How to use an asterisk for footnotes
Put the asterisk right after the word, figure or sentence the note is about, with no space. Then start the note itself, at the bottom of the page or the end of the section, with the same asterisk.
Placement
- After punctuation: in American style, the mark goes after commas, periods and quotation marks: The results were final.* The main exception is a dash, where the mark goes before it.
- Right next to the word: no space between the word and the asterisk.
- In the note: start with the asterisk, then a space if you like, then the text: * Prices exclude tax.
When to use an asterisk instead of numbers
Asterisks work best when there are only one or two notes on a page, as on a menu, a poster, a slide or a price list. Once you need three or more, switch to the traditional symbol order (* † ‡ §) or to numbers. Readers find numbered notes faster when there are many.
Scientific tables often keep asterisks for a specific job: marking statistical significance, where * means p < 0.05, ** means p < 0.01 and *** means p < 0.001. If you use that convention, explain it in a note under the table.
A second note on the same page
Use a dagger (†) for the second note, or double the asterisk (**). Don't mix the two systems in one document. For a single-character double asterisk that keeps columns aligned, there's , the two asterisks aligned vertically character.
Superscript or not?
Either is fine. Superscript (raised, smaller) looks more polished in print. In plain text, like email or a text message, a normal asterisk is clearer than trying to fake superscript.