I'm writing a paper on novel-to-film adaptation, and in my paper I am briefly summarizing the novels. Do I need to provide an in-text citation for the summaries? If so, do I need to provide page numbers for each event in the summary, or would just the author's name work? Thanks!

Question

I'm writing a paper on novel-to-film adaptation, and in my paper I am briefly summarizing the novels.  Do I need to provide an in-text citation for the summaries?  If so, do I need to provide page numbers for each event in the summary, or would just the author's name work?  Thanks!

anonymous · Answer

Let's just say that you are writing a paper about the book The HELP which was produced as a movie by the same name. If you quoted the book or movie, then you would need an in-text citation. If you quote both, then you need two different citations because they are two different works. 
If you are truly summarizing and not quoting, then you do not need an in text citation. I would just be careful to properly introduce it. For example, The Help, written by John Smith, is a story about one woman's quest to tell the truth about white women of the south and the black maids they employ...