How to Cite a Book in the APA Format?

The American Psychological Association (APA) style is a commonly used system for citing sources within the social sciences. It is often used in psychology, education, and other social sciences disciplines. A book citation in the APA style includes:

• The name of the author/s,
• The year of publication of the book,
• Title of the book, and
• The name of the publisher.

Book Citation Style Differs for Different Types of Books

Basic Book Citation Format

Do you wonder how to cite a book in APA style? There are two basic formats you can use:

• APA in-text citation: Mention the last name of the author, the year in which the book was published, and the page or paragraph number (if relevant).

 For example: (Burns, 2018, para. 15)

• In the Reference List: Mention the last name of the author and his/her initials, the year in which the book was published in round brackets, the title of the book in sentence case and italics, other contributors (such as editors and translators), and the edition (if specified on the book) in round brackets, publisher of the book, and the DOI (if available).  

• The Sentence Case is one where we capitalize the first word and proper nouns only.
• A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is a unique number that personally identifies a document present on the Internet. Mentioned prominently in the APA 7th edition referencing style, it is the URL where a book, journal, report, or other publication can be found. Make sure that the link works before you include it in your Reference List.  

APA Reference List Book Citation Format: Last name, Initials. (Year). Book title (in italics). (Editor/translator initials, Last name, Ed. or Trans.) (Edition). Publisher.

 For example: Fletcher, D. P. (2018). Disrupters: Success strategies for women who break the mold. Entrepreneur Press.

Ebook or Online Book Citation Format

Many students ask us how to cite an ebook in the APA style or how to cite a book they have viewed online in PDF form or on other book viewing platforms (such as Google Books). The in-text citation format is the same as normal books but in the reference list, do mention the DOI or the page where one can view, access, or purchase the ebook.

• APA in-text citation of an ebook: Mention the last name of the author, the year in which the book was published, and the page or paragraph number (if relevant).

 For example: (Anderson, 1983, p. 23)

• Ebook or Online Book in the Reference List: Mention the last name of the author and his/her initials, the year in which book was published in round brackets, the title of the book in sentence case and in italics, other contributors (such as editors and translators), and the edition (if specified on the book) in round brackets, publisher of the book, and the DOI or URL (an important element in the case of an e-book or online book).

 APA Reference List Ebook Citation Format: Last name, Initials. (Year). Book title. Publisher. URL or DOI

 For example: Erlingsson, F (1992). Benjamin Dove (B. Scudder., Trans). North-South Books.

https://www.amazon.com/Benjamin-dove-Fri%C3%B0rik-Erlings-ebook/dp/

          B004B8VQIW/

A Chapter from an Edited Book Citation Format

If you need to cite a chapter from a book with various authors (such as a collection of essays), first mention the name of the author of the chapter followed by the name(s) of the editor(s) of the book. Also, mention the page range of the chapter in the book.

The in-text citation remains the same as the normal book citation but the format of citing the chapter in the reference list is as follows:

APA Reference List Chapter Citation Format: Last name, Initials. (Year). Title of chapter. In Editor initials. Last name (Ed. or Eds.), Book title (pp. page range). Publisher. DOI (if available)

 For example: Belsey, C. (2006). Poststructuralism. In S. Malpas & P. Wake (Eds.), The Routledge companion to critical theory (pp. 51–61). Routledge.

Citation Formats for Multi-Volume Books

Some books have several volumes. The ways to cite a single volume or all the volumes at once are different.

Citing a single volume

If the volume of the book has a separate title, it can be cited as follows:

Eliot, T. S. (2015). The poems of T. S. Eliot: Vol. 1. Collected and uncollected poems (C. Ricks & J. McCue, Eds.). Faber & Faber.

If the volume of the book does not have a separate title, the volume number is written in parentheses after the title and is not italicized. For example:

Dylan, B. (2005). Chronicles (Vol. 1). Simon & Schuster.

Citing multiple volumes of the book at once

When you are citing a book with multiple volumes, you mention all the volumes in parentheses after the book title. Even if volumes have separate titles, they are not mentioned in the reference list. For example:

Eliot, T. S. (2015). The poems of T. S. Eliot (Vols. 1–2) (C. Ricks & J. McCue, Eds.). Faber & Faber.

Do note that citations of scriptural works like the Bible as well as dictionaries have different formats too.

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