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APA Quick Style Guide: Books and eBooks

Books

  • Indicate the author using the last name and first initial, separated by a comma. If there is more than one author, but less than 21, list all authors with their names separated by a comma and an ampersand before the last author. If there are 21 or more authors, list the first 19 authors, followed by an ellipsis and the last author.  
  • For the publication date, use the year provided on the copyright page of the book. 
  • Provide the title in italics, capitalizing only the first word of the title, first word of the subtitle, proper nouns, or nouns followed by numerals or letters.  
  • Finally, provide the name of the publisher at the end of the citation.

Format:

Lastname, F. (publication year). Title. Publisher. 


Example: 

Smith, H. (2020). Book on psychology. Aurora Press. 

Smith, H. & Wells, H. (2019). Glen Park. Aurora Press. 

Chapters in an Edited Volume/Anthology

  • Provide the name of the author of the chapter, inverted with only the first initial of the first name provided.  
  • The publication year is provided in parenthesis. 
  • Provide the title of the chapter, capitalizing only the first letter, the first letter of the subtitle, proper nouns, and any word proceeding numerals. 
  • Indicate the book the chapter is in using “In” followed by the name of the editor, in the same format as you would provide an author, not inverted, in italics and with the same capitalization pattern as the title of the chapter, and then the page range of the chapter in parenthesis. 
  • Finally, provide the name of the publisher.
Format: 

Author, A. (pub year). Title of chapter. In E. Editor (Ed.), Title of Book (pp.x-x). Publisher. 

Example: 

Wells, H. (2019). Education in Aurora. In H. Smith (Ed.), Wells College (pp. 2-24). Aurora Press. 

Long, L. (1968). Libraries are cool. In F. Cleveland (Ed.), Libraries at Wells College (pp. 42-68). Aurora Press. 

Books with a DOI/eBooks

  • If an eBook is used, and the eBook as a DOI, provide the DOI at the end of the normal citation. 

Wells, H. (2019). Education in Aurora. In H. Smith (Ed.), Wells College (pp. 2-24). Aurora Press. https://doi.org/10.1037/x