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When referring to a page in a text, should the reference be e.g. "see page 2", or "see Page 2"? Since I write "see Section 2", I would lean towards the latter, but I think I have seen the former more often in the texts of others.

Eyvind
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2 Answers2

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There is a difference between "page 2" and "Section 2". Wherever the "Section 2" is located, the author most likely has actually given it the title "Section 2", so that is the name of a specific section of your paper. However, "page 2" is a page with the name "2" (not the name "Page 2", unless you wrote "Page #" in the corner of every page). This, I believe, is the logic for writing "page 2" in lowercase. It is like the difference between "Bob's house" and "White House".

However, the real answer actually depends on the author and the audience (in a certain field, people might expect publications to give pages as e.g. "Page 2" out of tradition or whatever reason, in which case an author would follow that).

Kosmonaut
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  • It would be great if the person who modded this answer down could give me a suggestion for what could be improved. – Kosmonaut Sep 11 '10 at 18:10
  • Maybe just a source? This answer makes sense to me, but it doesn't cite any usage guide or anything like that. – herisson May 03 '17 at 22:10
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AP Stylebook says to capitalize. In the section called Numerals it says: "SEQUENTIAL DESIGNATIONS: Page 1, Page 20A. They were out of sizes 4 and 5; magnitude 6 earthquake; Rooms 3 and 4; Chapter 2; line 1 but first line; Act 3, Scene 4, but third act, fourth scene; Game 1, but best of seven." Although they are explaining when to use numerals and when to spell out, their example of Page clearly shows that it's capitalized.

Amy Buttery
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