How do I cite from an ebook with no page numbers?

Question

I am citing from "Origins of New Mexico Families: A Genealogy of the Spanish Colonial Period," which I have in Kindle ebook version, which does not have page numbers, much less page numbers that match up to a physical book. Since I can't just list the page numbers in the citation,  I can direct them to the section of the book with the important quote, ex.  Part I, Hurtado; Part I, Baca; Part II, Lucero de Godoy; Appendix, Baca.  Each section is only a page, maybe two.  Do you think this would work or would it be too confusing?  Another option is adding a Record Extraction level and listing the direct quotes.  What do you think?

Also, how do you handle this in general?

Comments

Thank you, that helps!  I really need to buy Evidence Explained.

Answer 1

Not sure if there's an official policy for this (I can't locate anything on the Sources page) but I would reference it like any other book, and then give the chapter number, any particular section heading, and, if you want to be particularly exact, the number of the paragraph.  Apparently "locations" given in e-readers can vary and is not a good indicator.  In your case, what you're suggesting with "Part I: Hurtado" for instance, should be fine.  I would also note, explicitly, that you're referencing an e-book version of the book. 

You could also go to Google book search, find the book there, and then search for a specific string, and get the page number if the book is available in preview or snippet view mode.  But that may be a bit OTT.

Answer 2

According to Evidence Explained, if there are no page numbers you look for something else that allow you to find the specific information. Basically, you do as Matt suggested. Also, indicate that the book is unpaginated and what e-book format it is in. Since it is PDF, page numbers are going to be stable.

Answer 3

I have access to a print copy of the 1992 Revised Edition.  If you wish to cite a page number from the hard copy, I can look it up for you.

Michelle

Comments

Thank you Michelle but since most of the books I purchase are ebooks, this is probably going to be a continuing issue for me.  I think if I can figure out a way of finding the page without page numbers I should be okay.

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Ebooks are the way to go.  They don't take up room and they can be accessed anywhere.  While I love books, they can take up a lot of space.