APA 6th Edition Book Citation – A Simple Guide, Format & Examples

20.12.22 Examples Time to read: 3min

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APA-6th-edition-book-citation-Definition

When citing a book in APA style (American Psychological Association) in the 6th edition, it is crucial to include specified required information. The standard format is: Author’s Last name, First initial. (Year). Title of book. Publisher. This ensures crediting the author properly by including all the necessary information. The APA 6th edition book citation is a popular source citation for acknowledging the author(s) used in academic writing. Learn more in this article.

APA 6th Edition Book Citation – In a Nutshell

  • Traditionally, APA 6th edition book citation was mainly used by psychology students.
  • APA 6th edition book citation is an author-date referencing and citing style.
  • APA 6th edition book citation helps to ensure a student’s academic integrity.

Definition: APA 6th edition book citation

An APA 6th edition book citation includes:

  • author’s name
  • year of publication
  • book title
  • name of the publisher

Reference list:

A student should organize the reference list alphabetically by the author’s name. If the author is responsible for more than one source, the student should list them chronologically based on the publication date— oldest to newest.

The reference list should also appear on a separate page at the end of the essay. Sources without an author should be listed using their first significant word.

The reference list entries’ first line is left-hand justified, and the following lines are indented consistently. One should italicize the title of the source too.

In-text citation:

APA 6th edition book citation direct quotation (author’s last name, date of publication, and page number)
APA 6th edition book citation more than one author (author’s last name et al., date of publication)

Encyclopedias and dictionaries often lack the name of the authors as well as the date of publication. In-text citations take this format: (name of the organization, “n.d”).

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APA 6th edition book citation: The basics

The basic format of a book citation in APA 6th edition style os as follows:

Format Example
Reference include the name(s) of the author(s), the year of publication, the title of the source, and the name of the publisher. Kılıç, M. S., & amp; Sert, H. (2015). Primary School 5th Grade Science and Technology Lesson Book & Investigation of Multiple Intelligence Theory. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 174, 2577-2581.
In-text citation Example
(author’s last name, date of publication). (Kılıç et al., 2015)

APA 6th edition book citation: E-books and online

An e-book reference includes the following; author, date, title, and e-book type in square brackets.

APA 6th edition book citation: Books accessed on e-readers

Format If a book accessed on an e-reader has no discoverable DOI, the student should end the reference after the publisher's name.
Example Cialdini, R. B. (2009). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. HarperCollins E-books.
In-text citation (Cialdini, 2009)

APA 6th edition book citation: Books accessed online

Format • The student should italicize the title and the DOI.
• One should not include the bracketed information if the source is from an online library such as Google Books.
• The student should use the commercial URL of the e-book supplier, not the database’s URL.
Example Haslam, S. (2003). Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology (SAGE Foundations ofPsychology series) [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com
In-text citation (Haslam, 2003)
In-text citation (no page number) (Author’s name, year of publication, chapter section, and paragraph number (Haslam, 2003, Chapter 1, Section 2, para. 5)

APA 6th edition book citation: Book chapter

Format APA 6th edition book citation for reference of an edited book includes the editor's last name and initials (Ed or Eds depending on the number of editors), year of publication, italicized title of the book, place of publication, and the publisher.
Example Everson, S. (Ed.). (1991). Psychology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
In-text citation (Everson, 1991)

APA 6th edition book citation: Multivolume books

When citing multivolume books, give the number of volumes after the title and include the year of publication.

APA 6th edition book citation: Citing a single volume

When citing a single-volume book with a specific title, include the volume number as part of the title.

Example

Eliot, T. S. (2015). The poems of T. S. Eliot: Vol. 1. Collected and Uncollected Poems (C. Ricks & J. McCue, Eds.). Faber & Faber.

If the book only has a single volume available and is numbered, the student should include the volume number after the book’s title and bracket it.

Example

Scott, L. (2011). Parental Nutrition. Clinical Nutrition (2nd ed., Vol. 3).

APA 6th edition book citation: Citing a multivolume book as a whole

When citing a multivolume book, consider the years of publications for all volumes and enter the range of these years ( 1995-2017).

In the case of a multivolume book, the student should cite the whole book and bracket the volume after the title.

Example

Eliot, T. S. (2015). The Poems of T. S. Eliot (Vols. 1–2) (C. Ricks & J. McCue, Eds.). Faber & Faber.

APA 6th edition book citation: Information

All information required for an APA 6th edition book citation is located in the title and copyright pages of a book.

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FAQs

The student should use the editor’s name with initials ed., instead of the author’s name.

When there are two authors, the in-text citation includes (Authors’ last names separated by & and the year of publication).

A student should quote the entire book even if they use information from just one chapter.