Parts of a text

Most large texts, whether in print or online, are made up of smaller parts that you may need to reference. These include:

pages
sections
chapters
volumes.

Without a consistent approach, this cross referencing can quickly look messy and consume more editing time than it deserves. This section provides a simple guide you can apply.

Short numeric references

Use these short forms where the text allows, with minimal punctuation

ch 10

pp 28–29

4th edn

Where you need to reference a part that includes a number:

use the full word if it forms a natural part of the sentence
otherwise use a standard short form in lower case with no full stop.

See section 4.2 for data on red-light traffic offences.

See the Corporations Act, ch 5, on external administration.

The standard short forms for most texts are:

Section name	Single short form	Plural short form	Examples
chapter	ch	chs	ch 3
edition	edn	–	6th edn
figure	fig	figs	fig 15
page	p	pp	p 4
part	pt	pts	pt 9
volume	v	vols	vols 1–3

The standard short forms for the parts of legal texts are:

Section name	Single short form	Plural short form	Examples
clause	cl	cll	cll 5–7
division	div	divs	div 7
part	pt	pts	pt IV
regulation and subregulation	r	rr	r 7 r 7(2)
section and subsection	s	ss	s 4 s 4(5)

Chapter, article and webpage titles

Use sentence case and single quote marks to refer to these titles

I had a byline on ‘Money for nothing’ in The Age.

You won't often need to refer to chapter or section titles, because you can usually rely on a numeric reference. But where you do, use:

sentence case for the title, with a capital letter only on the first word and any proper nouns
single quote marks around the title.

This will distinguish the chapter or section title from the title of the larger text, which should take title case without italics.

Dr James discusses this under ‘Expression’ in his book Writing at Work.

Use the same style for the titles or headlines of newspaper, magazine or journal articles.

The New York Times ran an article on Monday called ‘House prices skyrocket’.

You can also use this approach for the titles of individual webpages. But if you’re giving a pathway using angle brackets, you don’t need the quote marks.

Visit the ‘Client base’ page to see a list of clients from your sector.

For a list of clients from your sector, visit About us > Who we are > Client base.

See also: Capital letters and cases, Headings, Italics, Publication titles, Quote marks ‘ ’ “ ”, Referencing systems