Answered By: Paul Lai
Last Updated: Jul 17, 2023     Views: 5730

Like any in-text citation, a book citation in the text would include the author's surname, year of publication, and occasionally a page number. See How do I cite in my text?

To create a reference entry for a book in an APA reference list, however, you'll want to include the author’s last name and first initial, the year of publication, the title of the book in italics, the location, and the publication information.

A few tips to remember:

  • If there is no specific author, use the authoring organization in place of the author’s name.
  • If the editor is also the author, you will include (Ed.) after the name in the reference entry.
  • For ebooks, include the DOI or other URL.

   

Type of  Source Template* Example*
Book Author's last name, First initial. (Year). Title of the book. Publisher. Grammer, R. (2013). A grammar guide by Grammer. Walden Publishing.
Book with organization as author Authoring organization's name. (Year). Title of the book. Publisher Department of the Press Secretary for Amazing Students.(2013). Open the door to success with APA. Academic Publishers.
Book with editor as author Editor's last name, First initial. (Ed.). (Year). Title of the book. Publisher. Coyote, W. E. (Ed.). (2013). Catching the breeze: Tales of epic failure. Cartoon Press.
Ebook with URL Author's last name, First initial. (Year). Title of the book. Publisher. http://www.urlofthebook Hood, L. R. R., & Little, P. G. (2013). I'm not crying wolf this time! Fairy Tale Publishing. http://www.fairytalesonline.com
Ebook with DOI Author's last name, First initial. (Year). Title of the book. Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxxxxx Kool, I. M. (2013). Loving APA through graduate school. Three Letters University Press. https://doi.org/10.543w20.x032

 

* Remember to format your reference list with a hanging indent for each reference entry. See the Academic Skills Center's Microsoft Word tutorials for APA formatting to learn how to create a hanging indent.

 

Additional Resources:

    

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