Question

How do I cite a magazine article pages not in order?

Answer 1

Why would you want to cite them any other way? Always cite the pages in order. For example:

Let's say on page one I wanted to use the quote, "Cats make better pets for the elderly" and on page 2 I wanted to use the quote, "Cats have a calming demeanor," but I wanted to combine them and use them in reverse so that the resulting quote goes something like:

John Doe (2012) states, "Cats have a calming demeanor . . . [so they] make better pets . . ." (p. 1-2).

See so even though I switched the information around, I still listed the pages in the right order. However, this might not be the best example and this is not a practice that you want to use much because you could be changing the context of what the author was really saying which is not okay, but as long as the integrity of the article is kept this is okay and you list the pages in numerical order.

A better way to do it though would be to separate the information and cite them individually. For example, let's use the same info from above:

John Doe (2012) states, "Cats have a calming demeanor" (p.2). This demeanor is the reason that Doe believes that "Cats make better pets for the elderly" (p.1).

Note that in this instance since I am using the quotes separately, I cite the page numbers separately.

However, the best way to handle this situation is to paraphrase the information. That way you don't have to worry about citing page numbers.

In his in-depth article, John Doe (2012) explains that cats have a very relaxed outward behavior and that this relaxed behavior has a calming effect. This is why Doe believes that cats are a good choice of pets for those who have become to old to care for a more high-strung animal.

You should try to paraphrase as much of your research as possible, using quotes only for emphasis, or if you are afraid of changing the meaning of what an author is saying. Whenever you run into situations where you are not sure how to cite something, most often it will be better to paraphrase the material anyway.