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Citing Sources: Citing books and e-books

A guide to citing sources in MLA, APA, and Chicago format.

Citing Books and E-Books

General format for books

Author(s). Year of publication. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Place of publication: Publisher.

 

Examples
 
Items in green indicate variations in the citation based on the format.
 
 
Book with one author
 
Dixon, Wallace E. 2003. Twenty Studies that Revolutionized Child
Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
 
 
Book with two or more authors
 
Mash, Eric J., and David A. Wolfe. 1999. Abnormal Child
Psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
 
 
Book without an author
 
The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Book of Childcare: From
Newborn to Preteen. 1995. New York: Hearst Books.

 

Electronic book (e-book) with URL
 
Hersen, Michel, and Robert T. Ammerman, eds. 2000. Advanced
Abnormal Child Psychology. 2nd ed.  Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Accessed September 2, 2012. Retrieved from http://0www.netlibrary.com. library2.pima.edu/.
 
Graphic novel / comic book
 
Miller, Frank. 2010. Sin City: The Hard Goodbye.
Milwaukee, OR: Dark Horse Books.
 
 
Book published in 2nd or subsequent edition
 
Helfer, Ray E., Ruth S. Kempe, and Richard D. Krugman. 1997. The
Battered Child. 5th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Insert edition of book after the title of the book, abbreviating edition with ed.

 

Book with editors instead of authors

Torr, James D., ed. 2004. Crime and Criminals. San Diego:
Greenhaven Press.
  • An edited book is a collection of articles or chapters, often written by various authors. It has an editor instead of an author, indicated by the (Ed.) after the list of editors.
  • Use the example above if you are citing the book as a whole. To cite one of the articles in the book, see section on Articles or Chapters within a Book

 

Anthologies and Chapters

 
ARTICLES OR CHAPTERS WITHIN A BOOK
 
Anthologies, reference books and edited collections often have chapters or entries, each written by different authors.  For this type of book, cite the author and the chapter before citing the book title and the editor of the book.
 
 
Work in an anthology or edited book
 
Brown, George W. 2000. "Emotion and Clinical Depression: An
Environmental View." In Handbook of Emotions, 2nd ed., edited by Michael Lewis, and Jeanette M. Haviland-Jones, 75-90. New York: Guilford Press.

 

Electronic article from an online reference book
 
Baran, Annette, and Betty Jean Lifton. 2004. "Adoption." In
Encyclopedia of Bioethics, edited by Stephen G. Post, vol. 1, 68-74. New York: Macmillan Reference. Accessed September 2, 2012. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
  • If the item is from an electronic database, you may cite the database name rather than give the full url.  However, check with your instructor, as he/she may want to consult the url.