how to write the page number in an essay

• How to Cite
• Language & Lit
• Rhyme & Rhythm
• The Rewrite
• Search Glass

How to Cite a Page Number in an Essay

Depending on the teacher and the level of research required to complete an essay, you may be required to cite your references within the article. To aid your citation later, write down the title of the book and the page number of any information you glean while taking notes. High school or college-level essays may draw on one of two different formatting styles. The Modern Language Association (MLA) formatting requires the writer to cite page numbers for all referenced material; however, the American Psychological Association (APA) only requires a page number within the citation when the material is a direct quote.

MLA Format for Page Number Citation

Locate the information you need to cite within the body of the essay. If all of the information in a paragraph came from the same page of the same source or contiguous pages of the same source, you only need to cite the last sentence in that paragraph. However, if you combined several sources or the information came from different or noncontiguous pages of the same source, you will need to provide a citation for each sentence or group of sentences.

Locate the last name of the author and page number(s) for the information.

Place the citation within parenthesis before the period of the last sentence of the information you wish to cite. If you are citing a direct quotation enclosed in quotation marks, place the citation outside the final quotation marks.

Format the citation as (last name, page number).

For example, information on page 36 from a book written by William Smith would be written as (Smith, 36).

APA Format of Direct Quote Citations

Locate the information you need to cite within the body of the essay.

Locate the author, date of publication and page number(s) for the information.

Enclose direct quotations within quotation marks.

Place the citation outside the final quotation mark. Enclose the citation within parenthesis and include the last name of the author, publication date of the source and page number according to the template (last name, date, p. page number).

For example, a quote taken from page 214 of a book written by Jane Phillips published in 2003 would be written as (Phillips, 2003, p. 214). APA style uses the "p." symbol before the page number, whereas MLA does not.

Place a period after the enclosed citation.

• For either MLA or APA format, if you state relevant citation information within the sentence you are referencing or before the quotation, you do not need to repeat the information within the citation.
• Purdue Online Writing Lab: MLA Formatting and Style Guide
• The College of New Jersey: Differences Between MLA and APA Styles of Documentation

Transplanted Yankee Erin Watson-Price lives in Birmingham, Ala., and has been writing freelance articles since 1997. She worked as writer/co-editor for Coast to Coast Dachshund Rescue's newsletter, "The Long and the Short of It." In 2007 she obtained a certification as a copy editor. Watson-Price holds a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Education and Communications
• College University and Postgraduate
• Academic Writing

How to Cite Page Numbers in APA

Last Updated: January 1, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Cara Barker, MA . Cara Barker is an Assistant Professor and Research and Instruction Librarian at Hunter Library at Western Carolina University. She received her Masters in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Washington in 2014. She has over 16 years of experience working with libraries across the United States. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 303,281 times.

Page numbers are a small but important part of many APA citations. Fortunately, page numbers are usually only needed at the end of a sentence when citing a specific source. When writing a reference list, you only need page numbers for book chapters and articles. If you’re uncertain whether you need page numbers or not, you can follow a few basic guidelines. When in doubt, however, include a page number if you have one.

Template and Examples

Using In-Text Citations

• For example, if you found a quote on page 10 of a book, cite page 10.
• If the information was spread over several pages, include all of them. So you might cite pages 10-16.
• Sometimes, page numbers might have letters like "B1" or use Roman numerals like "iv" or "xi." In these cases, always use the type of numbering used by the source.

• If you name the author in the sentence, write the year that the source was published in parentheses next to the author’s name. For example, you might write, “Smith (2010) showed that poor hygiene was correlated with low self-esteem.”

• If you named the author in the sentence, just put the page number at the end of the sentence. For example, “Smith (2010) showed that poor hygiene was correlated with low self-esteem (p. 40).”
• If you did not name the author within the text of the sentence, include the author’s last name and the year of publication before the page number in the parentheses. For example, “One study showed that poor hygiene was correlated with low self-esteem (Smith, 2010, p. 40).”

• A single page number citation might look like (Smith, 2010, p. 40) or (p. 40).
• A citation for multiple, sequential pages might look like (Smith, 2010, pp. 40-45) or (pp. 40-45).

Writing a Reference List

• Newspaper articles may have page numbers that include letters (such as 1A or B3) while prefaces may use roman numerals (like i, ii, iii, etc.). Always use the numbering system used by the source.
• If the article skips pages, write down where the pages begin and end in both sections. Put a comma between these page numbers. For example, 15-20, 25-30.
• Make sure to include reference lists, appendixes, and other supplementary material in your page range. So if the text of the article ends on page 173 but the appendix ends on page 180, then the page range ends on page 180.

• Book chapter: Last name, First Initial. Second Initial (if applicable). (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pages of chapter). Location: Publisher.
• Article: Author, A. & Author, B. (Year). Title of article. Title of periodical, volume number (issue number), pages of article.

• Williams, B. and Johnson, A. (1990). Traffic Patterns and Urban Spread. in C. Carr (Ed.), Traffic Engineering Trends (pp. 41-63). New York: ZMN Publishing.

• Roberts, R. (2013). Managing Traffic in the Southwest. Traffic Engineering, 23 (2), 5-23.

• Diaz, C. (2016, June 26). “Traffic in the City,” The Times Morning Gazette , pp. B1, B3-B4.

Knowing When to Use Page Numbers

• For example, you might write, “According to Jones (2006), 5% of people were on social media 5 or more hours a day (p. 207).”

• Jones (2006) stated that “the top 5% of users were on social media for 5 or more hours every day” (p. 207).

• “Jones (2006) indicated that addictive behaviors could be seen in a small population of excessive users (p. 207).”

• You can cite a paragraph the same way as a page number, except you write “para.” instead of “p.” So if you were quoting paragraph 3, it would look like (para. 3) or even (James, 2007, para. 3).
• To find the paragraph number, count from the top paragraph down to the paragraph you are citing. So a quote from the third paragraph would be cited as paragraph 3.

Community Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/quotations/page-numbers
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/in_text_citations_the_basics.html
• ↑ https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/books
• ↑ https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/apa-referencing/7Books
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/07/
• ↑ https://guides.libraries.psu.edu/apaquickguide/intext

About This Article

To cite page numbers in APA using in-text citations, start by identifying the page number or numbers of your source. Then, write the page number or numbers in parentheses at the end of the corresponding sentence in your paper. Put "p." before the page number if you're citing information from a single page, and use "pp." for multiple consecutive pages. Be sure to separate a range of page numbers with a hyphen! If you didn't name the author within the text of the sentence, you'll also need to include the author’s last name and the publication year before the page numbers in the parentheses. For example, “One study showed that poor hygiene was correlated with low self-esteem (Smith, 2010, p. 40).” A single page number citation might look like (Smith, 2010, p. 40) or (p. 40). A citation for multiple sequential pages might look like (Smith, 2010, pp. 40-45) or (pp. 40-45). To learn how to cite information from 2 or more non-consecutive pages, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

• Send fan mail to authors

Did this article help you?

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

wikiHow Tech Help Pro:

Develop the tech skills you need for work and life

Want to Get your Dissertation Accepted?

Discover how we've helped doctoral students complete their dissertations and advance their academic careers!

Join 200+ Graduated Students

Get Your Dissertation Accepted On Your Next Submission

Get customized coaching for:.

• Crafting your proposal,
• Collecting and analyzing your data, or
• Preparing your defense.

Trapped in dissertation revisions?

How to insert page numbers: apa 7th edition guidelines, published by steve tippins on january 17, 2022 january 17, 2022.

Last Updated on: 2nd February 2024, 02:56 am

There are straightforward guidelines for inserting page numbers according to APA 7th edition guidelines. To start with, here are the basics:

• The numbers should be put in a header at the top right of the page.
• They should be the same font and size as the rest of your paper.
• Number the first page, with a 1. Thereafter, each of the subsequent pages will be numbered automatically.
• Do not write “page” or “p.” or “pp.”

Here are step-by-step instructions for inserting APA page numbers, with screenshots to guide your way.

Inserting Numeral Page Numbers

Step 1: Open the “Header & Footer” tab in the header, click on Insert and select “Page Number.”

Step 2: If you want to have a different first page and do not want number 1 to appear on this page, then click on “Different First Page.”

Step 3: From the drop-down list, choose “Top of Page.” Next, choose “Plain Number 3.”

Step 4: Click on “Close Header and Footer” in the ribbon.

Over 50% of doctoral candidates don’t finish their dissertations.

Inserting Roman Numeral Page Numbers

If you need to paginate front matter material, such as an abstract, acknowledgments, or table of contents, the process is a little different.

Step 1: Insert a section break between the front material and Chapter 1.

Step 2: In the “Layout” tab, click on the drop-down arrow beside “Breaks.”

Step 3: Click on “Next Page” in “Section Breaks.”

Step 4: Repeats steps 1 or 2 above. In the drop-down list, open “Format Page Numbers.”

Step 5: Select “Roman” in the “Page Number Format” part of the drop-down list.

Step 6: On the first page of Chapter 1, repeat the above process. This is when you begin to start numbering the pages of your Chapter 1 using numerals 1, 2, 3, etc. To paginate Chapter 1 as page 1, choose “Start at,” and then put in the number 1.

Note : For more information, refer to Section 2.18 of the APA Publication Manual , Seventh Edition.

For help with APA style and much more, check out our Dissertation Editing Services or book a free consultation .

Steve Tippins

Steve Tippins, PhD, has thrived in academia for over thirty years. He continues to love teaching in addition to coaching recent PhD graduates as well as students writing their dissertations. Learn more about his dissertation coaching and career coaching services. Book a Free Consultation with Steve Tippins

Related Posts

How to Create a Table of Contents for a Dissertation (APA)

In your dissertation, you will need to have a table of contents. The table of contents should contain all the headings, subheadings, preliminary pages, and supplementary pages in the body of your paper. APA does Read more…

APA Numbers

APA uses the American style imperial standard system of measurement, although it does allow the use of the metric system of measurement if there is a need for it. If you need it, the APA Read more…

APA Paragraph Format

To format your text paragraphs in your papers, you will need to follow a few APA guidelines so that their appearance will be consistent. Consistency in size of paragraphs means that paragraphs are more than Read more…

Make This Your Last Round of Dissertation Revision.

Learn How to Get Your Dissertation Accepted .

Discover the 5-Step Process in this Free Webinar .

Almost there!

Please verify your email address by clicking the link in the email message we just sent to your address.

If you don't see the message within the next five minutes, be sure to check your spam folder :).

Home / Guides / Citation Guides / Harvard Referencing / Harvard Referencing Style Examples / Formatting page numbers in Harvard referencing style

Formatting page numbers in Harvard referencing style

Harvard-style referencing is one of the systems that a student, researcher, or writer may use to cite sources in their works.  

Depending on what you are citing, you may or may not need numbered pages in your citation or reference.

In-text citations

In-text citations only require a page number under two conditions:

• The source has page numbers.
• You are citing a direct quotation.

If these two requirements are not both fulfilled, then you do not need to include page numbers in your in-text citation.

If you do need to include page numbers, the page number will go at the end of the in-text citation following a comma. To create the in-text citation, you will need this information:

• Author surname
• Publication year
• Page number(s)

There are two different in-text citation formats you could use:

(Author surname, publication year, p. no.)

Author surname (publication year, p. no.)

Examples:  

“Proper gender roles become boundaries in the national iconography” (Mostov, 2008, p. 42).

In Soft Borders , Julie Mostov argues that “proper gender roles become boundaries in the national iconography” (2008, p. 42).

If you are citing a range of pages instead of one page, use ‘pp.’ in the citation.

“Every quality teacher is both a subject matter expert and good at teaching. These are two different skills. A teacher who connects well with his students but doesn’t know the subject matter isn’t going to be an effective teacher” (Stolar, 2020, pp. 4-5).

Even if page numbers are included in an in-text citation, it doesn’t necessarily mean they need to be included in the reference. In order for page numbers to be required for a reference, the cited source must meet the first criteria and either the second or third criteria:

• The cited source is complete work that is part of a larger work.
• The larger work involves different authors.

Common sources that require page numbers include journals.  

Example scenarios:

• A quote from the book For Whom the Bell Tolls would require page numbers in the in-text citation, but since the book only has one author, the reference would not need page numbers.
• An edited book has several chapters written by various authors. You use information from a single chapter. That chapter would be cited and its reference would include page numbers.
• A single journal has several articles written by different authors. So, usually, when you cite a journal, you must include the page numbers of the particular article you’re using.
• A book is a collection of short stories by a single author, and you use a quote from just one of the stories. You would cite that story within the larger collection and the full reference would include page numbers.

If you do have to add page numbers to the reference, here are a few tips to follow:

• Use ‘p. nn ’ to cite a single page.
• Use ‘pp. nn – nn ’ to cite a range of pages.
• Print sources: place page numbers at the end of the citation for print sources.
• Online sources: place the page numbers before the URL or DOI.

Chapter in an edited book example:

Barondes, S. (2012) ‘ Each of us is ordinary, yet one of a kind’, in Brockman, J. (ed.) This will make you smarter . New York: Harper Perennial, p. 32.

Online journal article example:

Steinkuehler, C. (2010) ‘Video games and digital literacies’,  Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy , 54(1), pp. 61–63. Available at: www.jstor.org/stable/20749077 (Accessed 16 October 2020).

Other cases

Most electronic sources, such as websites, videos, and audio recordings, do not have page numbers. Therefore, you do not need to list a location (page number) within your in-text citations.  

Instead of page numbers, online sources usually have a URL or DOI number, which should be included in the reference to indicate the source location.

Published October 29, 2020.

Harvard Formatting Guide

Harvard Formatting

• et al Usage
• Direct Quotes
• In-text Citations
• Multiple Authors
• Page Numbers
• Writing an Outline
• View Harvard Guide

Reference Examples

• View all Harvard Examples

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Harvard Referencing Examples

Writing Tools

Citation Generators

Other Citation Styles

Plagiarism Checker

Upload a paper to check for plagiarism against billions of sources and get advanced writing suggestions for clarity and style.

Get Started

Library Services

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES

• Guides and databases
• Library skills

Page numbers and punctuation

• A-Z of Harvard references
• Citing authors with Harvard
• References with missing details
• Secondary referencing
• Example reference list
• Journal article
• Magazine article
• Newspaper article
• Online video
• Radio and internet radio
• Television advertisement
• Television programme
• Ancient text
• Bibliography
• Book (printed, one author or editor)
• Book (printed, multiple authors or editors)
• Book (printed, with no author)
• Chapter in a book (print)
• Collected works
• Dictionaries and Encyclopedia entries
• Multivolume work
• Religious text
• Thesis or dissertation
• Translated work
• Census data
• Financial report
• Mathematical equation
• Scientific dataset
• Book illustration, Figure or Diagram
• Inscription on a building
• Installation
• Painting or Drawing
• Interview (on the internet)
• Interview (newspaper)
• Interview (radio or television)
• Interview (as part of research)
• Act of the UK parliament (statute)
• Bill (House of Commons/Lords)
• Birth/Death/Marriage certificate
• British standards
• Command paper
• European Union publication
• Government/Official publication
• House of Commons/Lords paper
• Legislation from UK devolved assemblies
• Statutory instrument
• Military record
• Film/Television script
• Musical score
• Play (live performance)
• Play script
• Song lyrics
• Conference paper
• Conference proceedings
• Discussion paper
• Minutes of meeting
• Personal communication
• PowerPoint presentation
• Published report
• Student's own work
• Tutor materials for academic course
• Unpublished report
• Working paper
• Referencing glossary

Harvard referencing has a number of rules or conventions that you should follow under various circumstances. This page explains when you should use page numbers in your in-text citation, and what punctuation to include in your full reference. 

Page numbers

When do I need to include page numbers?

With any in-text citations, you must include a page number/s when you cite a source and are either:

• Directly quoting
• Paraphrasing

You must include the specific page (using p.) that the quote is located in the source.  For example:   

The findings that value conflicts are the 'very things that keep people awake at night or drive them away from the profession' (Skelton, 2011, p.266) should be hugely concerning for policy makers ...

Alternatively, you will identify a page range (using pp.) if the quote runs across two pages:

The research included questions that asked participants 'why they wanted to work in a university and what educational values underpinned their teaching' (Skelton, 2011, pp.259-260) in order to identify important internal motivations ...

What about in my References list?

In the References section of your work, you do not include the specific page number/s that you have quoted, because this list is identifying information about the source as a whole.

Your references list will only include page numbers for sources that are 'part of' a larger work, and indicates the first and last page numbers that your source occupies in the original source.  This is helpful for your reader to locate the item, should they wish to go back and read the original.  For example:

References Skelton, A. (2011). ‘Value conflicts in higher education teaching’,  Teaching in Higher Education , 17(3), pp.257-268. doi: 10.1080/13562517.2011.611875.

From the information in the reference we know that the following article begins on page 257 and ends on page 268 of the journal it appears in.  We also know that it was originally printed in issue 3, of volume 17, of the journal Teaching in Higher Education .  These details are important when trying to locate the article, whether online or in hard-copy.

Some source-types that this includes are:

• Journal article - appears in an issue of a journal.
• Newspaper article - appears in an issue of a newspaper.
• Chapter of an edited book - appears in a book that incudes further chapters written by other authors.

Punctuation

You will notice that within a single reference there are commas and full-stops, spaces, ellipses and italics in particular places.  Due to the differences between different sources, and the specific information needed for each type, there is no single rule that can be applied across all references for when to use which specific punctuation, so it is important to follow the guidance and examples for each type and replicate this in your references. 

However, there are some things to look out for that stay fairly consistent that we can illustrate in three examples:

References Great Britain. Department of Education Science. (1991).  History in the national curriculum (England) . London: HMSO. (DES circular no. 4/91). Guy, J. (2001).  The view across the river: Harriette Colenso and the Zulu struggle against imperialism . Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia. Skelton, A. (2011). ‘Value conflicts in higher education teaching’,  Teaching in Higher Education , 17(3), pp.257-268. doi: 10.1080/13562517.2011.611875.

Commas break up some parts of the reference.

Full-stops are used at the end of particular parts including author's names, year of publication. 

The title of a source is italicised. However, if a source (journal or newspaper article, chapter of an edited book) is part of a larger work , then the title of the larger work (journal, newspaper, or book) is italicised and the title of the part (article or chapter title) is within single quote marks.

Quick links

• Harvard references A-Z
• << Previous: Citing authors with Harvard
• Next: References with missing details >>
• Last Updated: Feb 28, 2024 12:08 PM
• URL: https://library-guides.ucl.ac.uk/harvard

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Welcome to the Purdue Online Writing Lab

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects. Teachers and trainers may use this material for in-class and out-of-class instruction.

The Purdue On-Campus Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement. The Purdue Writing Lab serves the Purdue, West Lafayette, campus and coordinates with local literacy initiatives. The Purdue OWL offers global support through online reference materials and services.

A Message From the Assistant Director of Content Development 

The Purdue OWL® is committed to supporting  students, instructors, and writers by offering a wide range of resources that are developed and revised with them in mind. To do this, the OWL team is always exploring possibilties for a better design, allowing accessibility and user experience to guide our process. As the OWL undergoes some changes, we welcome your feedback and suggestions by email at any time.

Please don't hesitate to contact us via our contact page  if you have any questions or comments.

All the best,

Social Media

Facebook twitter.

Advertisement

Tracking Abortion Bans Across the Country

By The New York Times Updated May 1, 4:40 P.M. ET

• Share full article

Twenty-one states ban abortion or restrict the procedure earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe v. Wade, which governed reproductive rights for nearly half a century until the Supreme Court overturned the decision in 2022.

In some states, the fight over abortion access is still taking place in courtrooms, where advocates have sued to block bans and restrictions. Other states have moved to expand access to abortion by adding legal protections.

Latest updates

• The Arizona state legislature voted to repeal an 1864 ban on nearly all abortions. Officials warned that the near-total ban may be briefly enforceable this summer until the repeal takes effect in the fall. A 15-week ban remains in effect.
• A ban on abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy took effect in Florida , following a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court that the privacy protections of the state’s Constitution do not extend to abortion.

The New York Times is tracking abortion laws in each state after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization , which ended the constitutional right to an abortion.

Where abortion is legal

In a few states that have enacted bans or restrictions, abortion remains legal for now as courts determine whether these laws can take effect. Abortion is legal in the rest of the country, and many states have added new protections since Dobbs.

Ban in effect

Note: TK note here.

Legal for now

State details.

More details on the current status of abortion in each state are below.

An earlier version of this article misstated the legal status of abortion in Utah. As of 4 p.m. on June 24, the state attorney general had issued a statement saying the state’s abortion ban had been triggered, but it had not yet been authorized by the legislature’s general counsel. By 8:30 p.m., the counsel authorized the ban and it went into effect.

A table in an earlier version of this article misstated which abortion ban is being challenged in Texas state court. Abortion rights supporters are challenging a pre-Roe ban, not the state’s trigger ban.

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the legal status of abortion in Indiana. While Indiana abortion providers stopped offering abortion services in anticipation of an abortion ban taking effect on Aug. 1, the law did not take effect.