When Should an Asterisk Be Used?

Summary. To summarize, the asterisk is a little star symbol which can be used to indicate a footnote or be used to edit swear words in informal text. A footnote should begin on the bottom of the same page on which the asterisk or other footnote symbol appears.

Should an asterisk go before or after a word?

An asterisk (*) is a typographical symbol that resembles the shape of a star. ... For editing and footnote purposes, the asterisk will appear before a word that needs correcting or a sentence that needs elaborating, and the additional information will be placed beside a corresponding asterisk at the bottom of the page.

When would you use an asterisk?

Its most common use is to call out a footnote. It is also often used to censor offensive words, and on the Internet, to indicate a correction to a previous message. In computer science, the asterisk is commonly used as a wildcard character, or to denote pointers, repetition, or multiplication.