How to Cite a Book in APA Style | Format & Examples
Books are one of the most common types of sources in academic writing. For each book that you use as an outside source, APA requires two forms of documentation:
- In-text citations with the author and date (for paraphrases and summaries) or the author, date, and page (for quotations)
- Reference list entries that include the author, date, title, publisher, DOI, and sometimes other details
There are also different types of books. The citation and referencing guidelines vary according to the number of authors, the type of book, and other factors.
To cite and reference books correctly in APA style, follow the examples and guidelines below, or use QuillBot’s free Citation Generator.
| In-text citation | Reference list entry |
|---|---|
| Morris and Hays-Grudo (2023) explained that children who grew up during the Great Depression were known for their resilience and grit. |
Morris, A. S., & Hays-Grudo, J. (2023). Raising a resilient child in a world of adversity: Effective parenting for every family. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000385-000
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QuillBot’s Plagiarism Checker can help you avoid accidental plagiarism by identifying material that has not been correctly cited.
APA basic book citation format
APA reference entries for books include the following elements, most of which are separated by periods.
- Author’s last name, first initial
- Year of publication in parentheses
- Book title in italics and sentence case (only the first word, proper nouns, and the first word after a colon are capitalized)
- Editor or translator’s first initial and last name with the abbreviation “Ed.” for “editor” or “Trans.” for “translator” (if applicable)
- Edition number and/or volume number (if applicable)
- Publisher
- DOI hyperlink (if available)
Editors/translators, edition numbers, and volume numbers all go in the same set of parentheses (if the book includes any or all of these elements). Reference entries also include a hanging indent, which means that all lines after the first are indented ½ inch. The following example includes all of these elements.
ed.). Groundwood. https://doi.org/10.5949/liverpool/9781786940629.003.0004
*The (1st ed.) part of this entry is for demonstration purposes only. Since there is only one edition of this book, the edition information should be omitted.
APA in-text citations for books usually include the author’s last name and the year of publication. If you quote the author’s exact words, also include a page number. APA does not require page numbers when you’re paraphrasing or summarizing. As with any type of source, there are two types of in-text citations: narrative citations and parenthetical citations.
APA narrative citations are part of signal phrases that include “according to” or a past-tense verb (e.g., “wrote” or “explained”).
| APA format |
Name, F. (year). Title in sentence case. Publisher. DOI if applicable |
| APA reference |
Yong, E. (2022). An immense world: How animal senses reveal the hidden realms around us. Random House. |
| APA narrative in-text citation, quotation | Yong (2022) explained, “Dogs have a facial muscle that can raise their inner eyebrows, giving them a soulful, plaintive expression…It’s the result of centuries of domestication, in which dog faces were inadvertently reshaped to look a bit more like ours” (p. 18). |
| APA narrative in-text citation, paraphrase | Yong (2022) explained that dogs have almost twice as many types of olfactory receptors and larger olfactory bulbs than humans. |
| APA parenthetical citation, paraphrase | Dogs’ noses are so sensitive that they can tell identical twins apart by smell (Yong, 2022). |
APA books with multiple authors
The format for reference entries and in-text citations changes slightly when a book has multiple authors.
- For books with two authors, include both names in the reference entry and the in-text citations. Use the ampersand (&) rather than “and” between the names in the reference entry and parenthetical (but not narrative) in-text citations.
- For books with three or more authors, use the first name with “et al.” in each in-text citation. On the references list, use all of the last names and first initials.
| 2 authors | Reference:
Robinson, J., & Clegg, J. (2024). The formula: How rogues, geniuses, and speed freaks reengineered F1 into the world’s fastest growing sport. HarperCollins.
|
| Parenthetical in-text citation: (Robinson & Clegg, 2024) | |
| Narrative in-text citation: Robinson and Clegg (2024) found that … | |
| 3+ authors | Reference:
Levinson, H., Gay, V., & Binder, J. L. (2023). Deliberate practice in psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000351-001 |
| Parenthetical in-text citation: (Levinson et al., 2023) | |
| Narrative in-text citation: Levinson et al. (2023) explained that… |
APA books with group authors
When a book’s author is a group or organization (e.g., The Red Cross, The World Health Organization, or The American Psychological Association), begin each reference entry and in-text citation with the organization’s name.
If the organization has an acronym (e.g., APA or WHO), define the acronym in the first citation. In subsequent citations, use the acronym instead of the full organization name.
| APA format |
Organization Name. (year). Title in sentence case (edition number if applicable). DOI |
| APA reference |
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000 [If the author and publisher are the same organization, omit the publisher part of the entry like this example.] |
| First in-text citation | Narrative: The American Psychological Association (APA, 2020) advised writers to use “they” as a singular pronoun for a generic person whose gender is irrelevant or unknown. |
| Parenthetical: “They” is a correct singular pronoun for a generic person whose gender is irrelevant or unknown (American Psychological Association [APA], 2020). |
|
| Subsequent in-text citation | Narrative: The APA (2020) further explained that “themself” is an increasingly acceptable singular, reflexive pronoun. |
| Parenthetical: “Themself” is an increasingly acceptable singular, reflexive pronoun (APA, 2020). |
APA ebooks and online books
The APA referencing guidelines for electronic or online books is only slightly different from the basic book referencing format. For online books, end the reference entry with a URL if a DOI isn’t available. APA does not require any details about the book’s format (e.g., audiobook) if the content is the same as the print version.
If you use an exact quotation from an ebook, the in-text citation should include a page number if one is available. If the ebook version doesn’t have numbered pages, you can cite the chapter number for any direct quotations (Smith, 2021, Chapter 3).
APA chapters in edited books
Some books are edited collections of shorter works by individual authors. If each chapter or part of a book has a different author, include a reference entry for each chapter that you quoted, summarized, or paraphrased (or each article, essay, poem, etc. in a collection or anthology). The reference entry includes the author and the editor.
In each in-text citation, include the author(s) but not the editor(s).
| APA format |
Author, F. M. (year). Chapter title in sentence case. In F. Last (Ed.) Book title in italics and sentence case (nth ed., pp. xxx–xxx). Publisher. DOI [An edition number before the page range is only necessary if the book has more than one edition.] |
| APA references |
Reed, G. M. (2024). A global approach to diagnosis. In G. M. Reed, P. L-J. Ritchie, & A. Maercker (Eds.), A psychological approach to diagnosis: Using the ICD-11 as a framework (pp. 23–38). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000392-000 |
|
Roy, A., & Kogan, C. S. (2024). Disorders of intellectual development and developmental learning disorder. In G. M. Reed, P. L-J. Ritchie, & A. Maercker (Eds.), A psychological approach to diagnosis: Using the ICD-11 as a framework (pp. 41–60). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000392-000 |
|
| APA narrative in-text citations | According to Reed (2024), … |
| Roy and Kogan (2024) found that … | |
| APA parenthetical in-text citations | (Reed, 2024) or (Reed, 2024, p. 25) |
| (Roy & Kogan, 2024) or (Roy & Kogan, 2024, p. 50) |
For example, if Geoffrey M. Reed is an author, put the last name before the first and middle initials (e.g., “Reed, G. M.”).
When Geoffrey M. Reed is an editor, the format is “G. M. Reed.”
APA multivolume books
Some books have multiple volumes, which means that the reference entry should include details about the volume(s) that you used. If you only used one volume, include its number in the reference entry (e.g., “Vol. 2”). If you used information from the multivolume work as a whole, include the range of volume numbers (e.g., “Vols. 1–4”).
If each volume has a separate title, include the volume number with the volume title in italics right after the main book title.
The number of volumes that a book has does not affect the in-text citations.
| APA format |
Author, F. M. (year). Title in italics and sentence case (nth ed., Vol. #). Publisher. DOI [An edition number before the page range is only necessary if the book has more than one edition.] |
| APA reference for a single volume |
Kieso, D. E., Weygandt, J. J., & Warfield, T. D. (2019). Intermediate accounting (17th ed., Vol. 2). Jon Wiley & Sons.
|
| APA reference for a multivolume book as a whole |
Kieso, D. E., Weygandt, J. J., & Warfield, T. D. (2019). Intermediate accounting (17th ed., Vols. 1–2). Jon Wiley & Sons. |
| APA reference for a volume with a separate title |
Maltzman, S. (2013). The assessment process. In K. F. Geisinger, B. A. Bracken, J. F. Carson, J.-I. C. Hansen, N. R. Kuncel, S. P. Reise, & M. C. Rodriguez (Eds.), APA handbook of testing and assessment in psychology: Vol. 2. Testing and assessment in clinical and counseling psychology (pp. 19–34). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14048-002This multivolume work is also an edited book with a different author for each chapter.
|
Where to find the details for APA book references
You can find most of the information you need for a reference entry on the title page and copyright page (the first two pages before the introduction).
- The title page almost always includes the author name, editor’s name (if applicable), book title, and publisher.
- The copyright page includes the year of publication.
If each chapter has a different author (in which case the reference entry will begin with that author’s name), it’s probably listed on the table of contents and/or the first page of the chapter. You can also find the chapter title in either of these places.
Frequently asked questions about APA book citations
- When should I use et al. in APA in-text citations?
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When to use et al. in APA in-text citations depends on which edition of the APA Publication Manual you are using.
In APA 6th edition, works with three to five authors are listed using “et al.” after the first citation.
Example: “Freeman, Taylor, and Werg (2024) reject this hypothesis. Instead, their data indicates that the opposite is true (Freeman et al., 2024).”
In APA 7th edition, works with three or more authors are listed using “et al.” after the first author’s name from the first citation.
Example: “Freeman et al. (2024) reject this hypothesis.”
You can keep track of all relevant source information with QuillBot’s free notepad online.
- What is the APA page number format for in-text citations?
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The APA page number format for in-text citations is (author, date, p. xx) or (p. xx) depending on whether you’re using a parenthetical or a narrative in-text citation.
APA only requires page numbers for direct quotations. Page numbers are optional for paraphrasing and summarizing.
When you quote and cite a book in APA style (or any other paginated source), the page number or page range (if the quotation spans two pages) should look like these examples.
APA book citation Bradshaw and Ellis (2016) explained, “First impressions are crucial—if either the dog or cat is spooked during their first actual physical encounter, later meetings are less likely to go well” (p. 150).Bradshaw and Ellis (2016) explained, “Cats instinctively like to go into small spaces because they feel secure there, and their exceptional agility means that they know that if they have to, they can quickly make their escape” (pp. 179–180).
QuillBot’s free APA Citation Generator can help you quote and cite page numbers correctly in APA format.
- What are the guidelines for APA title capitalization?
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APA title capitalization can be sentence case or title case depending on the type of source and where you’re using the title in the document.
Title case means that you capitalize the first word, major words (e.g., “job” or “parents”), and all minor words that are four letters or longer (e.g., “with”), but not minor words like “at” or “the.”
Sentence case means that you only capitalize the words that you’d capitalize in a sentence—the first word, proper nouns, and the first word after a colon.
When you mention a title within the prose of your document, always use title case (e.g., “The Paradox of Stay-at-Home Parents” in The Atlantic).
In reference list entries, use sentence case for any work that’s contained within a larger source (such as a journal article) as well as self-contained works (e.g., books or websites). The following is an example of a reference entry for a book in APA style.
APA book reference entry example Bradshaw, J., & Ellis, S. (2016). The trainable cat: A practical guide to making life happier for you and your cat. Basic Books.Use title case for the titles of periodicals (e.g., journals) in reference list entries, such as this example for a journal article in APA.
APA journal article reference entry example Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346QuillBot’s free APA Citation Generator can help you follow APA guidelines for title capitalization in your own writing.
- What is a DOI in an APA reference list entry?
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A DOI in an APA reference list entry is a string of numbers and letters that has been assigned to an article or book. It’s also a hyperlink that readers can follow to see more publication details.
“DOI” is an acronym that stands for “Digital Object Identifier.” Almost every scholarly source has a DOI, even books and journal articles that were written before the DOI system started.
The DOI goes at the end of the reference list entry, like this example for a book in APA.
APA book reference entry example Lengua, L. J., & Gartstein, M. A. (2024). Parenting with temperament in mind: Navigating your child’s strengths. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/1.1037/0000407-000QuillBot’s free APA Citation Generator can help you create reference list entries with DOIs. QuillBot’s writing pad online can help you keep track of all relevant source information to ensure your citations are accurate.
