Footnote or citation?

Question

What's the difference and when should you use it? Would be be alright if you used both?

Answer 1

I like footnotes cause I think that citations make the text harder to read.

When I was studying my faculty had a style guide and it said that we could use either - some faculties only allowed one or the other.

I think unless otherwise stated it is alright to use either, is up to you - sometimes it is easier to use citations because you can add them as you go without there being any mistakes - with foot notes it is harder.

it is not alright to use both at the same time - you need to make a decision between the two

Answer 2

Most papers now include citations in the running body of the text, according to the APA, MLA, or Chicago style--e. g.,

According the a recent survey, 40% of Americans believe that New Yorkers are ruder than persons from the Midwest (Hobbs 545).

At the end of the paper you list Hobbs's book. Everyone is satisfied. Footnotes are cumbersome, harder to set up on the computer and old fashioned. Using both looks silly.