How do you cite a book apa style

How do you cite a book apa style

To cite a book in a reference entry in APA style 6th edition include the following elements:

  1. Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J. D.) of up to seven authors with the last name preceded by an ampersand (&). For eight or more authors include the first six names followed by an ellipsis (…) and add the last author's name.
  2. Year of publication: Give the year in brackets followed by a full stop.
  3. Title of the book: Book titles are italicized. Only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns are capitalised.
  4. Edition number: Include information about the edition if it is not the first.
  5. Place of publication: List the city and the US state using the two-letter abbreviation. Spell out country names if outside of the UK or the USA.
  6. Publisher: Give the name of the publisher but omit terms, such as Publishers, Co., and Inc. Retain the words Books and Press.

Here is the basic format for a reference list entry of a book in APA style 6th edition:

Author(s) of the book. (Year of publication). Title of the book. (Edition number ed.). Place of publication: Publisher.

APA reference list examples

Take a look at our reference list examples that demonstrate the APA style guidelines for a book citation in action:

Examples

A book with one author

King, S. (1986). It. New York, NY: Viking Press.

A book with two authors

King, S., & Straub, P. (1984). The talisman. New York, NY: Viking Press.

A book with three authors

Halliday, D., Resnick, R., & Walker, J. (2013). Fundamentals of physics (10th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Specific edition of a book

Axler, S. (2015). Linear algebra done right (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Springer.

How to do an in-text citation for a book in APA

General APA in-text citations follow the pattern (Author, Year of publication).

If you need to in-text reference a specific page or a range of pages in a book, you can do so easily in this form (Author, Year of publication, p. Page number) or (Author, Year of publication, pp. Page range).

The same principle applies to in-text referencing of a whole chapter in a book: (Author, Year of publication, Chapter number).

Examples

Here are some examples to illustrate (citing from a fictional book by an author named Smith published in 2009):

Parenthetical citation of a page from a book

The results of the pilot study were later declared breakthrough of the year (Smith, 2009, p. 40).

Narrative citation of a page range from a book

While Smith (2009, pp. 55-57) reported similar results back in 1995, it was only ...

Parenthetical citation of a chapter from a book

The initial idea for the pilot study was coined on a lab retreat (Smith, 2009, Chapter 3).

Narrative citation of chapter from a book

While Smith (2009, Chapter 11) initially failed to interpret the results correctly, ...

How do you cite a book apa style

This citation style guide is based on the official Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition).

Choose:

6th edition 7th edition

Reference format for print books

Author, Initial. (Year). Book title. City of publication, Country/State: Publisher.

No author

Reference list entry:

Collins concise New Zealand dictionary (7th ed.). (2008). London, England: Collins. 

In-text citations:

...this definition from the Collins Concise New Zealand Dictionary (2008) shows...

...highlights the debate around nuclear weapons ("Nuke Test Inquiry,"2009).

  • Use the first few words of the title, or the complete title if short, as listed in your reference list, and the date.
  • Format with:
    • double quotation marks for the title of an article or chapter or webpage;
    • italics for the title of a journal or book or brochure or report;
    • capitals for both.

One author

Reference list entry:

Gambles, I. (2009). Making the business case: Proposals that succeed for projects that work. Farnham, England: Ashgate.

In-text citations:

Gambles (2009) states....

....can lead to a more successful outcome (Gamble, 2009)

Two - seven authors

Reference list entry:

Gazda, G. M., Balzer, F. J., Childers, W. C., Nealy, A. U., Phelps, R. E., & Walters, R. P. (2005). Human relations development: A manual for educators (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Educational.

In-text citations - two authors

Walker and Allen (2004) said....

....stop smoking (Walker & Allen, 2004).

  • Use "and" between author names in a sentence
  • Use "&" between author names in an in-text citation
  • In the reference list use "&"
  • Always give both authors each time you cite the work​

In-text citations-three, four or five authors

First citation in text:

... as the findings suggested (Alred, Brusaw, & Oliu, 2009)

Subsequent citations:

... in the same study (Alred et al., 2009).

Alfred et al. (2009) found that ...

  • Give all authors the first time you cite them
  • In subsequent citations, give only the first author and et al.
  • Include the year if this is the first citation of this reference in the paragraph

In-text citationssix or more authors

Kosslyn et al. (1996) found that ...

  • Cite only the surname of the first author, et al. and the year (always give the year).

Corporate author (organization)

Reference list entry:

New Zealand Health Information Service. (2003). Report on maternity: Maternal and newborn information.  Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.

In-text citations:

.... as research indicates (Inland Revenue Department [IRD], 2007)

Subsequent citations:

.... suggested by recent statistics (IRD, 2010).

  • The first time you cite it in-text, write the corporate author in full with its abbreviation in square brackets "[...]" plus date.
  • In subsequent citations use the abbreviation plus date.

Unabbreviated corporate authors

In-text citation:

.... on student retention (The University of Auckland, 2010).

  • Write the corporate author in full every time if it is not well known by abbreviation.

Corporate author as publisher

Reference list entry:

New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit. (1988). Academic audit reports: Reports of the general academic audits of New Zealand universities. Wellington, New Zealand: Author.

  • In the reference list, where the author and publisher are the same, use the word Author in the publisher position.

New edition of a book

Reference list entry:

Berk, L. E. (2004). Development through the lifespan (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Edited book

Reference list entry:

Sykes, P., & Potts, A. (Eds.). (2008). Researching education from the inside: Investigations from within. London, England: Routledge.

Chapter from an edited book

Reference list entry:

Easton, B. (2008). Does poverty affect health? In K. Dew & A. Matheson (Eds.), Understanding health inequalities in Aotearoa New Zealand (pp. 97–106). Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago University Press.

  • the author(s) of the chapter is the main entry in your reference list and in your in text citation

Chapter from an edited book, newer edition

Reference list entry:

Root, J. (2007). Film noir. In P. Cook (Ed.), The cinema book (3rd ed., pp. 305–315). London, England: British Film Institute.

Book with a volume number of a series

Esposito, A. & Jain, L. C. (Eds.). (2016). Modeling emotions. In Toward robotic socially believable behaving systems series (Vol. 1). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31056-5

Several volumes in a multivolume work

Koch, S. (Ed.). (1959-1963). Psychology: A study of science (Vols. 1-6). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Reprints and translations

Reference list entry:

Freud, S. (1953). The method of interpreting dreams: An analysis of a specimen dream. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 4, pp. 96-121). Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books (Original work published 1900)

  • give the date of the version that you have read after the author; put the date of the original publication at the end
  • in text give both dates: (Freud, 1900/1953).

Classical works

Reference list entry:

Plato. (1961). Meno (R. S. Bluck, Trans.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. (Original work published ca. 380 B.C.)

  • in text give both dates: (Plato, 380 B.C./1961)

Wordless picture book

Reference format:

Creator (Illustrator), Initial. (Year). Book title. City of publication, Country/State: Publisher.

Reference list entry:

Lehman, B. (2011). The secret box. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

Graphic novel where author and illustrator are given equal credit for authorship

Reference format:

Author, Initial. & Illustrator, Initial. (Year). Book title. City of publication, Country/State: Publisher.

Reference list entry:

Moore, A., & Gibbons, D. (1986). Watchmen. New York, NY: DC Comics.

How do you cite an author in a book in APA in

Article or Chapter in an Edited Book.
In-Text Citation (Paraphrase): (Author Surname [of Chapter or Article], Year).
In-Text Citation (Quotation): (Author Surname [of Chapter or Article], Year, page number).
References: Author Surname [of Chapter or Article], First Initial. Second Initial. ( Year). Article..
Example..

How do you cite a book in APA 2022?

Here is the basic format for a reference list entry of a book in APA style 7th edition:.
Author(s) of the book..
(Year of publication)..
Title of the book..
(Edition number ed.)..
Publisher..

How do you cite a book example?

The general formats of a book reference are:.
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Book title. Location: Publisher..
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Book title. ... .
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Book title. ... .
Editor, A. A. (Ed.). (year). ... .
Editor, A. A., & Editor B. B. (Eds.). (year)..

How do you cite a book title in APA?

Editor's Last Name (Ed.), Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition, pp. first page number-last page number). Publisher Name.