How to Properly Cite a Book

A proper book citation needs five things: author, year, title (italicized), publisher, and location of the source (page numbers for direct quotes). Get those right and you're done. The format depends on your style guide.

What every book citation needs

Whether you're writing in APA, MLA, or Chicago, the core ingredients don't change much:

• Author (last name, first initial or full first name depending on style)
• Year of publication (the copyright year, not the printing year)
• Title (italicized, sentence case for APA, title case for MLA and Chicago)
• Publisher (city of publication dropped in APA 7 and MLA 9)
• Page numbers (in your in-text citation when quoting directly)

That fifth piece trips people up. You don't need page numbers in the reference list entry for a whole book. You do need them every time you quote or paraphrase a specific passage.

The three styles you'll actually use

APA 7 (psychology, education, sciences)

Reference list format:

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher.

Worked example:

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

In-text citation for a direct quote: (Kahneman, 2011, p. 24). For a paraphrase, the page number is optional but encouraged.

APA 7 dropped the publisher location in 2019. If your professor's handout still says "New York, NY:", check the edition. The 7th edition is current as of 2026.

MLA 9 (English, humanities)

Works Cited format:

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

Worked example:

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

In-text: (Kahneman 24). No comma, no "p.", just the page number.

MLA 9 (2021) keeps the title in headline case and uses the publisher's shortest recognizable name. So "Penguin" not "Penguin Random House LLC".

Chicago 17 (history, some humanities)

Two flavors here. Notes-Bibliography uses footnotes. Author-Date works like APA.

Bibliography entry (Notes-Bibliography):

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

First footnote:

1. Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011), 24.

Shortened footnote after the first: Kahneman, *Thinking, Fast and Slow*, 24.

Chicago still wants the city. APA and MLA don't. That's the cleanest way to remember which is which.

Edge cases that cost you points

Multiple authors

• APA: list up to 20 authors in the reference. Use "&" before the last name. For 21+, list the first 19, then "..." then the final author.
• MLA: list two authors as "Smith, John, and Jane Doe." For three or more, use the first author plus "et al."
• Chicago: similar to MLA in notes (et al. for 4+), but list all in the bibliography for up to 10.

Edited books and chapters

Citing one chapter in an edited book? You cite the chapter author, not the editor as the main author. APA example:

Smith, J. (2020). Chapter title. In A. Editor (Ed.), Book title (pp. 45-67). Publisher.

E-books

Same citation as the print book if the content is identical. Add a DOI or URL only if the book is online-only or hard to find in print. Don't cite Kindle locations as page numbers. Use the printed page numbers when the e-book provides them.

Translated works

Add the translator after the title. APA:

Camus, A. (1991). The stranger (M. Ward, Trans.). Vintage International. (Original work published 1942)

The original year goes in your in-text citation too: (Camus, 1942/1991).

Quick rules that prevent 90% of mistakes

1. Italicize book titles. Always. Not quotes, not bold.
2. Capitalize correctly for the style. Sentence case for APA titles (only first word, proper nouns, and post-colon first word). Title case for MLA and Chicago.
3. Match in-text to reference list. If your works cited says "Kahneman, Daniel," your parenthetical says "(Kahneman 24)", not "(Daniel 24)".
4. Check the year. Use the copyright year on the verso (the back of the title page), not the year you bought the book.
5. One style, one paper. Don't mix APA and MLA. Pick the style your assignment specifies and stick with it.

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