How to Cite a Book — APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago & More

In this guide

What you need to collect Editions and publishers APA 7th edition MLA 9th edition Harvard Chicago (N-B) Vancouver IEEE Edited books and chapters Ebooks and Kindle Common mistakes

What you need to collect

The information you need appears on the book's title page and copyright page (usually the reverse of the title page). Collect:

Author(s): Full name(s) — or editor(s) if an edited volume
Year of publication: The copyright year from the copyright page
Title: Full title including subtitle (after the colon)
Edition: If not the first edition — 2nd, 3rd, revised edition, etc.
Publisher: The publishing house (not the printer)
Place of publication: Required by Chicago and Harvard; dropped by APA 7th
DOI or URL: For ebooks or online versions with a DOI

Edition note

Only include edition information if it is NOT the first edition. First editions are assumed and not stated. Write: "2nd ed.", "3rd ed.", "revised ed.", "abridged ed." — depending on your style's format.

Publishers and place of publication

APA 7th edition dropped the place of publication in 2019 — publisher name only. Chicago and Harvard still require it. MLA, Vancouver, and IEEE also drop the place of publication. When listing the publisher, use the shortest recognisable form: "Wiley" not "John Wiley & Sons, Inc."

APA 7th edition

APA 7th Edition

Psychology · Education · Social Sciences · Nursing

Single author — Reference list

Author, A. A. (Year). Title in sentence case. Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Second edition

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). SAGE.

In-text citation

(Kahneman, 2011, p. 45) | Kahneman (2011) argued… | Paraphrase: (Kahneman, 2011)

MLA 9th edition

MLA 9th Edition

Literature · Languages · Humanities · Cultural Studies

Single author — Works Cited

Last, First. Title of Book in Title Case. Publisher, Year.

Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.

Second edition

Creswell, John W. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. 4th ed., SAGE, 2014.

In-text citation

(Kahneman 45) | Kahneman argues… (45)

Harvard

UK Universities · Social Sciences · Business · Humanities

Single author — Reference list

Author, A. (Year) Title of Book. Place: Publisher.

Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Second edition

Creswell, J.W. (2014) Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. 4th edn. London: SAGE.

In-text citation

(Kahneman, 2011, p. 45) | Kahneman (2011) argued…

Chicago Notes-Bibliography

Chicago N-B

History · Arts · Architecture · Religion

Footnote (first citation)

1. Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011), 45.

Shortened subsequent footnote

3. Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, 112.

Bibliography entry

Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.

Vancouver

Medicine · Nursing · Pharmacy · Health Sciences

Reference list format

Number. Author AA. Title of book. Edition. Publisher; Year.

1. Kahneman D. Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2011.

In-text citation

Superscript: text¹ | Bracket: text [1]

IEEE

Engineering · Computer Science · Electronics

Reference list format

[n] A. A. Author, Title of Book, Xth ed. City: Publisher, Year.

[1] D. Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.

In-text citation

Bracket: text [1]

Edited books and chapters

When the book has an editor instead of an author — or when you are citing a specific chapter within an edited collection — the format changes:

Chapter in Edited Book — APA 7th

Chapter Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor & F. F. Editor (Eds.), Title of book (pp. xx–xx). Publisher.

Johnson, M. L. (2016). Memory consolidation during sleep. In B. S. McEwen & R. M. Sapolsky (Eds.), Stress and the brain (pp. 43–68). Elsevier.

Chapter in Edited Book — Harvard

Chapter Author, A. (Year) 'Title of chapter', in A. Editor and B. Editor (eds) Title of Book. Place: Publisher, pp. xx–xx.

Johnson, M.L. (2016) 'Memory consolidation during sleep', in B.S. McEwen and R.M. Sapolsky (eds) Stress and the brain. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 43–68.

Chapter in Edited Book — Chicago N-B

Footnote

2. Michelle L. Johnson, "Memory Consolidation During Sleep," in Stress and the Brain, ed. Bruce S. McEwen and Robert M. Sapolsky (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2016), 50.

Bibliography

Johnson, Michelle L. "Memory Consolidation During Sleep." In Stress and the Brain, edited by Bruce S. McEwen and Robert M. Sapolsky, 43–68. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2016.

Ebooks and Kindle

APA 7th: Treat like a print book but include the DOI or URL. No "Kindle edition" note needed if pagination matches print.
MLA 9th: Add the format in the "Other Contributors" container position: "Kindle ed." before the publisher.
Harvard: Add "[ebook]" or "[Kindle edition]" after the title. Include the DOI or URL at the end.
Chicago: Add the format after the title — e.g., "Kindle edition" — before the place and publisher.
All styles: If the ebook has a DOI, include it. If accessed via a library database with no DOI, include the database URL or simply treat as print.

Common mistakes when citing books

Using the wrong year — use the copyright year from the copyright page, not the printing year or the year you read it
Italicising the article/chapter title instead of the book title — only the book title is italicised
Including "Inc." or "Ltd." in the publisher name — use the shortest clear form
Including the place of publication in APA 7th — it was dropped in the 2019 revision
Omitting the place of publication in Chicago or Harvard — it is still required there
Not specifying the edition for second and later editions
Confusing the editor with the author — use "ed." or "eds." notation when citing an edited volume

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