Where do you place an asterisk?

The most common reason to place an asterisk in a document is to indicate a footnote: a further explanation of a particular piece of the document that would not be in general fitting with the rest of the document (explanations or definitions of obscure terms are common footnotes).

• In the document itself, the asterisk is placed immediately after the item to which the footnote will later expand.
• Then, at the bottom of the pertinent page, and starting with an asterisk, add the footnote explanation.

Asterisks are not the only symbols which indicate footnotes. When two or three footnotes appear in a single page, it is not uncommon to see the dagger (†) and double dagger (‡) along with the asterisk, especially in older documents.

An alternative style of notation is to number references: using a superscripted or bracketed number in place of the asterisk, dagger, etc.