An appendix holds supporting material that a reader may want but that would interrupt the text: documents, data, tables, chronologies, source texts, technical detail. It is the first element of the back matter proper, coming before the glossary, the notes and the bibliography, and it continues the text's arabic page numbering.
The plural is appendixes in Chicago style and appendices in general British usage. Both are correct; be consistent.
Where It Goes
The Chicago Manual of Style's back matter sequence puts it second, immediately after any acknowledgments that were not placed at the front:
- Acknowledgments, if not in the front matter
- Appendixes
- Chronology or genealogy
- Glossary
- Endnotes
- Bibliography or reference list
- List of contributors
- Illustration credits
- Index
Two university presses publish the same order. Columbia University Press lists appendixes immediately after acknowledgments, and Yale University Press opens its back matter list with "Appendix(es)". The full sequence is in ordering front matter and back matter.
The MLA Style Center gives the same relative rule for scholarly work: "An appendix should be placed before the works-cited list. If your paper includes a notes section, the order of the items should be appendix, notes, works-cited list."
One exception worth knowing for edited collections. Yale specifies that "For edited volumes, the notes should appear at the end of each chapter, after any appendix or glossary and before any bibliography or reference list." So in a multi-author book the appendix can sit inside a chapter's own apparatus rather than at the end of the volume.
Labelling: Looser Than You Think
Almost every guide tells you appendixes are lettered, Appendix A, Appendix B, and that a single appendix takes no letter. Neither rule is as fixed as it is presented.
The MLA Style Center is the only authority I could reach that addresses labelling directly, and it does not mandate a scheme:
"Appendixes are generally labeled numerically or alphabetically, like tables and figures; sometimes, they are titled."
So letters, numbers and plain titles are all acceptable. Chicago's own section on appendixes sits behind its paywall, so if Chicago prefers one scheme I cannot confirm it. Two caveats on the MLA source: its posts carry a notice that they relate to the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook, and MLA governs scholarly papers rather than trade book design.
On a single appendix taking no label, the convention is visible but never written down. MLA's own examples refer to a lone appendix bare, as "(appendix)", and head an example simply "Appendix". Columbia University Press does the same in its own guide, where its one appendix is headed "Appendix. Sample Permissions Request". Three independent published examples show the practice; none of them states it as a rule.
The honest position: if you have one appendix, call it "Appendix" or give it a title. If you have several, label them A, B, C or 1, 2, 3 and add a title to each. Either scheme is defensible.
One rule that is explicit, from the University of Chicago Press's own guide for authors, and it applies to chapter-level appendixes rather than book-level ones: "Make sure chapter appendixes are double numbered (e.g., 'Appendix 1.1,' 'Appendix 5.1') and appear in the table of contents."
Page Numbering
Continuous with the text. Chicago's numbering rule is titled "Arabic numerals for text and back matter", so the appendix carries on from the last page of the final chapter without a restart or a change of numeral style. Only the front matter uses roman numerals.
Appendixes belong in the table of contents. If they are labelled, the labels appear there too.
What Belongs in One, and What Does Not
Belongs: primary documents quoted in the text, full data tables where the text gives only a summary, chronologies and family trees, technical derivations, questionnaires and methodology, maps in a historical or fantasy novel.
Does not belong: anything a reader needs in order to follow the argument or the plot. If they have to turn to the back to understand a chapter, the material belongs in the chapter. An appendix is for the reader who wants more, not for the reader who is lost.
For fiction, appendixes are rare and almost entirely confined to secondary-world fantasy, where maps, genealogies, language notes and chronologies have a long tradition. The test is the same: the novel must work without them.
What Deckle Does
Deckle has no appendix document type. Its dedicated back matter types are About the Author, Acknowledgments, Also by the Author, Coming Next, Book Club Questions and Glossary.
An appendix is built as an ordinary document placed after your final chapter, titled "Appendix" or "Appendix A" as appropriate. Export order follows Binder order, so position it above your glossary and any endnotes to match the convention.
Two Deckle behaviours to be aware of:
- Turn off chapter numbering for the document, so the heading does not continue the chapter sequence.
- Endnotes are generated, not authored. If you use Deckle's footnote feature with the note style set to endnotes, the endnotes page is produced at export rather than being a document you create and position. That means it lands automatically, and your appendix should sit before it in the Binder to match Chicago's order.
If your appendix is a table or a chronology, note that a narrow trim size leaves little room for wide tables once margins are set.
Common Mistakes
- Putting essential material in it. If the reader needs it to follow the text, it goes in the text.
- Placing it after the notes or bibliography. It comes first among the back matter.
- Assuming lettering is required. MLA allows letters, numbers or titles.
- Labelling a lone appendix "Appendix A". Published examples use a bare "Appendix", though no authority states it as a rule.
- Leaving it out of the contents page. Appendixes are listed.
- Restarting the page numbering. Back matter continues the text's arabic sequence.
FAQ
Q: Appendixes or appendices? A: Chicago uses appendixes; British usage generally prefers appendices. Either is correct if used consistently.
Q: Appendix A or Appendix 1? A: MLA permits both, plus simply titling them. No reachable authority mandates one.
Q: Where does it go relative to the glossary? A: Before it. The order is appendix, chronology, glossary, notes, bibliography, index.
Q: Do appendixes appear in the table of contents? A: Yes, with their labels if they have them.
Q: Can a novel have an appendix? A: Yes, and secondary-world fantasy often does. The novel should still work without it.