Pin Cite
A citation that points to the exact page, paragraph, or section where a quoted or paraphrased passage appears.
A pin cite — sometimes 'pinpoint citation' or 'jump cite' — is the part of a reference that identifies the specific location of the material being cited, rather than the work as a whole. In a law review footnote, the volume and reporter tell you which case; the pin cite tells you which page of that case actually contains the sentence being relied on.
The convention originated in legal writing, where an argument can rise or fall on a single sentence in a long opinion, but the habit is now standard in serious non-fiction. Citing a 900-page book without a page number invites the reader to take the writer's word for it; a pin cite invites them to check.
Different style guides format pin cites differently. The Bluebook uses a comma after the main citation and then the page ('410 U.S. 113, 153'); MLA and Chicago put the page inside the parenthetical ('(Didion 11)'). Whatever the format, the underlying discipline is the same: quote nothing you cannot point at.
Common mistake: giving a pin cite that names only the chapter or the general section. If the reader has to skim ten pages to find the sentence, the citation has failed as a locator. A good pin cite lands the reader within a paragraph.
“See Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 495 (1954).”
Keep reading the glossary
An in-text source reference given in parentheses, keyed to a fuller entry in the bibliography.
A formal reference that lets a reader locate the source of a quote.
A citation shorthand meaning 'in the same source as the previous note'.
A citation shorthand meaning 'in the work already cited'.