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As a general rule, there should be between 8 ? 12 references for every 1,000 words.

Use footnotes when you need to add a few details about something mentioned earlier in your paper but do not want to interrupt the flow of your writing with an interruption like a bracketed citation. Use them sparingly. You can have too many footnotes, especially if they're distracting or not useful to your readers.

For 3000 words, you should have either six books, twelve journal articles, or some combination thereof. Every quote or idea or claim should be substantiated unless it is your novel contribution or perspective. I don't usually advise on a number of citations, just that they all be properly cited.

It really depends on the relevancy of the footnote you're adding to the essay. A lot of people do add 7?8 footnotes, which might be good if they are extremely relevant. However, even so, 2?3 footnotes, which is the average, are more than enough per page.

A typical journal article is 7?8K words; a review or survey article a bit longer at 10?12K words. Within that word limit, you'd normally aim for no more than 25?30 references for the paper (less than 2 A4 pages worth) and maybe up to 45?50 for the review article (a note or letter may have as few as 5?10).

If you have a lot of footnotes, it will make your article look cluttered and unprofessional. Footnotes can make your article less readable if they are too long or too many. Footnotes are often used as an excuse for lazy research and poor writing skills.

A first year research essay that is 8-10 double-spaced pages in length or roughly 1500-2000 words will likely have 25-50 footnotes or endnotes.