Q. I’m editing notes for a book with chapters by a variety of authors. A few of the authors want to cite specific page numbers and exclude some pages between the first and last page they’re referencing. I’ve seen it done two different ways, and I’m not sure which is correct. Example 1:
John Smith, “Canada and the Commonwealth,” Foreign Policy Journal 16, no. 2 (2009): 61–63, 67–68.
Example 2:
John Smith, “Canada and the Commonwealth,” Foreign Policy Journal 16, no. 2 (2009): 61–63 and 67–68.
Are either of these correct, or should I make it 61–68?
A. Both styles are fine (with a comma and with and), but compressing the ranges into a single range is not advised. Writers cite the exact pages where they found the information that supports their argument so readers know where to find the evidence without wasting time on pages that are irrelevant. Compressing the ranges to 61–68 implies wrongly that there is useful information on pages 64–66. Your writers would be justifiably annoyed if you did that.