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APA Book Citation

Generate APA citations from ISBNs, titles or URLs.

Journal article
Example result
Watson, J. D., & Crick, F. H. C. (1953). Molecular structure of nucleic acids: A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature, 171(4356), 737–738. https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0
Complete · All key fields present
APA 7th
Watson, James D., and Francis H. C. Crick. “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.” Nature, vol. 171, no. 4356, 1953, pp. 737–738. DOI: 10.1038/171737a0.
Complete · All key fields present
APA 7th
Watson, James D., and Francis H. C. Crick. 1953. “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.” Nature 171 (4356): 737–38. https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0.
Complete · All key fields present

APA Format for Book References
7th Edition

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book: Subtitle. Publisher.
Author
  • List authors in the order they appear on the book.
  • Format each author as last name, followed by initials.
  • For 2–20 authors, separate names with commas and use “&” before the final author.
  • For 21 or more authors, list the first 19 authors, insert an ellipsis (…), and then add the final author.
Year
  • Use the year of publication.
  • If no publication year is available, use (n.d.) in place of the year. Example: Smith, J. (n.d.).
Title of the book
  • Write the book title in italic and use sentence case.
  • Capitalize only the first word of the title, the first word after a colon, and any proper nouns.
  • If the book is not the first edition, include the edition number in parentheses immediately after the title. The edition is not italicized.
Publisher
  • List the publisher’s name only. Publication location is not included in APA 7.
  • If the author and the publisher are the same organization, omit the publisher name from the reference.

APA Book Examples

One author

Write the author's last name first, followed by initials.
Example:
Association, A. P. (2019). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association (APA).

Two authors

List both authors; place “&” before the last author.
Example:
Sommers, N., & Hacker, D. (2015). A Pocket Style Manual, APA Version. Bedford.

Three+ authors

List all authors in order; use “&” before the final author.
Example:
Association, H. L. R., Review, C. L., Review, U. of P. L., & Journal, T. Y. L. (2020). Bluebook. Harvard Law Review Association.

Organization as author

Use the organization’s full name in the author position.
Example:
The Modern Language Association of America. (2021). MLA Handbook. Modern Language Association of America.

No author books

Move the title to the author position.
Example:
Concise Guide to APA Style: The Official APA Style Guide for Students. (2019).

Edited book

Place “(Ed.)” or “(Eds.)” after the editor’s name(s).
Example:
Calvo, R., & Garcia, A. (Eds.). (2023). The Cambridge handbook of applied perception research. Cambridge University Press.

Translated book

Add the translator in parentheses after the title.
Example:
Murakami, H. (2005). Kafka on the shore (P. Gabriel, Trans.). Vintage.

Book with multiple editions

Add the edition in parentheses immediately after the title.
Example:
University of Chicago Press. (2017). The Chicago manual of style (17th ed.). University of Chicago Press.

Chapter in an edited book

Start with the chapter author; add “In” + editor(s) + book title + page range.
Example:
Platt, M. D., & Glimcher, P. W. (2013). The neural basis of decision making. In K. Ochsner & S. M. Kosslyn (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of cognitive neuroscience (Vol. 1, pp. 321–344). Oxford University Press.

eBook with DOI

Include the DOI at the end of the reference.
Example:
Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). (2020). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

In-Text Citations

APA style uses two in-text formats: parenthetical citations (author and year in parentheses) and narrative citations (author as part of the sentence).

Basic citation styles

Parenthetical citation

Author and year both appear inside parentheses at the end of the sentence.

The results were consistent across studies (Walker, 2020).

Narrative citation

The author is part of the sentence; the year appears in parentheses.

Walker (2020) discusses this in detail.

Two Authors

Parenthetical citation

List both authors with an “&” between their names.

(Sommers & Hacker, 2015)

Narrative citation

Use “and” between authors in the sentence.

Sommers and Hacker (2015)

Three or More Authors

Parenthetical citation

Use the first author’s name followed by “et al.”

(Association et al., 2020)

Narrative citation

Use “et al.” after the first author in the sentence.

Association et al. (2020)

Organization as Author

Parenthetical citation

Use the organization’s full name as the author.

(American Psychological Association, 2020)

Narrative citation

Spell out the organization name when used in the sentence.

American Psychological Association (2020)

No Author

Parenthetical citation

Use the book title in italics when no author is listed.

(Concise Guide to APA Style, 2019)

Narrative citation

Start the sentence with the book title and place the year in parentheses.

Concise Guide to APA Style (2019)

Citing specific pages

Parenthetical citation

Add “p.” or “pp.” to indicate the exact page or range.

(Walker, 2020, p. 35)

Narrative citation

Include the page number after the year.

Walker (2020, p. 35) notes that…

Edited Book vs. Book Chapter

Parenthetical citation

For chapters, cite the chapter author, not the editor.

(Smith, 2020)

Narrative citation

Use the chapter author’s name within the sentence.

Smith (2020)

Translated Book

Parenthetical citation

Cite the original author and publication year of the translation used.

(Camus, 1956)

Narrative citation

Only the original author appears in the sentence.

Camus (1956)

Same Author, Same Year (a, b, c)

Parenthetical citation

Add letters after the year to distinguish multiple works.

(Walker, 2020a) notes that…

(Walker, 2020b) suggests…

Narrative citation

Use the same lettered year in the sentence.

Walker (2020a) notes that…

Walker (2020b) suggests…

Multiple Sources in One Citation

Parenthetical citation

List works alphabetically and separate them with semicolons.

(King, 2011; Walker, 2020)

Narrative citation

Rarely needed, but you may discuss works in sentences individually.

Quick Checklist

Common Mistakes & How to Fix Them

Mistake 1

Using Title Case for the book title

APA uses sentence case for book titles. Only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.

Wrong

✕ The Psychology Of Learning

Correct

✓ The psychology of learning

Mistake 2

Adding the publisher location

APA 7th removed cities and countries. List the publisher name only.

Wrong

✕ Cambridge University Press, New York, NY.

Correct

✓ Cambridge University Press.

Mistake 3

Using full first names for authors

In APA, authors are written as Last name, Initials, not full first names.

Wrong

✕ John Smith

Correct

✓ Smith, J.

Mistake 4

Using “and” instead of “&”

In the reference list, APA uses & before the final author, not “and”.

Wrong

✕ Smith, J., and Brown, L.

Correct

✓ Smith, J., & Brown, L.

Mistake 5

Adding a URL for a print book

For normal printed books, no URL is needed. Add a DOI or URL only for special eBook or online-only versions.

Wrong

✕ Cambridge University Press. https://example.com/book

Correct

✓ Cambridge University Press.

Mistake 6

Treating editors as normal authors

For edited books, add (Ed.) or (Eds.) after the editor names.

Wrong

✕ Calvo, R., & Garcia, A.

Correct

✓ Calvo, R., & Garcia, A. (Eds.).

Mistake 7

Forgetting the translator for translated books

For translated books, include the translator in parentheses after the title.

Wrong

✕ The book title. Cambridge University Press.

Correct

✓ The book title (T. Brown, Trans.). Cambridge University Press.

Mistake 8

Shortening organization authors to acronyms

On first mention, write the full organization name, not just the acronym.

Wrong

✕ APA.

Correct

✓ American Psychological Association.

APA Book Citation FAQ

If a book has no author, begin the reference with the title in sentence case. Follow it with the year and the publisher.

For in-text citations, use the title in place of the author.

Product
Citation DOI Citation ISBN Citation URL Citation Manual Citation
Guides
APA Citation Guide MLA Citation Guide Chicago Author–Date Guide
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