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Citation Guide (archived): Books - APA

A guide to creating citations for bibliographies and works cited pages

This guide does NOT use the latest APA style guidelines

These examples follow guidelines from the 6th edition of the APA Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2013), which are currently out of date. Examples that reflect the 7th edition guidelines (2020) are available now at libguides.aacc.edu/citationguide/apa.

Websites for APA Style Citations

Many of these sites offer information about constructing in-text citations, as well as constructing citations for bibliographies and references lists: 

Book Info - APA

Names

  • If the first element of a citation, display an author's last name first, followed by first and middle initials
  • Separate names with a comma; use an ampersand (&) before the last author (if there are more than seven authors, use an ellipses after the sixth author's name, then include the final author)
  • Use Ed. for one editor, Eds. for multiple editors
  • If no author is given, Book title appears first, then date

Dates

  • Use the year the book was published
  • Use (n.d.) if no date is given

Titles

  • Book and chapter titles and subtitles: capitalize the first word and proper nouns

Places of Publication 

  • Include the city name and two-letter state abbreviation

Page numbers

  • Use p. for one page, pp. for two or more

DOIs

  • When available, include a DOI (digital object identifier); look for a DOI at the beginning or end of a document
  • Many DOIs will start with http://dx.doi.org or https://doi.org
  • Using https://doi.org is now preferred by APA
  • For more information, see www.doi.org; to see if a chapter or book has a DOI assigned, use www.crossref.org/guestquery

Electronic Info - APA

DOIs

  • When available, include a DOI (digital object identifier); look for a DOI at the beginning or end of an article
  • Many DOIs will start with http://dx.doi.org or https://doi.org
  • Using https://doi.org is now preferred by APA
  • For more information, see www.doi.org; to see if an article has a DOI assigned to it, use www.crossref.org/guestquery
  • For more information, see the DOI website. To see if an article or book has a DOI assigned to it, use crossref.org.

Library Databases - No DOI

  • For an article, use the periodical's homepage URL instead; if none exists, use the Database Name instead
  • For eBooks, we well as video, audio, and other multimedia resources, use the Database name instead

URLs

  • web address usually starts with http:// or https://
  • Provide the homepage URL, rather than a very long direct URL, when an item is easily found with a search

Dates

  • If unlikely to change (like articles in library databases, or any works also published in print), a retrieval date is not needed
  • Use (n.d.) if no date is given for publication or copyright

Please Note

Citations should be double-spaced in an actual Bibliography, Works Cited, or References list, and works should be ordered alphabetically by author.

Citing Printed Books - APA

Books by single authors
Author Name. (Year). Book title. Publication place: Publisher. https://doi.org/... (if given)

Chitty, D. (1996). Do lemmings commit suicide? Beautiful hypotheses and ugly facts. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Books by two to seven authors
Author Names, separated by commas, an ampersand (&) before the last. (Year). Book title. Publication place: Publisher. https://doi.org/... (if given) 

Levitt, S. D., & Duber, S. J. (2006).  Freakonomics: A rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything. New York, NY: William Morrow.

Books by more than seven authors
Six Author Names,...Last Author Name (Year). Book title. Publication place: Publisher. https://doi.org/... (if given)

Hoffman, R., Benz, E. J., Silberstein, L. E., Heslop, H. E., Weitz, J. I., Anastasi, J.,...Abutalib, S. A. (2017). Hematology: Basic principles and practice (7th ed.) Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier. 

Books by corporate or organization authors
Corporation or Organization Name. (Year). Book title. Publication place: Publisher (if the publisher is the author, list Author for the publisher). https://doi.org/... (if given)

Children's Expressions. (2008). From the future: Children speaking about oppression. New York, NY: Author.

Books by unknown authors
Book title. (Year). Publication place: Publisher. https://doi.org/... (if given)

New York Public Library business desk reference (Rev. ed). (1999). New York, NY: J. Wiley.

Books with editor(s)
Editor(s) (Ed or Eds.). (Year). Book title. Publication place: Publisher. https://doi.org/... (if given)

Moten, B., Elver, F., & Cuscher, J. (Eds.). (2005). Lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of humans. Washington, DC: American Psychology Council.

Editions other than the first
Author(s) or Editor(s). (Year). Book title (edition description or number). Publication place: Publisher. https://doi.org/... (if given)

Pasachoff, J. (1992). Field guide to the stars and planets (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.

Wessels, T. (2009). The myth of progress: Toward a sustainable future (Rev. and expanded ed.). Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England. 

Multivolume sets
Author(s) or Editor(s). (Year(s)). Title of set (Vols. number range). Publication place: Publisher. https://doi.org/... (if given)

Guthrie, J. W. (Ed.). (2003). Encyclopedia of education (Vols. 1-8). New York, NY: Macmillan.

Book entries or sections (chapters, forwards, etc.)
Author(s) of section or entry, if given. (Year). Entry heading, Section title, or Description. In Author(s) or Editor(s)., Book title (Edition, Vol. number (if any), p. or pp. page(s) of entry or section). Publication place: Publisher. https://doi.org/... (if given)

Jeffrey, I. (1988). Introduction. In B. Savelev, Secret city: Photographs from the USSR (pp. 8-12). New York, NY: Thames and Hudson.

Lowey, R. S. (2010). Ethical issues in addiction medicine. In N. S. Miller & M. S. Gold (Eds.), Addictive disorders in medical populations (pp. 31-51). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470710449.ch3

Scatology. (2003). In Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed., p. 1107). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

Shuman, R. B. (2017). The Indian Ocean tsunami. In R. S. Carmichael (Ed.), Notable natural disasters (2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 974-980). Ipswich, MA: Salem Press. 

Shorter works (like articles) reprinted in books
Author(s) of work. (Year). Title of selection. In Editor(s) (Ed(s).), Book title (Edition, Vol. number (if any), p. or pp. page(s) of selection). Publication place: Publisher. (Reprinted from Original Citation Information)

Jacobs, J. (2018). Beyond the factory model. In G. L. Koonce (Ed.), Taking sides: Clashing views on educational issues (19th ed., pp. 275-280). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education (Reprinted from Education Next, 14(4), 35-41, 2014, Fall). 

Stervant, G. (2005). Art history and its exclusions. In J. C. McIntire & D. F. Polinski (Eds.), Critical perspectives on art education (pp. 99-115). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. (Reprinted from Missing: Uncovering art, pp. 1-14, by F. N. White, Ed., 1975, New York, NY: Nova) 

Section/chapter in a specific volume of a set or series
Section Author(s), if given. (Year). Title of section. In Editor’s name (Ed.), Title of anthology  (Edition, Volume (if any), pp. page numbers of selection). Place of publication: Publisher. (Reprinted from Original Citation Information)

Umberger, L. (2013). Art cars. In C. R. Wilson (General Ed.), C. Crown (Vol. Ed.), & C. Rivers (Vol. Ed.), The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Vol. 19. Folk art (pp. 54-56). Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.

Images and other visuals from books
Creator of image or artwork (if given). (Book copyright year). Title of artwork, if any [medium] or [Description, including medium]. Repository of artwork, Location (if applicable). In Author(s) or Editor(s) Book title (Edition, Vol. number (if any), p. or pp. page(s)). Publication place: Publisher. (Original work year, if applicable) https://doi.org/... (if given)

[Human heart diagram]. (2007). In L. Hamby, Coronary conditions (p. 5). New York, NY: Universe.

Piccato, N. (2009). Fig tree [painting]. Museum of Historical Art, New York, NY. In F. Wye (Ed.), Art with foliage (2nd ed., p. 34). New York, NY: Nola. (Original work 1795).

[Satellite photographs of light distributions in Maryland]. (2008). In M. Knight, Too light: The effects of light pollution (pp. 392-399). New York, NY: Riley. (Original work 2007).

Citing eBooks

eBooks - library databases and websites
(Cite as you would books in print, omitting publisher name and location, and, if not provided, page numbers). https://doi.org/... or Retrieved from Database Name. or URL

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Anxiety disorders. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.dsm05 

Prairie oyster. (2002). In Rawson's dictionary of euphemisms and other doubletalk. Retrieved from Credo Reference database.

Sartwell, C. (2016). Beauty. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy (Winter 2017 ed.). Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2017/entries/beauty

eBooks - eReaders and downloads
(Cite as you would books in print, omitting publisher name and location, and, if not provided, page numbers) [eReader version or file type]. https://doi.org/... or Retrieved from homepage URL of the site where the book was downloaded

Drum, D., & Zierenberg, T. (2006). The type 2 diabetes sourcebook (3rd ed.) [Adobe Digital Editions version].  https://doi.org/10.1036/0071462317

Undin, J. (2008). Heart times. In M. Meyer (Ed.), Essays on hope  (rev. ed., pp. 487-491) [Kindle Fire version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com

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