Q. In a dissertation that includes a lengthy biographical chapter sourced almost entirely by personal interviews, complex ecclesiastical archives (including diocesan newsletters, Vatican documents), and various personal letters, I, as editor, have used in-text referencing throughout except for that one chapter, for which I have used footnotes. Within that chapter, published books are also documented in-text. Is that combination of two methods of referencing acceptable? Or should I simply have used footnotes throughout because the interviews and archival information couldn’t be documented in-text?
A. Usually, a college or university’s dissertation office decides what is acceptable. If they don’t mind your system, we don’t!