Library Guides: APA (6th Edition) Referencing Guide: Books & eBooks

Is it a book?

Are you sure you should be citing the whole book, and not a chapter in the book? Check the page on Books and book chapters.

If you have a custom textbook created for your subject, look at the section on Custom Textbooks and Books of Readings.

Standard book pattern

Print book:

Format

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Title in sentence case: Subtitle (edition, if not the first). City, State Abbreviation (if in US) or City, Country of publication (non-US): Publisher.

Examples

Bach, S., & Grant, A. (2015). Communication and interpersonal skills in nursing (3rd ed.). London, England: Learning Matters.

Fenton-Smith, B., Humphreys, P., & Walkinshaw, I. (2017). English medium instruction in higher education in Asia-Pacific: From policy to pedagogy. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

Gould, J. (Illustrator), & Rutgers, A. (Writer). (ca. 1967). Birds of Australia (Vol. 2). London, England: Methuen.

Winfree, L. T., & Abadinsky, H. (2010). Understanding crime: Essentials of criminological theory (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

eBook:

Format	Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (year). Title in sentence case: Subtitle [E-reader version, if applicable] (edition, if not the first). Retrieved from URL of eBook platform OR doi:xx.xxxxx/xxxx
Examples	Baughan, J., & Smith, A. (2013). Compassion, caring and communication: Skills for nursing practice [Ebook Central version] (2nd ed.). Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com McIlwraith, C. W., Nixon, A. J., & Wright, I. M. (2015). Diagnostic and surgical arthroscopy in the horse [ScienceDirect version] (4th ed.). doi:10.1016/B978-0-7234-3693-5.01001-8

How many authors? Remember, there are rules for how to set out a reference, depending on the number of authors.

Note:

You only include an edition number if it is not the first edition. If you have a multivolume work, the volume number goes in the same brackets as the edition number: (3rd ed., Vol. 4).
Are you trying to cite a section of a custom textbook? Custom textbooks are works that have been compiled for a particular course or cohort, and the chapters may have originally come from a variety of sources. Please see the section on Custom Textbooks under Class Handouts and Lectures.