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How to Cite a Book in Text and in Your Reference Page

The American Psychological Association (APA) formatting and style guide requires a reference page that contains a list of citations for any sources used to write an academic paper. Any information in the text that is not the author's original idea must also contain a citation to give credit to the appropriate author. Reference list citations for books require basic information, such as publication date and location of publication, while in-text citations only require the author's last name and publication year.

Instructions

  1. Reference List

    • 1

      Cite a book in the reference list by writing the author's last name and first initial. Find the year the book was published and write it in parentheses after the author's name.

    • 2

      Identify in italics the title of the book. Capitalize only the first letter of the first word in the title and subtitle. Insert a period after the book's title.

    • 3

      List the location of publication by naming the city, a comma and the state's abbreviation. Use a colon and write the publishers name. Finish the citation with a period.

    • 4

      Use this example as a model for a book citation in the reference list: Marquez, G. (1970). One hundred years of solitude. New York, NY: Harper Perennial.

    In-Text Citations

    • 5

      Cite a book in the text of a paper by listing the author's last name and the book's publication year in parentheses. For example: Drinking red wine can decrease the chance of getting heart disease (Marquez, 1970).

    • 6

      Quote a specific line in the book and include the page number in the citation. Use the example: Pollution can cause "lethal health issues for children and adults" (Miller, 1999, p. 6).

    • 7

      Write the author's last name and publication year in the text when referencing the book and only include the page numbers if necessary in the in-text citation. For example: Gallagher (2009) insists that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" (p. 6).

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