Do you need a page number when paraphrasing in APA?

Not strictly. APA 7 requires a page number only for direct quotations. For a paraphrase, the Publication Manual (§8.23) says you may add a page or paragraph number when it would help a reader find the passage in a long or complex work such as a book. Most instructors prefer to see one when the idea comes from a specific page.

Do you need a page number when paraphrasing in MLA?

Yes, whenever the source has page numbers and you are paraphrasing a particular passage. MLA 9 in-text citations name the author and the location of the material, and paraphrases are not exempt. Cite the author alone only when the paraphrase covers the whole work or the source has no pages.

Does Chicago style require page numbers for paraphrases?

In notes-bibliography style the note for any specific passage, quoted or paraphrased, gives the page or pages of that passage. In author-date style, include the page whenever you refer to a specific part of the work: (Okafor 2024, 112). Omit the locator only when citing the work as a whole.

How do I cite a paraphrase that runs across several pages?

Give the range. APA writes (Okafor, 2024, pp. 118–121) with the second number in full. MLA writes (Okafor 118–21) with no pp. and the second number shortened. Chicago notes write 118–21 and author-date writes (Okafor 2024, 118–21). Use an en dash in every style.

If I paraphrase one source for a whole paragraph, do I cite every sentence?

No. APA 7 says to cite the work at the first mention and not repeat the citation while the context makes clear the same source continues; reintroduce it in a new paragraph or when you switch sources. MLA and Chicago have no counting rule, but the reader must be able to tell where the borrowing starts and stops, so name the author at the start and close the paraphrase with the page reference.

What do I put instead of a page number for a website?

APA 7 uses a paragraph number, a section heading, or both: (Okafor, 2024, para. 4). MLA 9 cites the author alone unless the source numbers its paragraphs or sections, in which case (Okafor, par. 4). Chicago cites a chapter, a section, or a heading: under "The Fleet." None of the styles wants a page number from your own printout.

Do I need a page number if I name the author in the sentence?

Naming the author replaces only the author element. APA still adds the year after the name and, for a specific passage, the page at the end: Okafor (2024) argued … (p. 112). MLA puts just the page in parentheses: Okafor argues … (112). Chicago notes are unaffected, and Chicago author-date writes Okafor (2024, 112).

Should I use the e-book location instead of a page?

No. Device locations change with the screen and the app. Cite the printed page if the e-book has fixed pagination; otherwise cite a chapter (MLA, Chicago) or a chapter, section, or paragraph (APA). If you must cite a location in Chicago, state the format so the reader knows what the number means.

Do Paraphrases Need Page Numbers in APA, MLA, and Chicago? [2026]

Quick Answer: APA optional, MLA expected, Chicago yes

For a paraphrase of a specific passage, add the page in every style unless your style tells you not to, and none of them does. APA 7 says the page is not required for a paraphrase but may be included when it helps the reader find the passage in a long or complex work. MLA 9 wants the page whenever the source has fixed pagination, because an MLA citation points to a location, not just to a work. Chicago 18 notes cite the specific pages of the passage you used, quoted or paraphrased, and Chicago author-date adds the page whenever you refer to a particular passage. Only a paraphrase of a source's overall argument goes without a locator in all three.

Templates for a paraphrase of one passage

APA 7, minimum:

(Author, Year)

APA 7, recommended for a specific passage:

(Author, Year, p. 12) or (Author, Year, pp. 12–14)

APA 7, quotation (page required):

"Quoted words" (Author, Year, p. 12).

MLA 9:

(Author 12) or (Author 12–14)

Chicago 18 first note:

1. Author First Last, Title of Book (Publisher, Year), 12.

Chicago 18 shortened note:

2. Last, Short Title, 12–14.

Chicago 18 author-date:

(Author Year, 12)

When each style wants a page number.
Situation	APA 7	MLA 9	Chicago 18
Direct quotation	Required	Required	Required in the note or parenthetical
Paraphrase of one passage	Optional; encouraged for long or complex works	Expected when the source has pages	Given in the note; given in author-date for a specific passage
Paraphrase of a whole work or argument	No page: (Author, Year)	No page: (Author)	Note without a page; (Author Year)
Source with no pages	Paragraph, section, heading, or timestamp	Author only, or a numbered part such as par., sec., ch.	Chapter, section, heading, or paragraph
Several pages	pp. 4–6	4–6	4–6

Why the styles disagree

A page number exists so a reader can find the passage. APA's in-text citation identifies a work (author and year) and treats the page as a courtesy for quotations that would otherwise be hard to locate; a paraphrase, in APA's view, often summarizes more than one page, so the manual leaves the locator to your judgment. MLA's in-text citation identifies a place in a work (author and page), which is why MLA expects a page for paraphrases and quotations alike. Chicago's note is a full pointer to the passage, and Chicago is explicit that the note for a particular passage carries the pages of that passage, not the work's whole range. Different jobs, different defaults.

APA 7: required for quotations, encouraged for paraphrases

The APA Style paraphrasing page states the rule and the reason together. The page or paragraph number is not required for a paraphrase, but you may add it when it would help an interested reader find the passage in a long or complex work. The quotations page is stricter: a direct quotation always carries a full citation in the same sentence, including the page number or another locator.

APA Style, paraphrases (§8.23)

Although it is not required to provide a page or paragraph number in the citation for a paraphrase, you may include one in addition to the author and year when it would help interested readers locate the relevant passage within a long or complex work (e.g., a book).

In practice, add the page when the source is a book, a report, or a long article and the idea sits on one or two pages. Skip it when you are summarizing a study's overall finding, when the article is short, or when the idea runs through the whole work. Instructors who mark APA papers rarely object to a page that is present; they often object to one that is missing after a quotation.

APA 7, one book, four kinds of citation

Reference:

Okafor, L. M. (2024). Rivers under the city: A history of urban water supply. Meridian University Press.

Paraphrase of the whole argument (no page):

Nineteenth-century cities buried their rivers for sanitary rather than aesthetic reasons (Okafor, 2024).

Paraphrase of one passage (page encouraged):

London had covered more than a dozen tributaries by 1870 (Okafor, 2024, p. 112).

Narrative paraphrase with a page:

Okafor (2024) argued that the Fleet was buried in stages, each triggered by a cholera outbreak (pp. 118–121).

Direct quotation (page required):

The Fleet became "a sewer that remembered it had been a river" (Okafor, 2024, p. 121).

Long paraphrases: cite once, then again when the source changes

APA does not want a citation after every sentence of a paragraph that paraphrases one source. Cite the work at the first mention; as long as the context makes clear that the same source continues, you need not repeat it. Reintroduce the citation when the paraphrase continues into a new paragraph, when you switch to a second source, or when the reader could reasonably think a sentence is your own claim. If the passage moves across pages inside the paragraph, one citation with a range at the first mention does the job.

APA Style, long paraphrases (§8.24)

A paraphrase may continue for several sentences. In such cases, cite the work being paraphrased on first mention. Once the work has been cited, it is not necessary to repeat the citation as long as the context of the writing makes it clear that the same work continues to be paraphrased.

APA 7, a paragraph that paraphrases one source

Okafor (2024) described three waves of river burial in London (pp. 110–125). The first followed the 1832 cholera epidemic and covered the lower Fleet. The second, in the 1850s, was driven by the Metropolitan Board of Works and buried most of the remaining tributaries. The third was piecemeal and lasted into the twentieth century.

Hallberg and Nkemelu (2023) found a different pattern in smaller cities, where rivers were more often channelled than buried (p. 149).

Paraphrasing several pages

When the idea spans a range, APA writes pp. and an en dash: (Okafor, 2024, pp. 118–121). Give the full second number; APA does not shorten 121 to 21. For scattered pages, list them with commas: (Okafor, 2024, pp. 112, 119). A single page takes p.; a range or a list takes pp.

MLA 9: give the page whenever the source has one

MLA's in-text citation has two jobs: send the reader to the right works-cited entry, and send them to the right place inside the source. The MLA Style Center overview describes the parenthetical as the author's name plus the location of the borrowed material, and it makes no exception for paraphrases. If the source is paginated and you are drawing on a particular passage, the page goes in the parentheses. The only time a paginated source is cited without a page is when the paraphrase covers the work as a whole. Full patterns are in our MLA in-text citation guide.

MLA 9, one book, four kinds of citation

Works cited:

Okafor, Lena M. Rivers under the City: A History of Urban Water Supply. Meridian UP, 2024.

Paraphrase of one passage:

London had covered more than a dozen tributaries by 1870 (Okafor 112).

Author named in the sentence:

Okafor argues that the Fleet was buried in stages, each triggered by a cholera outbreak (118–21).

Paraphrase of the whole argument:

Sanitation, not beauty, drove the burial of urban rivers (Okafor).

Direct quotation:

The Fleet became "a sewer that remembered it had been a river" (Okafor 121).

Page ranges in MLA

MLA does not write p. or pp. in the parenthetical: (Okafor 118–21). MLA shortens the second number of a range to its last two digits when the range stays within the same hundred (118–21, 145–62) and writes it in full when it crosses one (98–102). Scattered pages take commas: (Okafor 112, 119). The MLA note on page ranges covers the works-cited form, which does use pp.

Long paraphrases in MLA

MLA has no "cite once per paragraph" rule; its standard is that the reader must always be able to tell where borrowed material begins and ends. The usual technique is to name the author at the start of the paraphrase and put the page reference at the end of the last borrowed sentence, so the author's name opens the borrowing and the parenthetical closes it. If the paraphrase draws on pages far apart, give a range or a list in that closing parenthetical; if you move to a second source, a new citation is required at the switch.

MLA 9, a bracketed paraphrase

Okafor describes three waves of river burial in London. The first followed the 1832 cholera epidemic and covered the lower Fleet; the second, in the 1850s, was led by the Metropolitan Board of Works; the third was piecemeal and lasted into the twentieth century (110–25).

Chicago 18: notes carry the page for paraphrases too

In notes-bibliography style there is no distinction between a paraphrase and a quotation in the note. The first note for a source gives the full citation and ends with the page or pages of the passage you used; later notes give the author, a shortened title, and the page. The bibliography entry for a book has no page numbers, and the entry for an article gives the article's full range. The Chicago Notes and Bibliography guide shows the pattern for every source type, and our Chicago in-text guide covers the note conventions. Chicago writes bare numbers in notes, without p. or pp., and prefers shortened notes to ibid.

Chicago 18 notes-bibliography, one book

Sentence (paraphrase):

London had covered more than a dozen tributaries by 1870.¹

First note:

1. Lena M. Okafor, Rivers under the City: A History of Urban Water Supply (Meridian University Press, 2024), 112.

Shortened note, several pages:

2. Okafor, Rivers under the City, 118–21.

Shortened note, quotation:

3. Okafor, Rivers under the City, 121.

Note for the whole argument (no page):

4. Okafor, Rivers under the City.

Bibliography:

Okafor, Lena M. Rivers under the City: A History of Urban Water Supply. Meridian University Press, 2024.

Chicago author-date

Author-date citations look like APA's without the comma after the author and without p.: (Okafor 2024, 112). Include the page whenever you refer to a specific passage, paraphrased or quoted. Cite the whole work as (Okafor 2024). The Chicago Author-Date guide has the reference-list forms.

Chicago 18 author-date, the same book

Reference list:

Okafor, Lena M. 2024. Rivers under the City: A History of Urban Water Supply. Meridian University Press.

Paraphrase of one passage:

London had covered more than a dozen tributaries by 1870 (Okafor 2024, 112).

Paraphrase of several pages:

The Fleet was buried in stages, each triggered by a cholera outbreak (Okafor 2024, 118–21).

Whole argument:

Sanitation, not beauty, drove the burial of urban rivers (Okafor 2024).

A whole chapter or a whole argument

When the paraphrase covers a chapter rather than a passage, Chicago lets the note point to the chapter: 5. Okafor, *Rivers under the City*, chap. 3. When it covers the whole book, the note or parenthetical simply omits the locator. Do not pad a whole-work citation with the book's first and last pages; a range in Chicago means "the passage runs from here to here."

Locators when there are no page numbers

Web pages, e-books without fixed pagination, transcripts, and most PDFs generated from HTML have no stable page to cite. The full workflow, including what to do with Kindle locations and how to count paragraphs, is in how to cite a source with no page numbers; the short version is that each style substitutes the smallest stable unit the source offers, and none of them wants a page number you invented from a printout.

APA 7

Paragraph number: (Okafor, 2024, para. 4). Count the paragraphs yourself if they are not numbered.
Section heading: (Okafor, 2024, Methods section) or a shortened heading in quotation marks.
Heading plus paragraph: (Okafor, 2024, Discussion section, para. 2).
Chapter: (Okafor, 2024, Chapter 3).
Timestamp for audio or video: (Okafor, 2024, 4:32).
A paraphrase of a whole unpaginated work needs only (Okafor, 2024).

MLA 9

No numbered parts: cite the author alone, (Okafor), and do not count unnumbered paragraphs.
Numbered paragraphs, sections, or chapters: (Okafor, par. 4), (Okafor, sec. 2), (Okafor, ch. 3). A comma separates the author from any locator that is not a page.
E-book without fixed pages: cite the chapter, (Okafor, ch. 3), not the device location.
Time-based media: (Okafor 00:04:32–00:05:10).
See the MLA note on citing unpaginated works.

Chicago 18

Chapter or section: 6. Okafor, Rivers under the City, chap. 3.
Heading: 7. Okafor, Rivers under the City, under "The Fleet."
Paragraph: 8. Okafor, Rivers under the City, para. 4.
Author-date: (Okafor 2024, chap. 3) or (Okafor 2024, under "The Fleet").
Avoid e-reader locations; if a note must use one, name the format, e.g., loc. 1204 of 5310, Kindle.

Page ranges compared

How each style writes the locator for a paraphrase that spans pages.
Case	APA 7	MLA 9	Chicago 18 note	Chicago 18 author-date
One page	(Okafor, 2024, p. 4)	(Okafor 4)	4.	(Okafor 2024, 4)
Consecutive pages	(Okafor, 2024, pp. 4–6)	(Okafor 4–6)	4–6.	(Okafor 2024, 4–6)
Range in the hundreds	(Okafor, 2024, pp. 118–121)	(Okafor 118–21)	118–21.	(Okafor 2024, 118–21)
Scattered pages	(Okafor, 2024, pp. 4, 9)	(Okafor 4, 9)	4, 9.	(Okafor 2024, 4, 9)
Whole chapter	(Okafor, 2024, Chapter 3)	(Okafor, ch. 3)	chap. 3.	(Okafor 2024, chap. 3)

Use an en dash (–), not a hyphen, for every range. APA gives the second number in full; MLA and Chicago shorten it to the changed digits when the range stays within the same hundred.

E-books, PDFs, and which page to trust

Cite the page printed on the page, not the counter in your reader. A publisher PDF of a journal article keeps the journal's pagination, so page 151 is page 151 in every copy. A PDF you printed from a web page has page numbers that depend on your font size and margins; treat it as unpaginated. Fixed-layout e-books (most academic PDFs and many EPUBs from university presses) carry the print pages and can be cited by them; reflowable e-books do not, and MLA and Chicago both prefer a chapter over a device location. If two editions have different pagination, the reference or bibliography entry must name the edition you actually read, so the page you cite exists in it.

Common mistakes

Leaving the page off a quotation in APA because "it's only a paraphrase rule." Quotations always need the locator.
Writing (Okafor 2024, p. 112) in MLA. MLA has no year and no p.; the form is (Okafor 112).
Writing (Okafor, 2024, 112) in APA. APA needs p. before the page.
Writing (Okafor, 2024, 112) in Chicago author-date. Chicago drops the comma after the author: (Okafor 2024, 112).
Using a hyphen for a range. Every style wants an en dash: 118–21 or 118–121.
Shortening 118–121 to 118–21 in APA, or expanding 118–21 to 118–121 in MLA and Chicago.
Citing a whole book with its first and last page. A whole-work citation has no page at all.
Counting paragraphs in MLA when the source does not number them. MLA cites the author alone; APA is the style that counts.
Giving a Kindle location as if it were a page.
Repeating the same citation after every sentence of an APA paragraph, or, worse, leaving the last three sentences of a paraphrase uncited so the reader cannot tell where the borrowing stopped.

Before you submit

Every direct quotation has a page or another locator in all three styles.
Every MLA paraphrase from a paginated source has a page.
Every Chicago note for a specific passage ends with that passage's pages, not the work's range.
APA paraphrases of specific passages in long works carry a page; whole-work paraphrases do not.
Ranges use en dashes and the correct shortening rule for the style.
Unpaginated sources use the locator the style allows, not a page from a printout.
A long paraphrase is cited at its start and again wherever the source changes.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a page number when paraphrasing in APA?: Not strictly. APA 7 requires a page number only for direct quotations. For a paraphrase, the Publication Manual (§8.23) says you may add a page or paragraph number when it would help a reader find the passage in a long or complex work such as a book. Most instructors prefer to see one when the idea comes from a specific page.
Do you need a page number when paraphrasing in MLA?: Yes, whenever the source has page numbers and you are paraphrasing a particular passage. MLA 9 in-text citations name the author and the location of the material, and paraphrases are not exempt. Cite the author alone only when the paraphrase covers the whole work or the source has no pages.
Does Chicago style require page numbers for paraphrases?: In notes-bibliography style the note for any specific passage, quoted or paraphrased, gives the page or pages of that passage. In author-date style, include the page whenever you refer to a specific part of the work: (Okafor 2024, 112). Omit the locator only when citing the work as a whole.
How do I cite a paraphrase that runs across several pages?: Give the range. APA writes (Okafor, 2024, pp. 118–121) with the second number in full. MLA writes (Okafor 118–21) with no pp. and the second number shortened. Chicago notes write 118–21 and author-date writes (Okafor 2024, 118–21). Use an en dash in every style.
If I paraphrase one source for a whole paragraph, do I cite every sentence?: No. APA 7 says to cite the work at the first mention and not repeat the citation while the context makes clear the same source continues; reintroduce it in a new paragraph or when you switch sources. MLA and Chicago have no counting rule, but the reader must be able to tell where the borrowing starts and stops, so name the author at the start and close the paraphrase with the page reference.
What do I put instead of a page number for a website?: APA 7 uses a paragraph number, a section heading, or both: (Okafor, 2024, para. 4). MLA 9 cites the author alone unless the source numbers its paragraphs or sections, in which case (Okafor, par. 4). Chicago cites a chapter, a section, or a heading: under "The Fleet." None of the styles wants a page number from your own printout.
Do I need a page number if I name the author in the sentence?: Naming the author replaces only the author element. APA still adds the year after the name and, for a specific passage, the page at the end: Okafor (2024) argued … (p. 112). MLA puts just the page in parentheses: Okafor argues … (112). Chicago notes are unaffected, and Chicago author-date writes Okafor (2024, 112).
Should I use the e-book location instead of a page?: No. Device locations change with the screen and the app. Cite the printed page if the e-book has fixed pagination; otherwise cite a chapter (MLA, Chicago) or a chapter, section, or paragraph (APA). If you must cite a location in Chicago, state the format so the reader knows what the number means.

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Enter the author, year, and page or range once and get the APA, MLA, or Chicago form with the correct p., comma, and en dash. Run a close paraphrase through the checker if you are not sure it has moved far enough from the source.

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