How to cite a book in APA 7

A book reference in APA is shorter than most people expect: the author, the year, the title and the publisher.

Reference list format

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book in sentence case (edition). Publisher. DOI or URL

Moreno, L. (2021). How cities remember: Memory and place in urban planning (2nd ed.). Harbor Street Press.

• Author. Surname first, then initials.
• Year. The copyright year on the book’s copyright page.
• Title. Italic and in sentence case: the first word, the first word after a colon and proper nouns are capitalized.
• Edition. In parentheses straight after the title, not italic, with no period between the title and the parenthesis, as in (3rd ed.). Cite only the edition you actually used.
• Publisher. The publisher’s name, not its location. APA doesn’t include the city.
• DOI. If the book has one, add it after the publisher as a link.

An edited book

If the whole book is edited and you are citing the book as a whole, the editors take the author’s place, followed by (Ed.) for one editor or (Eds.) for several:

Haddad, R., & Sato, M. (Eds.). (2020). Teaching in uncertain times. Westbrook University Press.

If you only used one chapter, cite the chapter instead. See how to cite a book chapter in APA 7.

In-text citation

Use the author and year from the start of the reference.

• Parenthetical: (Moreno, 2021)
• Narrative: Moreno (2021) argues that…

What to leave out

• The ISBN. APA doesn’t include it in the reference.
• The publisher’s city.
• “Retrieved from.” If an e-book has a DOI, give the DOI as a link without those words.

Check the edition

A library copy, a paperback and an e-book can all be different editions with different years. Use the details of the copy you read, not the first record you find.