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Substantive works of non-fiction should have notes. Period. I don't care if the substantive work is humorous, and aimed at a market that is expected not to give a shit about them (e.g. the Conari Press Vicki Leon Uppity Women books). Yes, I know, it's a copy-editing nightmare, not to mention time-consuming for the author and taking up nearly a third of the space in the book. Do it anyway, and do it right. It's the right thing to do.
The notes can be at the end of each chapter. I personally prefer notes at the end of the book. Please don't put notes at the bottom of the page. If you do, please don't make them long. If you do, please don't carry them over to the next page.
Notes at the end of the book are typically subdivided by chapter, renumbering for each chapter. I don't have a problem with that. Please include at the top of each page of notes which page in the book the notes corresponds to. If you can't be bothered to do that, then either put the chapter number at the top of the page throughout the book, or at least put the chapter title in the notes along with the chapter number. I really, really, really hate it when notes are separated by a numbered chapter, and I can't match it up without referring to the beginning of the chapter I'm in to remember the number. I then have to maintain a second bookmark in the notes to avoid the pain of lookup. I read over a dozen books with notes in the course of a month. Many of these books I bought. I'm your best customer. Be nice to me.
The note may reference a source, which should either be a complete enough reference to find the book in the library, or in the bibliography if supplied. It may even discuss interesting stories about the source, or about amusing things that happened to the author that are tangential to the point being made in the book, but not in any way part of the argument. Don't develop your argument in the notes. That's disorienting even to the reader who follows the notes, never mind the poor sap who doesn't bother with the notes. Discussing potential objections is borderline, but might be okay at least part of the time.
Wherever you place the note, resist the temptation to mock the reader. That is so rude. Don't do it. If you wish, you may mock your sources, if you need to work out some aggression, the notes are probably the most appropriate place to do it.
Parenthetical definitions of difficult terms, or definitions integrated into the development of the argument are preferable to definitions in notes. A glossary is not something I expect, or even remember to use, but might be nice for books aimed at certain groups of readers.
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Copyright Rebecca Allen, 2002.
Created: March 24, 2002 Modified: March 13, 2009