FOOTNOTES are one of the more difficult parts of writing to get right. Here is some advice on them from an unlikely spot that also has other good advice on writing, Richard A. Posner's review of William Miller's Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland , Michigan Law Revew 90: 1495-1511 (May 1992) (at p. 1500):
It is easy when writing a scholarly piece to keep adding notes as new thoughts occur to one or as new sources come to one's attention. But at the end one should go back and interrogate every note carefully, asking: Is this a qualification or continuation or amplification of the text, and if so can it be worked into the text so that the flow of discussion is not broken? Is it a minor point that can be dropped without impairing the integrity of the work? Can it be consolidated with another note?[ http://php.indiana.edu/~erasmuse/w/03.07.01a.htm ]
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