The Right Way to List Book References in APA Format

The Right Way to List Book References in APA Format Student Resources APA Style and Writing Print How to Reference a Book in APA Format Following the American Psychological Association Style in Your Papers By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Updated on October 20, 2019 PeopleImages.com / Getty Images More in Student Resources APA Style and Writing Study Guides and Tips Careers Do you need to reference a book for your psychology or other social science paper? Then you will need to know how to use APA format, which is the official style of the American Psychological Association and is used in most types of science and social science writing. Before you create a reference page  for your papers, essays, articles, or reports, it is important to learn how to format your references in proper APA style. This style dictates certain rules and guidelines for different types of references, including books. There are also a number of different situations that affect how you will write your references such as whether the book has more than one author and whether it involves a chapter in an edited book. The following examples and guidelines can help you prepare book references in proper APA format. Basic Structure of APA Formatted Book References First, lets start by looking at the standard APA format for writing a book reference. The basic structure of a book reference should list the authors last name, first initials, publication year, book title, location, and publisher. Your reference should appear as follows: Author, I. N. (Year). Title of book. Location: Publisher. For Example: Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. This basic format can be used for many types of book references that have a single author or multiple authors. However, you may need to use one of the following formats for books that are edited, have no author, translated, or requires some specialized formatting. Edited Book With One or More Authors How should you reference a book that is an edited edition with a single or several editors? Edited books with one or more authors should follow the basic structure of a book reference and include the initials, last name, and Ed. in parentheses after the book title.For Example: Adler, A. (1956). The individual psychology of Alfred Adler: A systematic presentation of selections from his writings. H. L. Ansbacher R. R. Ansbacher (Eds.). New York: Basic Books. Edited Book With No Author Edited books with no author should list the last name and first initials of the editor or editors, followed by Ed. or Eds. in parentheses. The remainder of the reference should follow the basic structure and include the publication year, book title in italics, location, and publisher. For Example: Atkinson, J. W. Rayner, J. O. (Eds.). (1974). Motivation and achievement. Washington, DC: V. H. Winston. Article Featured in an Edited Book Sometimes books feature a collection of articles written by different authors in an edited book. Articles by individual authors that appear in such works should list the last name and first initial of the author, followed by the publication date, and book title. Next, the editors should be noted followed by the location and publisher. For Example: Bartol, C. R., Bartol, A. M. (2005). History of forensic psychology. In I. B. Weiner A. K. Hess (Eds.), The Handbook of Forensic Psychology (pp.1-27). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Translated Books Many of psychologys most famous texts were originally written in another language and then translated into English. Books translated from another language should include the last name and first initial of the author, followed by the year of publication and book title. The first initials and last name of the translator and the notation Trans. should then be included in parentheses. Next provide the location, publisher, and note of the original date of publication. For Example: Freud, S. (1914). The psychopathology of everyday life. (A. A. Brill, Trans.). London: T. Fisher Unwin. (Original work published 1901). More Tips for Book References in APA Format Remember that your reference page needs to be double-spaced.The first line of each reference should be flush left with the margin of the page. Each subsequent line of your reference should be indented.If a digital object identifier (DOI) is available, include it at the end of the reference.If a book has been accessed via an online database, follow the basic APA format and include the URL at the end.  Be sure you are following the other guidelines for your  reference page.