How do you cite a book in APA 7th edition?

APA 7th edition book format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book: Subtitle if any. Publisher. For a book with two authors: Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title. Publisher. Publisher location is no longer required in APA 7th edition.

How do you cite a book in MLA 9th edition?

MLA 9th edition book format: Author Last, First. Title of Book. Publisher, Year. For a book with two authors: Author Last, First, and First Last. Title. Publisher, Year.

How do you cite a book in Chicago 17th edition?

Chicago 17th bibliography format: Author Last, First. Title of Book. City: Publisher, Year. Footnote format: First Last, Title of Book (City: Publisher, Year), page number.

How to Cite a Book in APA, MLA & Chicago (2026)

Q: How do you cite a chapter in an edited book?

APA: Chapter Author, A. (Year). Chapter title. In E. Editor (Ed.), Book title (pp. xx–xx). Publisher. MLA: Chapter Author Last, First. "Chapter Title." Book Title, edited by First Last, Publisher, Year, pp. xx–xx. Chicago: Chapter Author Last, First. "Chapter Title." In Book Title, edited by First Last, xx–xx. City: Publisher, Year.

Books are among the most commonly cited source types in academic writing — and among the most frequently miscited. The differences between APA, MLA, and Chicago book citation formats are significant enough that a citation correct in one style is wrong in another: publisher location is required in Chicago but omitted in APA 7th edition; author names use full first names in MLA but initials only in APA; italicisation rules differ across all three styles.

This guide gives you the exact format for every common book citation scenario in APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition, and Chicago 17th edition. Each section includes copy-ready examples you can adapt directly, along with explanations of the rules behind each element so you can handle unusual cases with confidence.

Once you have your citations formatted, run them through an automated reference checker before submission to catch any formatting errors your eye might miss.

Quick Reference: Basic Book Format by Style

APA 7th Edition

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book: Subtitle. Publisher.

MLA 9th Edition

Author Last, First. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.

Chicago 17th (Bibliography)

Author Last, First. Title of Book. City: Publisher, Year.

Citing a Book in APA 7th Edition

Current standard as of 2026 — no APA 8th edition has been released

APA 7th Edition — Key book citation rules

• Author names: Surname, then initials only (not full first names)
• Publication year in parentheses immediately after the author
• Book title in italics, sentence case (only first word and proper nouns capitalised)
• Publisher location is not included — this changed in APA 7th edition
• Include DOI or URL for ebooks where available
• Use "&" before the final author in the reference list

Single Author

The most common book citation scenario

Format

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book: Subtitle if present. Publisher.

Example

Brown, B. (2010). The gifts of imperfection: Let go of who you think you're supposed to be and embrace who you are. Hazelden Publishing.

In-text citation

(Brown, 2010) | Brown (2010)

Two Authors

Both authors always listed in APA; ampersand used before second author in reference list

Format

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of book. Publisher.

Example

Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (2000). Choices, values, and frames. Cambridge University Press.

In-text citation

(Kahneman & Tversky, 2000) | Kahneman and Tversky (2000)

Note: Use "&" in parenthetical citations but "and" in narrative citations.

Three or More Authors

List up to 20 authors in the reference list; use et al. for 21 or more

Format (3–20 authors)

Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of book. Publisher.

Example

Field, A., Miles, J., & Field, Z. (2012). Discovering statistics using R. SAGE Publications.

In-text citation (3+ authors)

(Field et al., 2012) | Field et al. (2012)

Edited Book (Whole Volume)

When you are citing the edited collection as a whole, not a specific chapter within it

Format

Editor, E. E. (Ed.). (Year). Title of book. Publisher.

Example

Kazdin, A. E. (Ed.). (2000). Encyclopedia of psychology (Vols. 1–8). American Psychological Association.

Chapter in an Edited Book

When you are citing a specific chapter written by a different author from the editor(s)

Format

Chapter Author, A. A. (Year). Chapter title. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. xx–xx). Publisher.

Example

Malle, B. F. (2004). How the mind explains behavior. In R. R. Hassin, J. S. Uleman, & J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The new unconscious (pp. 227–266). Oxford University Press.

In-text citation

(Malle, 2004, p. 231) | Malle (2004)

Edition Other Than the First

Do not include edition information for first editions; include it for all subsequent editions

Format

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book (Nth ed.). Publisher.

Example

Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Ebook

Include DOI where available; if no DOI, include the URL of the database or platform

Format (with DOI)

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book. Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Example

Strunk, W., & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style (4th ed.). Longman. https://doi.org/10.1234/example

APA ebook note: APA 7th edition does not require you to identify the format (Kindle, PDF, etc.). If no DOI exists, include a URL for the database or platform where the book can be accessed.

Citing a Book in MLA 9th Edition

Current standard as of 2026 — MLA 9th edition published April 2021

MLA 9th Edition — Key book citation rules

• First author: Surname, First name (inverted). Subsequent authors: First Surname (not inverted)
• Full first names, not initials — the reverse of APA
• Book title in italics, title case (all major words capitalised)
• Publisher location is not included in MLA 9th edition
• Date appears near the end of the entry, after the publisher
• Use "editor" or "editors" (not "Ed." or "Eds.") for edited volumes

Single Author

Format

Author Last, First. Title of Book: Subtitle. Publisher, Year.

Example

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. McClelland and Stewart, 1985.

In-text citation

(Atwood 45) — note: no comma between author and page number in MLA

Two Authors

First author inverted; second author in normal order

Format

Author Last, First, and First Last. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.

Example

Strunk, William, and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. Longman, 2000.

In-text citation

(Strunk and White 12)

Three or More Authors

MLA uses et al. in the works cited entry for three or more authors; list all or use "et al." after the first — both are acceptable in MLA 9th

Format (et al. option)

Author Last, First, et al. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.

Example

Booth, Wayne C., et al. The Craft of Research. University of Chicago Press, 2016.

In-text citation

(Booth et al. 67)

Edited Book (Whole Volume)

Format (one editor)

Editor Last, First, editor. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.

Example

Smith, John, editor. Critical Essays on Modern Literature. Oxford UP, 2020.

Chapter in an Edited Book

The chapter title goes in quotation marks; the book title (the container) is in italics

Format

Author Last, First. "Chapter Title." Book Title, edited by First Last, Publisher, Year, pp. xx–xx.

Example

García, María. "Postcolonial Narratives in Contemporary Fiction." Critical Essays on World Literature, edited by David Chen, Oxford UP, 2021, pp. 112–145.

In-text citation

(García 125)

Edition Other Than the First

Format

Author Last, First. Title of Book. Nth ed., Publisher, Year.

Example

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed., Modern Language Association, 2009.

Ebook

Treat like a print book but add the URL or DOI at the end

Format

Author Last, First. Title of Book. Publisher, Year. URL or DOI.

Example

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Knopf, 1987. www.example-ebook-platform.com/beloved.

Citing a Book in Chicago 17th Edition

Chicago offers two systems — Notes-Bibliography (humanities) and Author-Date (sciences). Both are covered below.

Chicago 17th Edition — Key book citation rules

• Publisher location is required — this distinguishes Chicago from APA and MLA
• Notes-Bibliography: footnotes use normal name order (First Last); bibliography inverts first author (Last, First)
• Author-Date: reference list inverts first author; in-text uses (Last Year, page)
• Book titles in italics, headline style (all major words capitalised)
• Publication info in parentheses in footnotes, but not in bibliography entries
• Well-known city names (New York, London, Chicago) do not need a country or state

Single Author — Notes-Bibliography

Used in history, literature, arts, and most humanities disciplines

Footnote / Endnote (first reference)

1. First Last, Title of Book (City: Publisher, Year), page.

Footnote (subsequent references — shortened form)

2. Last, Short Title, page.

Bibliography entry

Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. New York: Pantheon Books, 1977.

Two or Three Authors — Notes-Bibliography

Footnote format

1. First Last and First Last, Title of Book (City: Publisher, Year), page.

Bibliography entry

Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979.

Four or more authors: In the footnote, list all authors or use the first author followed by "et al." In the bibliography, list all authors up to ten; for eleven or more, list the first seven followed by "et al."

Edited Book — Notes-Bibliography

Footnote

1. First Last, ed., Title of Book (City: Publisher, Year), page.

Bibliography entry

Smith, David, ed. Perspectives on Modern History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019.

Chapter in an Edited Book — Notes-Bibliography

Footnote

1. First Last, "Chapter Title," in Book Title, ed. First Last (City: Publisher, Year), page.

Bibliography entry

Williams, Patricia. "Race and Rights in the Legal Academy." In Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement, edited by Kimberlé Crenshaw et al., 241–256. New York: The New Press, 1995.

Single Author — Author-Date System

Used in social sciences, natural sciences, and some business disciplines

Reference list entry

Author Last, First. Year. Title of Book. City: Publisher.

Example

Kuhn, Thomas S. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

In-text citation

(Kuhn 1962, 55) | Kuhn (1962, 55)

Ebook — Notes-Bibliography

For ebooks with stable DOIs, prefer the DOI over the URL. For ebooks accessed through a database, include the database name.

Bibliography entry (with DOI)

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Secker and Warburg, 1949. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/example.

Side-by-Side Comparison: The Same Book in All Three Styles

The following examples all cite the same book — Malcom Gladwell's Outliers (2008, Little, Brown and Company, New York) — formatted correctly in each style. This makes the differences between styles immediately visible.

APA 7th Edition

Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success. Little, Brown and Company.

In-text: (Gladwell, 2008) or (Gladwell, 2008, p. 42)

MLA 9th Edition

Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. Little, Brown and Company, 2008.

In-text: (Gladwell 42)

Chicago 17th — Bibliography

Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008.

Footnote: Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008), 42.

Element	APA 7th	MLA 9th	Chicago 17th
Author names	Surname, Initials	Surname, Full first name	Surname, Full first name (bibliography)
Year position	After author, in parentheses	Near end of entry	Near end (NB); after author (AD)
Title case	Sentence case	Title case	Title case
Publisher location	Not included	Not included	Required
In-text format	(Author, Year, p. X)	(Author Page)	Footnote¹ or (Author Year, page)

Most Common Book Citation Mistakes

Including publisher location in APA 7th edition

APA 7th edition no longer requires the city of publication. If you are still writing "New York, NY: Publisher" in APA format, you are using APA 6th edition rules. Remove the location entirely.

Using APA-style initials in MLA

MLA requires full first names, not initials. "Gladwell, M." is incorrect in MLA — it should be "Gladwell, Malcolm." This is the reverse of APA, which uses initials only.

Wrong title capitalisation

APA uses sentence case for book titles (only the first word and proper nouns capitalised). MLA and Chicago use title case (all major words capitalised). Copying a title from a publisher's website — which uses house style — is a common source of this error.

Omitting publisher location in Chicago

Chicago 17th edition still requires the city of publication for books, unlike APA and MLA. A Chicago bibliography entry without a city is incomplete.

Citing the chapter author when you mean the book editor

When citing a specific chapter in an edited book, the in-text citation should name the chapter author, not the book editor. The editor appears only in the reference list entry as part of the book information.

Not specifying the edition

If a book has multiple editions and you are using a specific edition, you must include the edition number. Omitting it could misdirect readers to a different version with different page numbers and content.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to include page numbers when citing a book?

For direct quotations, page numbers are always required in all three styles. For paraphrasing or general reference to a book's argument, APA and Chicago make page numbers optional (though they are recommended for precision), while MLA requires a page number whenever one is available. If you're citing a general idea spread across an entire book rather than a specific passage, omit the page number and note the book as a whole.

How do I cite a book I read online through a library database?

In APA, treat it like an ebook and add the DOI or database URL at the end. In MLA, add the database name as a second container after the print publication information, followed by the URL. In Chicago, include the database name and URL after the standard print citation information. If the book has a DOI, use that instead of the database URL, as DOIs are more stable.

What if the book has no author?

If a book has no identified author, all three styles begin the citation with the title. In APA, the title moves to the author position. In MLA and Chicago, the same applies. For in-text citations in APA, use a shortened version of the title in italics; in MLA, use the title (shortened if long) in italics; in Chicago, use the title in shortened form in the footnote.

How do I cite a translated book?

All three styles include the translator's name, but in different positions. In APA: Author. (Year). Title (A. Translator, Trans.). Publisher. In MLA: Author Last, First. Title. Translated by First Last, Publisher, Year. In Chicago bibliography: Author Last, First. Title. Translated by First Last. City: Publisher, Year.

How do I cite a republished or classic book?

For republished books, include both the original publication date and the republication date. In APA: Author. (Republication Year). Title (Original work published Year). In MLA, include the original date before the publisher and the reprint date after. Chicago allows a note format: "Originally published [Year]." Check your specific edition's guidelines for the precise placement.

Conclusion

The core structure of a book citation is the same across all three styles — author, title, publisher, year — but the differences in how each element is formatted are significant enough to matter. Publisher location, author name format, title capitalisation, and the position of the year in the entry all differ between APA, MLA, and Chicago.

The most reliable approach is to keep the official style guide for your required format accessible while you write, verify each citation immediately when you add it rather than leaving it until submission, and run a final automated check across your complete reference list before you submit.

One error that consistently catches researchers out: citation generators and reference management software frequently produce book citations that are subtly wrong — outdated edition rules, incorrect capitalisation, missing publisher location in Chicago. Always verify generated citations rather than submitting them unchecked.

Verify Your Book Citations Before Submission

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How to Cite a Book in APA, MLA & Chicago (2026)

Quick Reference: Basic Book Format by Style

Citing a Book in APA 7th Edition

APA 7th Edition — Key book citation rules

Single Author

Two Authors

Three or More Authors

Edited Book (Whole Volume)

Chapter in an Edited Book

Edition Other Than the First

Ebook

Citing a Book in MLA 9th Edition

MLA 9th Edition — Key book citation rules

Single Author

Two Authors

Three or More Authors

Edited Book (Whole Volume)

Chapter in an Edited Book

Edition Other Than the First

Ebook

Citing a Book in Chicago 17th Edition

Chicago 17th Edition — Key book citation rules

Single Author — Notes-Bibliography

Two or Three Authors — Notes-Bibliography

Edited Book — Notes-Bibliography

Chapter in an Edited Book — Notes-Bibliography

Single Author — Author-Date System

Ebook — Notes-Bibliography

Side-by-Side Comparison: The Same Book in All Three Styles

Most Common Book Citation Mistakes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to include page numbers when citing a book?

How do I cite a book I read online through a library database?

What if the book has no author?

How do I cite a translated book?

How do I cite a republished or classic book?

Conclusion

Verify Your Book Citations Before Submission

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