Key points
When referencing a book source, take note of the following points for each of the 4 key elements:
- Name of the author – write organisational authors in full, not abbreviations. The author or authors can be a person, people, a group or a combination of people and groups.
- Year of publication – if there is no year, use n.d., meaning 'no date'.
- Title – upper-case letters for the first word of the title, the first word of any subtitle and proper nouns. Always put the book title and subtitle in italics. Including the subtitle is always optional.
- Source – for books this is usually the publisher's name. Omit the publisher detail when the author and publisher are the same.
Book
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Book title: Subtitle in italics. Publisher name. DOI if available
Put the book title and subtitle in italics. The subtitle is optional.
When the author and publisher are the same, omit the publisher to avoid repetition.
APA uses serial commas. If there are several authors, each is separated from the others with a comma and there is an ampersand (&) before the final author. For example, Cunningham, B. M., Nikolai, L. A., & Bazley, J. D.
Write out organisational authors in full not abbreviations. For example, Ministry of Health. Not MoH.
Include publisher details for online books and the URL if no DOI is available.
Include DOIs for all books where a DOI is available, even if you didn’t access the source online.
If each chapter is written by a different author, go to the section Chapter in an Edited Book.
Example
Durie, M. (2003). Ngā kāhui pou: Launching Māori futures. Huia Publishers.
Wallbank, A. J. (2022). Academic writing and dyslexia: A visual guide to writing at university. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003190189
Book (later edition)
Order: Authors. Year of publication. Book title: Optional subtitle in italics (edition). Publisher name. DOI if available or URL if accessed online
Put the book title and subtitle in italics. The subtitle is optional.
Omit the edition information if it's the first edition.
Include the DOI if available.
Example
McShane, S., & Travaglione, T. (2007). Organisational behaviour on the Pacific Rim (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Chapter in an edited book
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Chapter title: Optional subtitle in italics (edition). Book editors. Book title, (page number range of the chapter). Publisher name. DOI if available or URL if accessed online
List the book's chapters separately if the author of each chapter is different. Otherwise, list the entire book.
The book title and subtitle are in italics, but the chapter title is not.
The subtitle is optional.
List the editor with their surname after their initials.
The page number range includes the first and last page of the full chapter, not just the pages you used.
Include the DOI if available or the URL if accessed online.
Example
Markusen, A. R. (1996). The economics of postwar regional disparity. In S. S. Fainstein & S. Campbell (Eds.), Readings in urban theory (pp. 102–131). Blackwell.
Heath, I. (2008). Domestic violence: A family health perspective. In J. Keeling & T. Mason (Eds.), Domestic violence: A multi-professional approach for healthcare practitioners (pp. 167–175). Open University Press.
Edited book
If you refer to a specific chapter in an edited book, reference the chapter rather than the whole work.
Order: Editors. (Year of publication). Book title: Optional subtitle in italics. Publisher name. DOI if available or URL if accessed online
List the editor with their surname after their initials – the same format as for an author.
Put the book title and subtitle in italics. The subtitle is optional.
Include the DOI if available or the URL if accessed online.
Example
Fainstein, S. S., & Campbell, S. (Eds.). (1996). Readings in urban theory. Blackwell.
Online books and books with DOIs
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique number allocated to an online publication. It's often used to identify online journal articles and other online documents.
The DOI will usually appear as part of the source's copyright information.
You can look up a DOI at www.crossref.org/guestquery/
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Book title: Optional subtitle in italics. Publisher name. DOI if available or URL if accessed online
Put the book title and subtitle in italics. The subtitle is optional.
Example
Fang, Z. (2021). Demystifying academic writing: Genres, moves, skills, and strategies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003131618
Todd, S. (2022). Historical introduction. In S. Todd & M. Barber (Eds.), Burrows, Finn and Todd on the law of contract in New Zealand (7th ed., pp. 1-11). LexisNexis. https://advance.lexis.com
Include a DOI for all works that have one, even if you used the print version. If a print work doesn't have a DOI, however, then don't include a URL in the reference.
Don't place a full stop at the end of the URL or DOI, as this may affect the functionality of the link.
If the online book has a DOI, use it instead of the URL address. Start the DOI link with https:// or http://.
Give the full URL address as it appears in your browser's address bar.
If the URL is password protected, such as accessed through the university library catalogue, give the publisher's homepage URL.
Include publisher details for online books as well as the DOI if available or URL if there is no DOI.
E-book reader book
Order: Authors. (Year of publication). Book title: Optional subtitle in italics. Publisher name. DOI if available or download source
Put the book title and subtitle in italics. The subtitle is optional.
Include the DOI if available.
Example
Roach, M. (2010). Packing for Mars: The curious science of life in the void. PitStop. http://www.amazon.com
If the e-reader provides a page number, use it. Don't give the location number specific to the e-reader.
Don't place a full stop at the end of the URL or DOI as this may affect the functionality of the link.
Other book-like sources
Encyclopedia entries, study guides and other book-like sources are covered on referencing other material in APA style
Referencing disclaimer
This page is a guide to proper referencing. Your course, department, school or institute may prescribe specific conventions. Their recommendations supersede these instructions. If your questions are not covered here, ask your course coordinator or ask on our Academic Q&A forum.
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