Quote:
Originally Posted by Jellby
I don't understand why a page number is needed for that. You cite someone's words, stating his/her name and the book title, isn't that enough? (I'm not talking about the possible publisher's/editor's requirements.)
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No, not unless the APA, MLA and other citation systems used in academic journals and books change their rules.
If you're making a direct, word for worn quote, you have to cite the page number the quote is on. i.e. the parenthetical citation would look like (Johnson, 2008, p. 38). If you're not quoting and just citing a paraphrase or finding etc., then you don't need the page number. But you do have to list the page number range for the journal article in the bibliography (or if it's a chapter of an edited book--collection of papers by different authors)--you don't if you're citing an actual book.
So you not talking about publishers requirements etc. is a moot point--we have to adhere to the standards.
Could the standards change? Maybe, but I doubt they'd drop page numbers. If you're going to directly quote something you need to be able to cite directly too the page the quotation is on so people can find it easily. IMO there will have to be some kind of standard pagination or location system for e-books and articles to really catch on in academia.
But in any case, for now we are stuck with current standards and have to be able to cite a page number and for something like a website you have to cite paragraph numbers you count yourself.
So it's one of many reasons I've stuck with paper for my academic work and will for the foreseeable future.