How to Cite a Book | APA, MLA, & Chicago Examples
To cite a book, you need a brief in-text citation and a corresponding reference listing the author’s name, the title, the year of publication, and the publisher. The order and format of information depends on the citation style you’re using. The most common styles are APA, MLA, and Chicago style.
Use the interactive example generator to explore the format of book citations in MLA and APA.
If the book is an edited collection of works by different authors (e.g. essays or stories), you should cite the relevant chapter, followed by details of the whole book.
Citing a book in MLA style
An MLA book citation includes the author’s name, the book title (in italics, capitalized headline-style), the edition (if specified), the publisher, and the year of publication. If it’s an e-book, write “e-book” (or a more specific description, e.g. “Kindle ed.”) before the publisher name.
The corresponding in-text citation lists the author’s last name and the page number of the passage cited.
| MLA format | Author last name, First name. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition, Publisher, Year. |
|---|---|
| MLA Works Cited entry | Donaldson, Bruce. Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar. 3rd ed., Routledge, 2017. |
| MLA in-text citation | (Donaldson 73) |
You can also use our free MLA Citation Generator to create your book citations.
Generate accurate MLA citations with Scribbr
Citing a book chapter in MLA
To cite a book chapter, first give the author and title (in quotation marks) of the chapter cited, then information about the book as a whole and the page range of the specific chapter.
The in-text citation lists the author of the chapter and the page number of the relevant passage.
| MLA format | Author last name, First name. “Chapter Title.” Book Title: Subtitle, edited by Editor name, Publisher, Year, pp. Page range. |
|---|---|
| MLA Works Cited entry | Nussbaum, Martha C. “Legal Reasoning.” The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law, edited by John Tasioulas, Cambridge University Press, 2020, pp. 59–77. |
| MLA in-text citation | (Nussbaum 65) |
Citing a book in APA Style
An APA Style book citation lists the author’s last name and initials, the year of publication, the title and any subtitle (in italics, capitalizing only the first word), the edition (if specified), and the publisher. Add a DOI or URL to the end of the entry if available (e.g. for e-books or books accessed online).
In an in-text citation, state the author’s last name and the publication year, and a page number if you need to show the location of a specific quote or paraphrase.
| APA format | Author last name, Initials. (Year). Book title: Subtitle (Edition). Publisher. DOI or URL |
|---|---|
| APA reference entry | Donaldson, B. (2017). Dutch: A comprehensive grammar (3rd ed.). Routledge. |
| APA in-text citation | (Donaldson, 2017, p. 73) |
You can also use our free APA Citation Generator to automatically generate your book citations. Search for a title, DOI, or ISBN to retrieve the details.
Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr
Citing a book chapter in APA
To cite a book chapter, list information about the chapter first, followed by information about the book, including the book’s editor(s) and the chapter’s page range within the book.
The author of the chapter, not the editor of the book, is listed in the in-text citation.
| APA format | Author last name, Initials. (Year). Title of chapter. In Editor initials. Last name (Ed. or Eds.), Book title: Subtitle (pp. Page range). Publisher. |
|---|---|
| APA reference entry | Nussbaum, M. C. (2020). Legal reasoning. In Tasioulas, J. (Ed.), The Cambridge companion to the philosophy of law (pp. 59–77). Cambridge University Press. |
| APA in-text citation | (Nussbaum, 2020, p. 65) |
Citing a book in Chicago style
Chicago notes and bibliography style uses footnotes to cite sources instead of parenthetical citations. These notes refer to a bibliography at the end giving full source details.
A Chicago bibliography entry for a book includes the author’s name, the book title and subtitle, the edition (if stated), the location and name of the publisher, and the year of publication. For an e-book, add the e-book format (e.g. “Kindle”) at the end.
| Chicago format | Author last name, First name. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher, Year. E-book format. |
|---|---|
| Chicago bibliography entry | Donaldson, Bruce. Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar. 3rd ed. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2017. |
| Chicago footnote | 1. Bruce Donaldson, Dutch: A Comprehensive Grammar, 3rd ed. (Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge, 2017), 35.
2. Donaldson, Dutch, 73. |
Chicago also has an alternative style, Chicago author-date. You can see examples of book citations in this style here.
Citing a book chapter in Chicago
To cite a book chapter, start with the author and the title of the chapter (in quotation marks), then give the title (in italics) and editor of the book, the page range of the chapter, the location and name of the publisher, and the year of publication.
| Chicago format | Author last name, First name. “Chapter Title.” In Book Title: Subtitle, edited by Editor first name Last name, Page range. Place of publication: Publisher, Year. |
|---|---|
| Chicago bibliography entry | Nussbaum, Martha C. “Legal Reasoning.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law, edited by John Tasioulas, 59–77. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. |
| Chicago footnote | 1. Martha C. Nussbaum, “Legal Reasoning,” in The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law, ed. John Tasioulas (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 60.
2. Nussbaum, “Legal Reasoning,” 65. |
Where to find source information in a book
All the information you need for a book citation can usually be found on the book’s title page and copyright page. The main things you’re looking for are:
- the title (and subtitle if present)
- name(s) of the author(s)
- year of publication
- place of publication
- publisher
You should also check if the book specifies an edition (e.g. 2nd edition, revised edition) and if any other contributors are named (e.g. editor, translator).
The image below shows where to find the relevant information on the title and copyright pages of a typical book.
Frequently asked questions about citations
- What are the main elements of a book citation?
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The main elements included in all book citations across APA, MLA, and Chicago style are the author, the title, the year of publication, and the name of the publisher. A page number is also included in in-text citations to highlight the specific passage cited.
In Chicago style and in the 6th edition of APA Style, the location of the publisher is also included, e.g. London: Penguin.
- When should I cite a chapter instead of the whole book?
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When a book’s chapters are written by different authors, you should cite the specific chapter you are referring to.
When all the chapters are written by the same author (or group of authors), you should usually cite the entire book, but some styles include exceptions to this.
- In APA Style, single-author books should always be cited as a whole, even if you only quote or paraphrase from one chapter.
- In MLA Style, if a single-author book is a collection of stand-alone works (e.g. short stories), you should cite the individual work.
- In Chicago Style, you may choose to cite a single chapter of a single-author book if you feel it is more appropriate than citing the whole book.
- Which citation style should I use?
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Check if your university or course guidelines specify which citation style to use. If the choice is left up to you, consider which style is most commonly used in your field.
- APA Style is the most popular citation style, widely used in the social and behavioral sciences.
- MLA style is the second most popular, used mainly in the humanities.
- Chicago notes and bibliography style is also popular in the humanities, especially history.
- Chicago author-date style tends to be used in the sciences.
Other more specialized styles exist for certain fields, such as Bluebook and OSCOLA for law.
The most important thing is to choose one style and use it consistently throughout your text.
- When should I use “et al.” in citations?
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The abbreviation “et al.” (Latin for “and others”) is used to shorten citations of sources with multiple authors.
“Et al.” is used in APA in-text citations of sources with 3+ authors, e.g. (Smith et al., 2019). It is not used in APA reference entries.
Use “et al.” for 3+ authors in MLA in-text citations and Works Cited entries.
Use “et al.” for 4+ authors in a Chicago in-text citation, and for 10+ authors in a Chicago bibliography entry.
- How do I cite a source with no page numbers?
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When you want to cite a specific passage in a source without page numbers (e.g. an e-book or website), all the main citation styles recommend using an alternate locator in your in-text citation. You might use a heading or chapter number, e.g. (Smith, 2016, ch. 1)
In APA Style, you can count the paragraph numbers in a text to identify a location by paragraph number. MLA and Chicago recommend that you only use paragraph numbers if they’re explicitly marked in the text.
For audiovisual sources (e.g. videos), all styles recommend using a timestamp to show a specific point in the video when relevant.
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Caulfield, J. (2022, August 23). How to Cite a Book | APA, MLA, & Chicago Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved January 8, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/cite-a-book/
