We are frequently asked how to format page references for chapters and articles in footnotes. If you are citing the entire chapter or article, the answer is easy enough: include the entire page range. For example:

Bart Geurts, “Presupposition and Givenness,” in The Oxford Handbook of Pragmatics, ed. Yan Huang (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 180–98.

However, if you are citing a specific page, do you include the entire page range in addition to the specific page, or do you include only the relevant pages being cited? This post details our recommendations.

1. Works with Complete Bibliographies

If your chapter or journal article includes a complete bibliography, we recommend that your reference include only the page number(s) being cited. For example:

5. Bart Geurts, “Presupposition and Givenness,” in The Oxford Handbook of Pragmatics, ed. Yan Huang (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 181.

Readers can look up the entire page range in the bibliography as necessary.

2. Works without Complete Bibliographies

If, however, your volume or journal article does not include a complete bibliography, you should provide the entire page range in the footnote, using “here” to indicate the page number being cited. In this case:

5. Bart Geurts, “Presupposition and Givenness,” in The Oxford Handbook of Pragmatics, ed. Yan Huang (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 180–98, here 181.