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Formatting Guides

APA Book Citation: Helpful Information & Examples

APA book citation
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Bokk is one of the most popular sources citted in APA style papers. To format your book citations properly, you should stick to specific rules stipulated in by APA format.

To cite a book in APA style, provide the author's last name along with initials, the publication year in parentheses, the title of the book in italics, and the publisher. If you are creating a reference for an online book, just add a URL in the end of your citation.  In-text book citations consist of the author's last name and the year of publication listed in parantheses. 

As you can see, an APA book citation is not complex if you learn a basic layout format. But you should consult the specific guidelines for any additional formatting details or variations. We will show you how to cite books with multiple authors, translated works, and multi volume editions in APA style. Do you want to know? Then read on this handy guide and learn the formatting rules.

How to Cite an APA Book?

When completing your assignment, you will encounter two types of book citation APA:

  • List of references at the end of your document.
  • Quoting in your text.

A reference list is a complete list of sources, including author name, publication date, title, etc. When completing an APA Reference List, do the following:

  • Create an APA list at the end of this document. Please note that your list should be centered on a separate page.
  • All quotes must be in alphabetical order. (If you have questions on how to quote a quote, read one more of our blogs.)
  • Your list should contain sources for all citations used in this text.

Note that if there are multiple works by the same publisher, they are sorted by date. If this book's issue year, they are arranged alphabetically by title (a, b, c, etc.). Here's an APA book citation example.

APA book citation example


In your text, all sources should be included after a quotation. Indicate the author’s name and publication date. If this is APA direct quote, then after the date, you should specify a page number. If this section is in parentheses, then this page number is not needed, for example:

Example of APA book citation with a page number

How to Cite a Book Review: APA

Do you often have to use other authors' reviews of some famous book? When you are making an APA book review citation, it is essential to consider our helpful guidelines:

  • If this review does not have a title, use some material in parentheses for its title. Use square brackets to indicate that it is a description of form and content, not an APA title.
  • In parentheses, indicate all types of media being reviewed (book, film, TV program, etc.).
  • If you are citing a book, please include authors' names after this title.

You can use this template as an example of review citation.

Example of review citation

How to Cite a Translated Book: APA

Have you come across a quote from an  APA translated book? Most of popular books have been translated into multiple languages. It is especially true for scientific publications or textbooks. If you wish to add a quotation from a translated edition, you should include this following information:

  • Book`s author
  • Year
  • Title
  • Translator
  • Place of publication
  • Publisher
  • Year of original publication.

Let’s look at this example and see how easy referencing a translated work can be. 

Example of cite a translated book

How to Cite a Chapter in an APA Book?

Sometimes we should quote one APA chapter in a book. Most scientific editions are a chapter selection written by different authors. You need a different format to reference this edition. Add a citation to each excerpt from the book written by another author. When using multiple chapters from any book with different authors, refer to each chapter you are using. If this book does not contain chapters by other authors, you only need to refer to the edition. We have mentioned how to do this in this article.

When you cite a chapter in a book APA, give the first author’s name, followed by an editor’s name. Page range determines a chapter position in your source. If there are multiple authors, use an ampersand (&).  Let's make it clear by looking at this example:

The example will look as follows:

APA Citation Chapter in a Book

How to Cite Multiple Pages From the Same Book: APA

Page numbers are a small but essential part of many APA quotes. You might be wondering how to cite a page in a book APA? Fortunately, page numbers are not always included when we cite specific publications. We recommend that you indicate the page number if you doubt whether to do this or not. It won't be superfluous. Remember to include the author name in all cases. Use the abbreviation "p". (for one page) or "pp" (for multiple pages) before listing the page numbers. To use an APA book citation in your document, follow these steps:

  • Find the page number of your source
  • Write your proposal
  • Include the page number in parentheses at the sentence end
  • Use “p” before any page number
  • Insert commas between inconsistent page numbers
  • Use an en dash for page ranges.

Let’s look at an example of including multiple pages in your quote. 

Example of cite multiple pages from the same book in APA

How to Cite Online Book: APA

APA eBook citations are as common as quotes from paper sources. Modern communications allow you to find most information online. An e-book is a digital version that can be read on any computer or electronic reading device. According to the 7th edition of APA format in paper, there is no need to make a special notation for eBook versions. Just include the URL or DOI number at your citation end. Use an example below to style your quote according to respective rules.

 Example of APA online book citation


If you need APA citation for magazine article, follow another guide. Every citing source has its nuances. 

How to Cite a Kindle Book: APA

How often do you interact with  cite kindle book APA? E-books such as Amazon.com's popular Kindle are evolving. We live in a technological progress time. For this reason, most paper versions have been replaced with an electronic version. To write your link list, you need to specify the eBook version type you are reading. Replace publisher information with the DOI  or where you downloaded the e-book from (if there is no DOI). For example:

Example of APA kindle book citation


Kindle books have “location numbers”. Use APA guidelines for direct citing online content to cite this source. Write author name, year, and significant sections (chapter, team, and paragraph number). See below for a correct version.

Example of APA kindle book citation with location number

How to Cite a Book With Multiple Authors: APA

We often should cite an APA book by multiple authors. If you are referencing a source written by multiple authors, follow these basic steps:

  • 2 authors Always cite both authors` names in this text every time you quote them.
  • 3-5 authors When referring to a document with 3-5 authors, indicate the names of all authors. Indicate only the first author with "et al." for any subsequent links.
  • 6 or more authors If there are six or more authors in this document, indicate the first author's name using "et al."
Example of APA book citation with multiple authors


Keep in mind that this kind of classical citation is completely different from the citation of an APA report for example. As the last one is considered to be a part of gray literature.

How to Cite a Book With Two Authors: APA

If this work has two authors, include them in the order in which they appear in your document. A format of APA citation book for two authors includes the first and second author`s name. Use parentheses in this text. We are ready to present to your attention the basic principle of referencing.

Example of APA book citation with two authors

How to Cite a Book With No Author: APA

Use the first few words of the link on your document if an APA book has no author. It is usually the source name. If it is an article, magazine, brochure or report, it should be in italics. Include a publication year and a publisher name. If it is an article title, chapter, or web page, it must be in quotation marks.

Example of APA book citation with no authors

How to Cite a Book With Editors: APA

If an entire APA edited book with author's chapters is cited, an editor is indicated instead of an author with the abbreviation "(Ed.)”. Multiple editors are formatted as authors. We have prepared for you some popular options and examples for them:

  • List the first editor, giving their first and last name, then add “(Ed.)”.
Example of APA book citation with editor
  • A comma separates two editors after the first author and an ampersand (&), followed by "(Ed.)".
Example of APA book citation with two editors
  • Three to 20 editors are separated by commas and an ampersand (&), followed by "(Ed.)".
Example of APA book citation with up to 20 editors
  • More than 20: List of up to nineteen (19) editors; next add ellipses and then, the last editor.
Example of APA book citation with more than 20 editors


Keep in mind that you will find a lot of blogs with this style of citation whether you need to cite news article APA or cite article APA. Go to our library and choose what you need.

Bottom Line

Do you still find it difficult to quote in APA style? Have you read our recommendations carefully? Now we are confident that you won’t have any problems. Our philosophy essay writing service has done everything to help you with the references in your paper. In this guide, you can read a detailed description of all requirements and simple examples for them.

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Article posted on:Jul 11, 2022
Article updated on:May 12, 2023

Comments

Leave your comment here:
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Mike
8/22/2022 9:03 AM
Hi there. I wonder if I can cite an entire book series or should I cite one book at a time?
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StudyCrumb
8/22/2022 9:45 AM
Hi Mike,

Yes, that’s right, in APA style, you have to cite only one book at a time. If you need to include all the books from the series in your reference list, you need to put them separately. Just list each book from the series separately in your reference list.
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Hellen
8/25/2022 8:56 AM
Thanks to this article I easily cited books I used in my study. I did it for the first time and had no clue how to do it in APA style. Thanks for your help!
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StudyCrumb
8/25/2022 9:29 AM
Hi Hellen,

Great to hear our article helped you cite books in APA style! We always care about our readers and try to make their academic experience better. Good luck!