The pattern at a glance
- Print bookAuthor, A. A. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.
- Later editionAuthor, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of work (5th ed.). Publisher.
- Ebook with a DOIAuthor, A. A. (Year). Title of work. Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxxAn ebook without a DOI from a library database ends with the publisher, like a print book.
Each element of an APA book reference
The author part works as for any APA source: surname, comma, initials, and an ampersand before the last name. A book by an organization uses the organization's full name as the author, and if the organization is also the publisher you leave the publisher out.
Use the copyright year of the edition you read. A 2011 hardback and a 2013 paperback of the same book are cited with the year of the copy in your hands. Reprints of classic works can add "(Original work published 1818)" at the end, with both years in the in-text citation.
Book titles are italic and in sentence case: capitalise the first word, the first word after a colon and proper nouns. The edition goes in parentheses straight after the title, in plain text, as "(5th ed.)" or "(Rev. ed.)". Edited books add the editors after the title, for example "(M. Hindle, Ed.)".
The publisher is written as it appears on the title page, without words such as Inc. or Ltd. If two publishers are named, separate them with a semicolon.
What to check after an ISBN lookup
- Subtitle: Open Library sometimes stores only the main title, as with the "They say / I say" example below.
- Author: some edition records leave the author empty and keep it on the work record.
- Year and printing: a record may describe a later printing, so match the year to your copy.
- Edition: "Rev. ed." or "Fourth edition" can sit in a separate field that you need to transfer into the edition box.
Ordering books in the APA reference list
APA sorts the reference list alphabetically by the first author's surname, letter by letter, so "Graff" comes before "Kahneman" and "Skloot". Two books by the same author are ordered by year, oldest first; two from the same year get a and b after the year, assigned by title.
Books by an organization are alphabetised by the first significant word of the organization's name. Every entry gets a hanging indent of 0.5 inches and double spacing in student papers; the rich-text copy from the generator keeps the indent when you paste into Word or Google Docs.
Field by field: the book form
The generator's book form maps to APA like this.
| Field | What to enter | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Authors | Every author or the organization. | Title page, not the cover, which may shorten names. |
| Year | Copyright year of your edition. | Copyright page. |
| Title | Title and subtitle in sentence case. | Title page. |
| Edition | Number (5) or text (Rev. ed.). Leave blank for a first edition. | Title page or copyright page. |
| Publisher | Publisher name only. | Title page or spine. |
| ISBN | Used for the lookup; APA does not print it. | Back cover barcode or copyright page. |
| Place | Optional in the form; APA 7 does not print it, other styles such as Harvard do. | Title page or copyright page. |
APA book citation examples
Three books checked by ISBN on Open Library and formatted by the engine used in the generator.
Single author, first edition
APA 7th: Reference entry
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
In-text citation: (Kahneman, 2011)
The simplest case: author, year, italic title, publisher. Open Library also lists New York as the place, which APA 7 does not print.
Checked against ISBN record (checked on 25 October 2026). Open Library edition record: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2011, first edition.
Two authors, fifth edition
APA 7th: Reference entry
Graff, G., & Birkenstein, C. (2021). “They say / I say”: The moves that matter in academic writing (5th ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.
In-text citation: (Graff & Birkenstein, 2021)
The edition sits in parentheses after the title in plain text. The title contains its own quotation marks, which are kept; the subtitle had to be added because the ISBN record held only the main title.
Checked against ISBN record (checked on 25 October 2026). Open Library edition record: Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, W. W. Norton & Company, 2021, fifth edition. The record holds only the main title, so the subtitle was added by hand.
Nonfiction book with a person's name in the title
APA 7th: Reference entry
Skloot, R. (2010). The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks. Crown Publishers.
In-text citation: (Skloot, 2010)
Sentence case still keeps proper nouns capitalised, so Henrietta Lacks stays as written.
Checked against ISBN record (checked on 25 October 2026). Open Library edition record: Crown Publishers, New York, 2010.
Formatted by the same citation engine that runs the generator above (citeproc-js with the official CSL style file). Italics follow the style.
In-text citations for books
Name the author and year. Page numbers are needed for direct quotations and helpful for specific claims.
- Parenthetical: (Kahneman, 2011)
- Narrative: Skloot (2010) traces the story behind the HeLa cell line.
- Two authors: (Graff & Birkenstein, 2021, p. 21)
- Specific chapter: (Kahneman, 2011, Chapter 5)
- Republished classic: (Shelley, 1818/2003)
Book citation mistakes in APA 7
- Adding the city. "New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux" is APA 6. APA 7 prints only the publisher.
- Title case in the book title. Write Thinking, fast and slow, not Thinking, Fast and Slow, in APA.
- Citing the wrong edition year. Use the year of the edition you read, not the year the book first appeared.
- Adding the ISBN to the reference. APA references do not include ISBNs; they are only for finding the book.
APA book citation FAQ
How do I cite a book in APA 7?
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book in italics (edition if not the first). Publisher. Example: Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
How do I cite an ebook in APA?
Cite it like the print book. Add the DOI when the ebook has one, or the URL when it comes from a website that is not a library database.
How do I cite a chapter of a book in APA?
If the book is edited and each chapter has its own authors, use the chapter format. If one author wrote the whole book, cite the book and mention the chapter in the text.
Do I include the publisher location in APA 7?
No. APA 7 removed publisher locations from book references.
Style guides used on this page
Rules on this page were checked against these pages on 25 October 2026.