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How to cite a book
For a book you need the author, year, title, edition (if not the first) and publisher. The fastest route is the ISBN on the back cover or the copyright page: paste it into the generator and the rest fills in.
Examples in each style
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Parenthetical: (Kahneman, 2011)
Narrative: Kahneman (2011)
Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
Parenthetical: (Kahneman 45)
Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
Full note: 1. Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011), 45.
Short note: 2. Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, 45.
Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Citation: (Kahneman, 2011)
Narrative: Kahneman (2011)
What to watch out for
- APA 7 dropped the publisher location; MLA 9 and Chicago 18 also leave it out. Harvard (Cite Them Right) still includes the place of publication.
- Only list the edition when it is not the first: (3rd ed.) in APA, 3rd ed. in MLA and Chicago, 3rd edn. in Harvard.
- Textbooks are cited like any book. If you used an online reader, APA adds the URL only if the book has no print equivalent.
- Citing one chapter in an edited book? Cite the chapter author and chapter title, followed by “In” and the editors.
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
In-text citation
Formatting runs in your browser. Auto-fill uses Crossref (DOI), Open Library and Google Books (ISBN) and the page’s own metadata (URL). Always check against the source.
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Questions students ask
Where do I find the publication year?
On the copyright page (the back of the title page). Use the year of the edition you read, not the first printing of the original.
Is the book title italicised?
Yes, in all four styles. APA uses sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns capitalised); MLA, Chicago and Harvard (in our output) use title case.
What if the ISBN lookup finds the wrong edition?
Open Library sometimes groups editions together. Check the year and edition against your copy and correct them in the form before you copy the citation.