Skip to Main Content

APA Citation and Formatting: Books and eBooks

Attention Students!

This guide is a starting point. For full details on correctly citing resources and creating references, please consult
the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th Ed.) (2020), or Cites & Sources (6th Ed.) (2021).

Please Note! Library staff do not teach APA, and cannot evaluate or correct work. If you need help with APA Style, please contact your instructor.

How Do I Cite Books and eBooks?

An image of a book cover and a title page verso. The title reads, “Canadian justice, Indigenous injustice: the Gerald Stanley and Colten Boushie case”. The author is Kent Roach. The title page verso lists 2019 as the date of publication. It gives McGill Queen’s University press as the publisher. Blue arrows point to the title, author, date of publication and publisher.

Reference List Entry: Format (10.2)
Author, A. (Date). Title of book. Publisher name.

Please Note! To find the date of publication and the name of the publisher for a book, check the title page verso. This page contains all of the publishing information, and is usually the second or third page in a book. It appears before any indexes or introductions to the book.

Example:
Roach, K. (2019). Canadian justice, Indigenous injustice: The Gerald Stanley and Colten Boushie case. McGill-Queen's University Press.

Parenthetical Citation (Paraphrase)
(Author, Date), e.g.: (Roach, 2019)

Parenthetical Citation (Direct Quotation)
(Author, Date, Page number), e.g.: (Roach, 2019, p. 33)

Narrative Citation (Paraphrase)
Author (Date), e.g.: Roach (2019)

Narrative Citation (Direct Quotation)
Author (Date, Page number), e.g.: Roach (2019, p. 33)

A book cover and title page verso - the second or third page which contains the publication information. Blue arrows point out the title, authors' names, date of publication, and the name of the publisher.

Reference List Entry: Format (10.2)
Author, A., Author, B., & Author, C. (Date). Title. Publisher.

Please Note! To find the date of publication and the name of the publisher for a book, check the title page verso. This page contains all of the publishing information, and is usually the second or third page in a book. It appears before any indexes or introductions to the book.

Example: Gomez, R., Isakov, A., & Semansky, M. (2015). Small business and the city: The transformative potential of small-scale entrepreneurship. (1st ed.). University of Toronto Press.

Remember! In a reference list entry, up to 20 authors' names can be listed. Each name is separated by a comma, with an ampersand (&) used before the final author's name (9.8).

Remember! The edition statement is part of the title. If a work has an edition statement, the edition is included in parentheses following the title (10.2). The edition is not included in the in-text citation.

Parenthetical Citation (Paraphrase)
(Author & Author, Date) or (Author et al., Date) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: (e.g.: (Gomez, Isakov, & Semansky, 2015) 

Parenthetical Citation (Direct Quotation)
(Author & Author, Date, Page number) or (Author et al., Date, page number) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: (Gomez, Isakov, & Semansky, 2015, p. 15) 

Narrative Citation (Paraphrase)
Author and Author (Date) or Author et al. (Date) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: Gomez, Isakov, and Semansky (2015) 

Narrative Citation (Direct Quotation)
Author and Author (Date, Page number) or Author et al. (Date, page number) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: Gomez, Isakov, and Semansky (2015, p. 45)

Remember! For in-text citations of works with two authors, list the last names of both authors. For works with three authors or more, list the last name of the first author followed by et al. For example, the book Canadian Fundamentals of Nursing was edited by Wendy Diane Duggleby, Barbara J. Astle, Patricia A. Stockert, Amy M. Hall, Anne Griffin Perry, and Patricia Ann Potter. The in-text citation for this book would read, (Duggleby et. al., 2019) or Duggleby et. al. (2019).

An image of a book cover and a title page verso. The title reads, “ Losing our voice : Radio-Canada under siege”. The author is Alain Saulnier. The title page verso lists 2015 as the date of publication. It gives Dundurn Press as the publisher. It lists Pauline Coutureas the translator. Blue arrows point to the title, author, date of publication and publisher.

Reference List Entry: Format (10.2)
Author, A. (Date). Title of book. (Translator). Publisher name.

Please Note! To find the date of publication and the name of the publisher for a book, check the title page verso. This page contains all of the publishing information, and is usually the second or third page in a book. It appears before any indexes or introductions to the book.

What if the original work and the translated work were published in different years? (9.39)
If the original work and the translated work were published in different years, include the publication date of the original work at the very end of the reference list entry in brackets, e.g.: Author, A. (Date). Title of book. (Translator). Publisher name. (Original work published Date).

Example:
Saulnier, A. (2015). Losing our voice: Radio-Canada under siege. (P. Couture, Trans.) Dundurn Press.

Parenthetical Citation (Paraphrase)
(Author, Date), or (Author & Author, Date), or (Author et al., Date) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: (Saulnier & Couture, 2015)

Parenthetical Citation (Direct Quotation)
(Author, Date, Page number), or (Author & Author, Date, Page number) or (Author et al., Date, Page number) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: (Saulnier & Couture, 2015, p. 25)

Narrative Citation (Paraphrase)
Author (Date), Author and Author (Dater), or Author et al. (Date) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: Saulnier and Couture (2015)

Narrative Citation (Direct Quotation)
Author (Date, Page number), Author and Author (Date, Page number), or Author et al. (Date, Page number) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: Saulnier and Couture (2015, p. 25)

Remember! For in-text citations of works with two authors, list the last names of both authors. For works with three authors or more, list the last name of the first author followed by et al.

An image of a book cover and a title page verso, and the first page of a chapter in the book. The title of the book reads, “One hundred years of wartime nursing practices, 1854–1953”. The editors of the book are Jane Brooks and Christine E. Hallett. The title page verso lists Manchester University Press as the publisher and 2015 as the date of publication. The chapter is titled, “Moving forward: Australian flight nurses in the Korean War” and it was written by Maxine Dahl. Blue arrows point to the titles, editors, author, date of publication and publisher.


Reference List Entry: Format (10.3)
Chapter Author, A. (Date). Title of chapter. Editor, E. (Ed.) Title of book. (page numbers of chapter). Publisher name. DOI [if available]

Example: 
Dahl, M. (2015). Moving forward: Australian flight nurses in the Korean War. Brooks, J. & Hallett, C.E. (Eds.) One hundred years of wartime nursing practices, 1854-1953. (pp.254-277). Manchester University Press.

Please Note! To find the date of publication and the name of the publisher for a book, check the title page verso. This page contains all of the publishing information, and is usually the second or third page in a book. It appears before any indexes or introductions to the book. When citing individual chapters, the chapter title and the author of the chapter can be found on the first page of the chapter.

Parenthetical Citation (Paraphrase)
(Author, Date), or (Author & Author, Date), or (Author et al., Date) for chapters with three or more authors, e.g.: (Dahl, 2015)

Parenthetical Citation (Direct Quotation)
(Author, Date, Page number), or (Author & Author, Date, Page number), or (Author et al., Date, Page number) for chapters with three or more authors, e.g.: (Dahl, 2015, p.45)

Narrative Citation (Paraphrase)
Author (Date), Author and Author (Date), or Author et al. (Date) for chapters with three or more authors, e.g.: Dahl (2015)

Narrative Citation (Direct Quotation)
Author (Date, Page number), Author and Author (Date, Page number), or Author et al. (Date, Page number) for chapters with three or more authors, e.g.: Dahl (2015, p. 45)

Remember! For in-text citations of works with two authors, list the last names of both authors. For works with three authors or more, list the last name of the first author followed by et al.

An example of an eBook. The image shows the screen where a reader can download the eBook or read it online. Important pieces of information are highlighted with blue arrows - the title, the authors, the date of publication, the publisher, and the D. O. I.

Reference List Entry: Format (10.2)
Author, A. (Date). Title of book. Publisher name. DOI [if available]

Please note! The citation style for print books and eBooks is the same, except for the inclusion of a DOI if it's available. Not all eBooks will have a DOI.

Remember! There are many different eBook platforms, so screens will look different depending on where the eBook is being accessed.

Example: 
Morris, T. & Goldsworthy, S. (2020). Public relations ethics: The real world guide. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003107491

Please Note! To find the date of publication and the name of the publisher for a book, check the title page verso. This page contains all of the publishing information, and is usually the second or third page in a book. It appears before any indexes or introductions to the book.

Parenthetical Citation (Paraphrase)
(Author, Year), or (Author & Author, Year), or (Author et al., Year) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: (Morris & Goldsworthy, 2020)

Parenthetical Citation (Direct Quotation)
(Author, Year, Page number), or (Author & Author, Year, Page number), or (Author et al., Year, Page number) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: (Morris & Goldsworthy, 2020, p. 10)

Narrative Citation (Paraphrase)
Author (Year), Author and Author (Year), or Author et al. (Year) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: : Morris and Goldsworthy (2020)

Narrative Citation (Direct Quotation)
Author (Year, Page number), Author and Author (Year, Page number), or Author et al. (Year, Page number) for books with three or more authors, e.g.: Morris and Goldsworthy (2020, p. 10)

Remember! For in-text citations of works with two authors, list the last names of both authors. For works with three authors or more, list the last name of the first author followed by et al.

Please Note!

This guide is based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (2020). Library staff have reviewed the information in this guide, and to the best of our knowledge, it is accurate. However, mistakes do occur. Students bear sole responsibility for ensuring that their citations are correct, and that their assignments meet the criteria laid out by their instructor. Students are encouraged to contact Peer Tutoring or the Writing Clinic for assistance.