APA Book Citation: Format, Examples & Templates
Your bibliography
0 sourcesAPA Book Citation in the 7th edition follows the pattern: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book (edition). Publisher. Add a DOI when one exists. In-text, cite the author surname and year, plus a page number for direct quotations.
What is the APA format for a book citation?
The APA 7th edition reference for a book has four core elements in a fixed order: author, date, title, and source (the publisher). Write it as Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book. Publisher. The title is in sentence case and italicised.
Only capitalise the first word of the title, the first word of any subtitle, and proper nouns. APA 7 dropped the publisher’s city and state, so the location is never included. If the book has a DOI, place it as a full https://doi.org/… link at the very end.
| Element | Rule | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Surname, then initials | Kahneman, D. |
| Date | Year in parentheses, followed by a period | (2011). |
| Title | Italics, sentence case | Thinking, fast and slow. |
| Source | Publisher name only (no location) | Farrar, Straus and Giroux. |
What are the parts of an APA book reference?
An APA book reference reads left to right as author, date, title, source, and an optional DOI. The colour-coded example below shows each slot in a real, verifiable citation of the APA manual itself, which carries an assigned DOI.
- Author — group or personal author, ending in a period
- Date — publication year in parentheses
- Title — italicised, sentence case
- Source — edition in parentheses, then publisher
- DOI — full https link, no period after it
APA book citation examples
The reference-list entries below cover the most common book types. Each uses a hanging indent in a real paper and appears alphabetically by the first author’s surname. Copy the structure, then swap in your own source details.
One authorKahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Two authorsAcemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2012). Why nations fail: The origins of power, prosperity, and poverty. Crown Publishers.
Edition notedAmerican Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
Chapter in edited bookMcLeod, J. (2016). Emotion-focused therapy. In D. Cain, K. Keenan, & S. Rubin (Eds.), Humanistic psychotherapies: Handbook of research and practice (2nd ed., pp. 235–276). American Psychological Association.
Translated bookPiketty, T. (2014). Capital in the twenty-first century (A. Goldhammer, Trans.). Harvard University Press. (Original work published 2013)
Edited book (whole)Nelson, T. D. (Ed.). (2016). Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination (2nd ed.). Psychology Press.
How do you cite a book in-text in APA?
APA uses author–date in-text citations. Give the author’s surname and the publication year, either in parentheses or woven into the sentence. Add a page number only for direct quotations or when pointing to a specific passage.
- Parenthetical:
(Kahneman, 2011) - Narrative:
Kahneman (2011) argued that… - Direct quote:
(Kahneman, 2011, p. 24) - Two authors:
(Acemoglu & Robinson, 2012) - Three or more authors:
(Nelson et al., 2016)
Use an ampersand between authors inside parentheses, but write “and” when the names run in your sentence text. Every in-text citation must match a full entry in the reference list.
How do you handle ebooks and special cases?
APA 7 treats an ebook the same as a print book: you do not add the format, platform, or a “Retrieved from” phrase. Cite the author, year, italic title, and publisher exactly as you would in print, and append a DOI if the ebook has one.
| Situation | How to handle it |
|---|---|
| Ebook / Kindle | Cite like a print book; no device or file format is listed. |
| No author | Move the title to the author position; alphabetise by the title. |
| No date | Use (n.d.) in place of the year. |
| Republished classic | Give both years: (Original work published 1899) at the end. |
| Multivolume work | Add the volume in parentheses after the title, before the publisher. |
| DOI present | End with https://doi.org/… and no trailing period. |
For a book with an editor rather than an author, place (Ed.) or (Eds.) after the name. When the author and publisher are the same organisation — common for association and government titles — you may omit the repeated publisher name.
How accurate is this guide, and what are its limits?
These rules mirror the APA 7th edition manual, which remains the current edition in 2026. The examples are real, published books, so you can verify each one against a library catalogue or the publisher’s page. Still, a few judgment calls sit outside any fixed template.
Automated generators sometimes misread sentence case, drop the DOI, or invent a publisher location that APA 7 no longer wants. Always confirm the author order, spelling, and year against the book’s copyright page. When your instructor specifies a departmental variation, follow their guidance over the general manual.
Frequently asked questions
Do you include the publisher location in APA 7?
No. APA 7th edition removed the publisher’s city and state. Reference the publisher name alone, so Crown Publishers. is complete without any location.
How do you cite an ebook in APA?
Cite an ebook exactly like a print book: author, year, italic title, and publisher. Do not add the format, e-reader, or a retrieval URL. Include a DOI only if the ebook has one.
Is the book title italicised or in quotation marks?
The book title is italicised and written in sentence case. Chapter titles inside an edited book are neither italicised nor in quotation marks; only the book title takes italics.
How do you cite a chapter in an edited book?
List the chapter author and year, the chapter title, then “In” the editors’ names with (Eds.), the italic book title, the page range in parentheses, and the publisher.
What if a book has no author?
Move the title into the author position and alphabetise the reference by that title. In-text, use a shortened italic title and the year in place of a surname.
Do you need a page number to cite a book in-text?
A page number is required only for direct quotations or a specific passage. For a general paraphrase, the author surname and year alone are sufficient.