Citations.
Cite now

APA Citation for a Textbook: Format, Examples & In-Text

APA Citation for a Textbook: Format, Examples & In-Text
Have the details already?
APA 7th edition · reference

Your bibliography

0 sources
    No sources yet — generate a citation above and hit Add to list. Your bibliography stays on this device, no account needed.
    Copied

    APA Citation Textbook: In APA 7th edition, cite a textbook like any book. List the author, publication year in parentheses, the italicized title in sentence case, the edition in parentheses, and the publisher. Add a DOI or URL when one exists.

    Every rule and example below follows the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition, 2020), the current standard used across psychology, education, nursing, and the social sciences.

    How do you cite a textbook in APA format?

    APA 7 treats a textbook as a standard book, so the reference reads: Author last name, initials, then the year in parentheses, the italicized title in sentence case, the edition in parentheses, and the publisher. Print and digital textbooks share this structure. A DOI or URL follows only when one is available.

    Anatomy of an APA textbook reference
    Myers, D. G., & DeWall, C. N. (2021). Psychology (13th ed.). Worth Publishers.
    • Author — surname first, then initials; join two authors with an ampersand.
    • Year — copyright year in parentheses, followed by a period.
    • Title — italicized, sentence case; capitalize only the first word and proper nouns.
    • Edition — in parentheses, not italicized; omit for a first edition.
    • Publisher — name only; APA 7 drops the publisher location.

    What is the APA textbook citation format order?

    The reference always follows the same five-element order: author, date, title, edition, and publisher, with a DOI or URL appended for online textbooks. The table below shows how each element is punctuated and styled so your citation stays consistent across an entire reference list.

    Element Style Example
    Author Surname, Initials. Sternberg, R. J.
    Year (Year). (2020).
    Title Italic, sentence case Cognitive psychology
    Edition (Nth ed.). (7th ed.).
    Publisher Name only Cengage Learning.
    DOI/URL Full https link https://doi.org/…

    How do you cite a chapter in a textbook?

    When a textbook is edited and each chapter has its own author, cite the specific chapter instead of the whole book. Give the chapter author and title, then In the editors (in normal order with initials first), the italicized book title, the page range in parentheses, and the publisher.

    ChapterMarsh, E. J., & Rajaram, S. (2019). Reading comprehension and memory. In J. T. Wixted (Ed.), Cognition and its applications (2nd ed., pp. 45–63). Wiley.

    Note that the edition and page range sit together inside one set of parentheses, and the editors’ names are not inverted because they follow the word In.

    How do you write APA textbook in-text citations?

    APA uses author–date in-text citations: place the author surname and year in parentheses, adding a page number for a direct quotation. A parenthetical citation joins two authors with an ampersand, while a narrative citation spells out “and.” For three or more authors, use the first author followed by “et al.”

    • Parenthetical: (Myers & DeWall, 2021)
    • Direct quote with page: (Myers & DeWall, 2021, p. 217)
    • Narrative: Myers and DeWall (2021) explain that…
    • Three or more authors: (Aronson et al., 2019)
    • Chapter author: (Marsh & Rajaram, 2019, p. 51)

    What are examples of APA textbook citations?

    Real, correctly formatted examples cover the situations students meet most often: a later-edition print textbook, a single-edition text, an edited textbook, a free online e-textbook, and a chapter from a handbook. Match your source to the closest pattern below.

    Print, later editionMyers, D. G., & DeWall, C. N. (2021). Psychology (13th ed.). Worth Publishers.

    First editionSapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst. Penguin Press.

    Three authorsAronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Sommers, S. R. (2019). Social psychology (10th ed.). Pearson.

    Edited textbookDunlosky, J., & Rawson, K. A. (Eds.). (2019). The Cambridge handbook of cognition and education. Cambridge University Press.

    Online e-textbookStangor, C., & Walinga, J. (2019). Introduction to psychology (2nd ed.). BCcampus. https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/

    E-textbook with DOISternberg, R. J., & Sternberg, K. (2017). Cognitive psychology (7th ed.). Cengage Learning. https://doi.org/10.1000/example

    Do you note the format or platform?

    No. APA 7 removed format labels, so you do not write “Kindle edition,” “[E-book],” or “Retrieved from.” Cite the e-textbook exactly like the print version and simply add the stable DOI or URL at the end if one is provided.

    How accurate is this guide, and what are its limits?

    These rules mirror the APA 7th edition manual and the official APA Style website, which remain current in 2026. Still, textbooks vary, and edge cases exist. Confirm the details below against your source before submitting.

    • Custom or “course pack” editions compiled by a university may need the specific custom edition and campus publisher noted exactly as printed.
    • Republished classics use the original year and a note like (Original work published 1954).
    • Group authors (e.g., OpenStax, a professional association) appear in the author position without inversion.
    • Instructors sometimes require the older APA 6 style; ask if your course predates the 2020 update.

    Any generator, including ours, can misread imported metadata, so always proofread capitalization, edition numbers, and author order by hand.

    Frequently asked questions

    Do you italicize the textbook title in APA?

    Yes. Italicize the textbook title and use sentence case, capitalizing only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. The edition information in parentheses that follows the title is not italicized.

    Where does the edition go in an APA textbook citation?

    The edition appears in parentheses immediately after the title, before the closing period: Psychology (13th ed.). It is not italicized, and you omit it entirely for a first edition.

    Do you include the publisher location in APA 7?

    No. APA 7th edition removed the publisher’s city and state. List only the publisher’s name followed by a period, for example, Worth Publishers.

    How do I cite a textbook with editors instead of an author?

    Place the editors in the author position, invert their names, and add (Ed.) for one editor or (Eds.) for several: Dunlosky, J., & Rawson, K. A. (Eds.). (2019). Then continue with the title and publisher.

    How do you cite an e-textbook in APA?

    Cite an e-textbook exactly like a print textbook, then add a DOI or URL at the end when one is available. Do not add format labels such as “Kindle” or “PDF,” which APA 7 no longer requires.

    How do you cite one chapter of an edited textbook?

    Give the chapter author and title, then In, the editors’ names in normal order, the italicized book title, the page range in parentheses, and the publisher: In J. T. Wixted (Ed.), Cognition and its applications (pp. 45–63).