the complete source. It is a chain:
Use in the text → numbered footnote → precise location in the source → full bibliography entry
The two visible elements have different jobs.
| Element | The question it answers | What makes it auditable |
|---|---|---|
| Footnote | “What supports this quotation, detail, view or judgement here?” | It identifies the source and the exact page, folio, item, section or other locator actually used. |
| Bibliography | “Which complete sources did the researcher genuinely consult?” | It supplies enough publication or repository detail to identify each source and sets the list out consistently. |
A bibliography alone is not a trail. It may show that a book was consulted, but not which page supports a particular sentence. Footnotes alone are also incomplete if shortened notes cannot be matched to full source details. This is why AQA connects footnotes with validating the bibliography, and why moderator guidance values both accurate footnoting and a clearly presented list.
The trail begins before formatting. A source should move honestly from found to opened and consulted, then to recorded and finally used. A search result, catalogue description or AI suggestion may be a useful lead, but it is not proof that the underlying source was consulted.
Acknowledge at the point of use
A footnote is needed when the writing depends on someone else's contribution. In this lesson's scope, that includes:
- exact words placed in quotation marks;
- an argument, interpretation, view or judgement, even when it has been paraphrased;
- a specific factual detail learned from a source, such as a number, date, claim about motive or reported event; and
- a comment or inference that the writing attributes to another researcher or historical source.
The note number belongs where the source use becomes clear. If one sentence contains two claims from different sources, placing one unexplained note at the end may hide which source supports which claim. Split the sentence, use separate notes or make the relationship explicit.
Acknowledgement does not make every use acceptable. Quotation marks and a note identify exact words; a genuine paraphrase expresses the idea in the learner's own language and still carries a note. Adding a citation to extensive copied or externally generated prose does not make that prose independent work.
Fictional practice record — not historical evidence: Mina Vale's invented book Roads to Reform calls the fictional Greybridge petition campaign “a turn towards public pressure” on page 89. An invented council register records 47 petitions in 1912 at folio 3r. A clear arrangement places one note immediately after Vale’s quoted judgement, locating page 89, and a separate note after the petition total, locating folio 3r. One vague note after both claims could hide which source supports which statement.
Build a traceable footnote
The AQA guidance in this scope explains why footnotes matter but does not impose one detailed punctuation system. Follow the citation style required by your centre and use it consistently. Whatever the style, an effective note normally preserves five kinds of information where they apply:
- Who: author, creator or responsible organisation.
- What: full title on first use, or the document/record description.
- Where published or held: publisher, journal or repository and collection.
- When: publication or creation date.
- Where exactly: page, page range, folio, item, archive reference, timestamp or stable section.
Here is one illustrative notes-and-bibliography pattern using a source that does not exist:
Fictional book card: Mina Vale, Roads to Reform, Northbridge Academic, 2021. The learner has personally consulted pages 88–90, and the relevant claim appears on page 89.
- First full note: Mina Vale, Roads to Reform (Northbridge Academic, 2021), p. 89.
- Later shortened note: Vale, Roads to Reform, p. 90.
- Bibliography entry: Vale, Mina, Roads to Reform (Northbridge Academic, 2021).
In a formatted document the book title would normally be italicised; the exact punctuation follows the centre's style. The important historical habit is that the first note identifies the source, a later note remains unambiguous, and each note gives the location actually used.
Archive material needs its real repository reference. For example, the wholly fictional record “Elian North to Mara Bell, 14 March 1912, North Papers, Bellford Civic Archive, NP/4/17, fol. 3r” preserves creator/recipient, date, collection, repository, catalogue reference and internal locator. A real archive's own catalogue convention would control the final form.
Never guess a page, folio, date, edition, DOI, URL or archive reference. If a locator cannot be verified, return to the source or record the uncertainty honestly; a plausible-looking invention makes the trail less reliable, not more scholarly.
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