Is it a rule in MLA style to have the addition "n.pag." also in parenthetical reference to a source that has no pagination? Or is the addition only required in the works cited?

source: Miller, Arthur. "All the Small Things." New York: 1980, n. pag.

In the 1980 essay "All the Small Things" Miller goes on to say that "all things are small" (n. pag.). This is interesting because ...

  • Take a look under "Miscellaneous non-print sources" and "Electronic sources" I think: owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/02 – Jeff Dec 7 '16 at 18:56
  • The problem with the guide is that under "miscellaneous non-print sources" there are actually no direct quotes. This is why I came up with the question of parenthetical "n. pag." in the first place and several library MLA stylesheets indicate this solution (n.pag.) as the standard. If I follow the guide I am lost with what I should do with several direct quotes one after the other from this source if I just add the name the first time. – JacknJill Dec 7 '16 at 20:16
  • Related answer for ebooks without page numbers: academia.stackexchange.com/a/18071/12454 details both Chicago style and MLA – gman Dec 9 '16 at 12:47

This is what I came up with but I'm still having problems so it would be great if anyone could help.

The MLA Handbook states under 6.4.1. to put the author's name in parenthesis with an unpaginated work. But this does only make sense for examples with direct quotes if the author isnt mentioned in the sentence.

The British "were most avid about it" (McCoy).

What do I do with an example like?

McCoy states that the British "were most avid about it."

It makes no sense to put the author's name again at the end of the sentence in parenthesis.

Any ideas?

  • 1
    Where there is a paragragh, section or chapter you can use that in your 2nd example. McCoy states that the British "were most avid about it."(Ch. 2) See purchase.libanswers.com/faq/36720 – gman Dec 9 '16 at 12:40
  • 1
    If it is a short document, and you only have a single author named McCoy, then what you have is perfectly fine. Consider if you were citing a poster or a painting — there's no section or similar to cite, and so nothing need go in page numbers. – user0721090601 Dec 9 '16 at 17:47

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