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APA 6th Referencing: Books

Books: General Reference Format

Book:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date). Title of book. Location: Publisher.
 
Electronic Book:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date). Title of book. Location: Publisher. Retrieved from https://www.xxxxxxxxx
 
Edited Book:
Insert the editor's name in the place of the author name, followed by (Ed.) for one editor or (Eds.) for more than one editor.
 
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Eds.). (Date). Title of book. Location: Publisher.
Cunningham, S., & Turner, G. (Eds.). (2002). The media in Australia. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
 
Chapter in an edited book:
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date). Title of chapter. In A. Editor & B. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (#th ed., pp. xx-xx). Location: Publisher.
 
Edition statement:
Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. (Date). Title of book (#th ed.). Location: Publisher.
Avis, H. (1999). Drugs and life (4th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.
Only include the edition statement (number followed by ed. in brackets after the title), if the book is a 2nd or later edition.
Remove any superscript from editions when typing. All letters should be on the line. e.g. (2nd ed.).
 
In-text citation:
(Author, date)
Note: If citing a quotation, then include a page number or range of page numbers in-text: (Author, date, page/s).

Books: Sample References

Source In-text Reference End-text Reference
(reference lists require hanging indent)
Book: One author (Ezzy, 2002)
Ezzy, D. (2002). Qualitative analysis: Practice and innovation. Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Book: Two authors
(Cook & Cook, 2007)
Note: Cite both authors every time. 
Cook, J., & Cook, G. (2007). The world of children. Boston, MA: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon.
Book: Three, four, or five authors
First mention:
(Quinlan, Bohle, & Lamm, 2010)
 
Subsequent mention:
(Quinlan et al., 2010)
Quinlan, M., Bohle, P., & Lamm, F. (2010). Managing occupational health and safety: A multidisciplinary approach (3rd ed.). South Yarra, Australia: Palgrave Macmillan.
Book: Six or seven authors

(Hoffnung et al., 2013)

Hoffnung, M., Hoffnung, R. J., Seifert, K. L., Burton Smith, R., Hine, A., Ward, L., & Pause, C. (2013). Lifespan development: A chronological approach (2nd Australasian ed.). Milton, Australia: Wiley.
Book: Eight or more authors
(Loxey et al., 2004)
Loxey, W., Toumbourou, J. W., Stockwell, T., Haines, B., Scott, K., Godfrey, C., . . . Williams, J. (2004). The prevention of substance use, risk and harm in Australia: A review of the evidence. Canberra, Australia: Department of Health and Ageing.
 
Note: List the first six authors, then an ellipsis (i.e. three spaced dots), then the last author in the reference.
Book: Corporate author (British Pharmacopoeia Commission, 2011)
British Pharmacopoeia Commission. (2011). British Pharmacopoeia. London, England: Stationery Office.
Book: Secondary sources (an author cites another author in a primary source)
Beaty (cited in Gibbs, 1981) asserts . . .
Gibbs, G. (1981). Teaching students to learn. Milton Keynes, England: Open University Press.
 
Note: The author of the work you are reading discusses or cites material that was originally published in another source. If the original (primary) source is not available, then reference the (secondary) source that you are reading. Refer to the original author in-text.
Book: No date
(Southey, n.d.)
Southey, R. (n.d.). The life of Nelson. London, England: Blackie.
Book: Work in a language other than English
(Traversa, 1981)
Traversa, V. P. (1981). Parola e pensiero: Introduzionealla lingua Italiana moderna [Word and thought: An introduction to modern Italian language] (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Harper & Row.
Book: Translator
(Genet, 1966)
Genet, J. (1966). The balcony (2nd ed.). (B. Frechtman,Trans.). London, England: Faber.
 
Note: Name the translator or editor only in the end-text reference
Book: Author as publisher
(American Psychological Association, 2001)
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: Author.
Book: Edited
(Cunningham & Turner, 2002)
Cunningham, S., & Turner, G. (Eds.). (2002). The media in Australia. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Book: Title includes the title of another work
(Chitham, 1998)
Chitham, E. (1998). The birth of “Wuthering Heights”: Emily Brontë at work. Basingstoke, England: Macmillan.
Book: Edition of a book
(Avis, 1999)
Avis, H. (1999). Drugs and life (4th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.
Chapter in an edited book
(Mandler, 1993)
Mandler, G. (1993). Thought, memory, and learning: Effects of emotional stress. In L. Goldberger & S. Bregnitz (Eds.), Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects (2nd ed., pp. 40-55). New York, NY: The Free Press.
Electronic Book (Prior & Glaser, 2006)
Prior, V., & Glaser, D. (2006). Understanding attachment and attachment disorders: Theory, evidence and practice. London, England: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com
 
Note: Include the publisher location and name as well as the URL for the online eBook collection homepage.
Electronic Book (Towler & Sinnott, 2013)
Towler, G., & Sinnott, R. (2013). Chemical engineering design : Principles, practice and economics of plant and process design (2nd ed.). Oxford, England: Butterworth-Heinemann. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com
 
Note: Provide the URL for the online eBook collection homepage.

Books: Things to Remember

Authors' names: Authors' names should always be Surname, Initial. Initial. e.g. Smith, L. M.
The APA Style blog provides additional examples of variations in Author Names: http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/author-names/
 
Italics: Only the book title should be in italics. If you are referencing a chapter in a book, the title of the chapter should not be in italics.
 
Capitalization: In your reference list the first letter of the first word of a title should be capitalized as should the first letter of the first word of any subtitle. Everything else should be in lower case unless it is a proper noun or an abbreviation that is always written in capitals.
 
Edition statement:
Author, A. A. & Author, B. B. (Date). Title of book (2nd ed.). Location: Publisher.
Avis, H. (1999). Drugs and life (4th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.
Only include the edition statement (number followed by ed. in brackets after the title) if the book is a 2nd or later edition.
Remove any superscript from editions when typing. All letters should be on the line. e.g. (2nd ed.)
 
Publication details: Follow the name of the city with the name of the country. For books published in the United States, follow the name of the city with the state (using the official two-letter US Postal Service abbreviation). End with the name of the publisher.
  • New York, NY: Harper & Row.
  • Washington, DC: Author.
  • Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • London, England: Wildwood House.
  • Melbourne, Australia: Puffin.

Note: If the author and the publisher are the same, write "Author" as the name of the publisher.

DOI: Some electronic books are assigned a DOI, which should also be included in your reference if given. See examples on the Reference Works page.

 
In-text citations (2 or more works):
  • Order two or more authors cited within the same parentheses alphabetically in the order in which they appear in the reference list. Separate references with a semicolon;
    • (Cooper & Carver, 2012; Douziech, Hellweg, & Verones, 2016; Pandey, Shukla, & Habibi, 2015)
  • Order two or more works by the same author by the year of publication.
    • (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010, 2013)
  • Identify works by the same author (or same two or more authors), with the same publication date, by adding a, b, c, etc. after the year. Repeat the year each time.
    • (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c)

Book Reference

Book Reference

Learn how to format references for whole books, including both authored books and edited books.

Academic Writer

© 2016 American Psychological Association.

Book Chapter Reference

Book Chapter Reference

Learn how to format references for chapters in edited books, meaning those books where each chapter is written by a different author (cite the whole book if the same author has written all chapters).

Academic Writer

© 2016 American Psychological Association.

Secondary Sources

Academic Writer tutorial on citing secondary sources

Secondary Sources

Learn how to use and cite secondary sources, that is, sources that discuss or cite material originally presented in another, or primary, source.

Academic Writer

© 2016 American Psychological Association.

Electronic Sources & Locator Information

Electronic Sources and Locator Information

Learn how to use the two types of electronic retrieval information found in references, digital object identifiers (DOIs) and uniform resource locators (URLs), including how to cite documents retrieved from research databases and websites.

Academic Writer

© 2016 American Psychological Association.