Jan 28, 2021

How to cite a book APA

How to Cite a Book in APA 7th Edition

Writing a reference list is obviously a challenge for students. Indeed, you'll hardly remember a sophisticated order of a reference entry. Books, authors, editions, and volumes – all this stuff puts you into unbearable frustration.

Today, we are going to end your suffering and offer you with a clear and understandable guideline in to the APA 7th edition citation format.

Citing a Book in Print

You need to stick to the next format while citing a printed book:

  • Write the author’s last name first, followed closely by initials.
  • Put a publication year.
  • Write an italicized book title.
  • If you have a subtitle, you should capitalize its first word.
  • In the event that you cite a book that's not the first edition/volume, you should are the edition/volume number in the brackets following the book title.
  • Incorporate a publisher. Don’t mention the publisher’s business structure (such stuff as Ltd. ).

Here is an example:

  • Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone. Bloomsbury.

Also, check this example for the book with editions:

  • Woolfolk, A. (2019). Educational psychology (14th ed.). Pearson.

If you have a book volume, you ought to include it in brackets like this: (Vol. 2).

Citing a Whole Authored Book

A complete authored book is a work written by an individual author. You need to keep to the next guidelines while citing it:

  • Start your entry with the author’s last name and initials (for the first and the second (if the author features a middle name)). Put a comma following the author’s last name and use spaces between initials. Place a dot after each and every initial.
  • Put a publication year in round brackets at the end of the sentence. It is the reference entry’s first part.
  • Include the title of the book.
  • Include a volume/edition if necessary.
  • Include a publisher.

Here is an example:

  • Lastnameson, F. M. (2008). How to cite a book APA (Vol.2). EUSA.

Citing a Book with Multiple Authors

If a book has several authors, you should include their names in a row before the publication year. After the first author’s initials, put a comma and include the second, the third author, etc. Also, put an ampersand (& ) before the last author. It has to look like this:

  • Clark, M. K., & Burke, A. (2014). The Cinderella Murder. Simon & Schuster.

In-Text Citations

You need to keep to the next text citation format: (an author’s last name, a book publication date). It will look like this: (Jackson, 2009). If you want to add a page number for a primary quote, you need to do it in the next way: (Jackson, 2009, p. 34).

Imagine if your book has multiple authors? You need to include around two authors in the written text citation such as this: water becomes ice when it freezes (Jackson & Peterson, 2008). If three or more people wrote a book, you need to include only the first author and add “et al. ” in your citations. It will appear to be this: Normal water is life-threatening because every water drinker dies sooner or later (Anderson et al., 2010).

The narrative citation will look similar to this: Jackson (2009) found that our planet orbited the sun's rays. Peterson et al. (2010) stated that sugar was sweet.

Citing an e-Book

Luckily, there are a few differences in citing printed and online books. With an on the web book, you'll need to add a URL (a web address) or a digital object identifier (DOI) after having a book publisher. What is a DOI? It’s a hyperlink to your on line book that never changes, unlike the internet address. The DOI starts with “https://doi.org/.”

Where to find a DOI? It’s frequently displayed within the book information on a specific page. But it’s no problem if you can’t find a DOI for your book. Just work with a URL alternatively. Thus, an e-book citation will look such as this:

  • Botsford, G. W. (1913). An ancient history for beginners. New York The Macmillan Company. https://archive.org/details/ancienthistoryfo00botsuoft/page/n27/mode/2up

In-Text Citations

There's absolutely no difference between in-text citations for an online and printed book.

Citing a Book Found in a Database

You could find a book in a library database. It’s a simple way to access a required work in order to find the necessary info. Fortunately, citing a book retrieved from the database doesn’t need such a thing special.

You don’t have to include the database name or copy a web link to the foundation. You can disregard the fact that you accessed an online library to find a book. To cite one, follow the citation template for a printed book. In-text citations follow the same pattern: (author’s last name, publication year).

Citing a Republished Book, with Editor

Sometimes, a book undergoes editing and gets published yet again. So , there was an author, an editor, and two publication dates. How to combine them in your reference page and in-text citations? Check this below:

  • Range from the author’s last name, initials, and the edited version’s publication year.
  • Write the title of the book.
  • Put an editor’s initials, their last name, and the “Ed. ” notification.
  • Write the publisher.
  • Include a URL and DOI.
  • Write the following notification: (Original work published (insert a year)).

It will look like this:

  • Anderson, F. M. (2008). How to cite a textbook APA (F. M. Peterson, Ed. ). EUSA. (Original work published 2007).

In-Text Citations

While mentioning the job in text, you should put the author’s last name and the publications’ year (for the first and edited publication) in round brackets: (Anderson, 2007/2008).

Citing an Audio Book in APA

Sometimes, it’s definitely better to listen to a book while lying in your sofa, walking along the street, or going by bus to academy. So how to cite a book APA when it’s an audio one? In this instance, you have to follow this pattern:

  • Author’s last name, initials (a year of the audio version release).
  • Write the narrator’s initials and the last name, you need to include “Narr. ” in round brackets by the end of the sentence.
  • Put “Audiobook” in box brackets.
  • Write an audiobook publisher.
  • Include a DOI or URL if necessary.
  • Write an original publication year.

The entry will look like this:

  • Orwell, G. (2007). 1984 (S. Prebble, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Blackstone Audio. https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/1984/103069 (Original work published 1949)

In-Text Citations

With both parentheses and narrative citations, are the author’s last name and the audiobook release year: (Orwell, 2007).

The Bottom Line

Citing a book in APA is a challenging task, also it may take hours for you to develop a reference list. non-etheless, it’s better to always check web resources like ours to cite books precisely. It will help you save your time and grades. Once you learn the overall pattern of formatting a reference page in APA, you will comprehend its variations (like multiple authors or editors) more speedily. You can also address an essay writer when you have no time to make a reference list for your paper.