How detailed do I need to be with my parenthetical citations? I am using a website as a source with many different webpages. It is confusing because I don't know how detailed I need to be with web addresses. I must have 15 different webpages for the same site. Can I just put a basic web address as my source to cover all the web addresses on the site?

For your Works Cited page, you'll need the specific URL for each separate article you're using, even if they all stem from the same home page. But what you put in parenthetical citations (in-text citations) is different. Read the following and then re-post if you still have questions.

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You need to have each source of information cited in TWO places:

1. the Works Cited page that is placed after the last page of your paper, and
2. in parentheses in the text of your paper, immediately after the quotation or paraphrase.

For example, this would go on the Works Cited page (with proper indentation for the second and following lines):

Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. Chicago, 1903. Project Bartleby. Ed. Steven van Leeuwen. Dec. 1995. Columbia U. 2 Dec. 2003
<www.cc.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/dubois/>.

... and this would go in the in-text citation or parenthetical citation:
(Du Bois)

The information in parentheses in the text needs to be as brief as possible. That's why there's a Works Cited page – for all the details of the listing.

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Here's a good place for information on citing in MLA format:
(Broken Link Removed)

Hold your cursor over the words CITING SOURCES in the left column and then click on whatever type of source you need help with. Many examples will show up. You will get two examples for each type of reference – one for the Works Cited page and one for the parenthetical (in-text) citation.

You can also see what a Works Cited page looks like – click on Sample Works Cited in the left column.

When it comes to parenthetical citations, it is important to be as detailed as possible in order to provide clear and accurate information about your sources. For websites with multiple webpages, it is generally recommended that you provide the specific URL or web address for each individual webpage you are citing.

While it might seem convenient to use a single basic web address to cover all the web addresses on a site, it is not considered best practice in academic or formal writing. Each webpage within a website may have unique content, and by providing specific URLs, you allow readers to access and verify the exact information you are referencing.

To properly cite each webpage within a website, follow the guidelines below depending on the citation style you are using (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.):

1. APA Style: In APA style, you should include the author, publication date, title of the page, site name, and URL for each individual webpage citation. For example:

(Author, Year, Title, Site Name, URL)

2. MLA Style: In MLA style, you should include the author, title of the page, title of the website, publication date, and URL for each individual webpage citation. For example:

(Author, "Title of the Page," Title of the Website, Publication Date, URL)

3. Chicago Style: In Chicago style, you should include the author, title of the page, title of the website, publication date, and URL for each individual webpage citation. However, Chicago style offers different citation formats, so it's important to consult the specific guidelines based on whether you are using the author-date or notes-bibliography system.

Remember, the purpose of citations is to allow readers to locate and verify your sources, so it's crucial to provide accurate and specific information for each source you reference.