Footnote presence signals scholarly credibility to readers.

Evidence

Footnotes are traditionally the mark of a scholar. They establish the foundation on which the writer has built new ideas and qualified or replaced old ones. A dearth of footnotes may suggest that a writer is unfamiliar with the literature on the subject, is afraid that readers will be repelled by too many footnotes, or is withholding due credit, perhaps to make the work seem more original. A spate of footnotes may suggest the folly of pedantry, the inability to leave items on the cutting-room floor—or perhaps something as simple as a desultory organization. — Bryan A. Garner, Jeff Newman, Tiger Jackson, The Redbook, 247

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to broader rhetoric of academic signaling — how citation practices function as credibility markers, similar to points in works on scholarly communication. — connects to: Incorrect legal citations can trigger sanctions and undermine credibility — Bryan A. Garner, Jeff Newman, Tiger Jackson, The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style,…, 226; Citing sources rhetorically when they lack dispositive effect constitutes an appeal to authority — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1045; Easily pirated reputational symbols lose credibility through overuse (+2 more)

Related

• Easily pirated reputational symbols lose credibility through overuse (similarity 0.84)
• Incorrect legal citations can trigger sanctions and undermine credibility (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Incorrect legal citations can trigger sanctions and undermine credibility #corroborates (0.70) — Bryan A. Garner, Jeff Newman, Tiger Jackson, The Redbook, 226
• Citing sources rhetorically when they lack dispositive effect constitutes an appeal to authority #expands (0.60) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1045