How to create appendices for essays

Clifford's Tower, York
© History Skills

Many primary sources are not in written form and trying to describe them in an essay is difficult. This can often occur when you are referring to a particular building or artefact. In these cases, providing an image of the source is helpful for the reader.

 

Any images to which you refer in your writing need to appear in appendices. Appendices are put after the pages of your written essay but before your bibliography.

 

Appendices are a useful way of presenting:

  • artefacts

  • historical buildings

  • direct quotes that were too long for the essay (typically multiple paragraphs in length)

  • translations of ancient texts, accompanied by the ancient language version of the text

  • an extended academic discussion about a side point that your essay touched upon

 There are rules for how to set out appendices:

  1. Use a separate appendix for each source

  2. Each appendix appears on a new page

  3. Provide a clear image of the source

  4. Write a brief description of a visual source

  5. Provide a complete bibliographical reference for the source

  6. Make sure the same bibliographical reference appears in your bibliography

 An example appendix:


APPENDIX I

A Roman lamp made of orange clay, displaying a figure of Cybele. Date unknown.

 

Source: University of Queensland R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum. Item No. 83.041