Try Wonders for free
Books are the most stable source you will cite: the title page and the copyright page give you everything you need. The differences between styles are mostly punctuation, capitalization and whether the publisher's city appears.
What to Collect
Take the details from the title page and copyright page, not the cover:
- Author(s) or editor(s), in the order printed
- Year of the edition you used
- Full title and subtitle
- Edition, if it is not the first
- Publisher (and city, for Harvard and IEEE)
- DOI or URL, for books read online
The worked example throughout is Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in New York in 2011.
Quick Reference by Major Style
APA (7th Edition)
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of book: Subtitle (edition). Publisher. DOI or URL
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
In-text: (Kahneman, 2011) or, for a quotation, (Kahneman, 2011, p. 20)
Book titles are in sentence case and italics. There is no publisher location. Add a DOI when the book has one.
MLA (9th Edition)
Author Last, First. Title of Book: Subtitle. Edition, Publisher, Year.
Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
In-text: (Kahneman 20)
MLA shortens "University Press" to "UP" (Oxford UP, U of Chicago P) and leaves out words such as "Company" and "Inc."
Chicago (18th Edition)
Footnote:
- Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011), 20.
Shortened note:
- Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow, 45.
Bibliography:
Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
Author-date reference: Kahneman, Daniel. 2011. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. In-text: (Kahneman 2011, 20)
The 17th edition format was "(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011)". The 18th edition removed the city. If your department still follows the 17th edition or Turabian 9, keep it.
Harvard (Cite Them Right)
Surname, Initial. (Year) Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher.
Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
In-text: (Kahneman, 2011, p. 20)
IEEE
[1] D. Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York, NY, USA: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
In-text: [1], or [1, p. 20] for a specific page.
IEEE gives the city, the U.S. state abbreviation where relevant, and the country before the publisher.
Editions
Include the edition only when it is not the first. Use the wording on the book: "2nd ed.", "Rev. ed.", "Updated ed."
APA: Author, A. A. (2020). Title of book (3rd ed.). Publisher. MLA: Author Last, First. Title of Book. 3rd ed., Publisher, 2020. Chicago: Author Last, First. Title of Book. 3rd ed. Publisher, 2020. Harvard: Surname, I. (2020) Title of book. 3rd edn. Place: Publisher. IEEE: A. A. Author, Title of Book, 3rd ed. City, Country: Publisher, 2020.
Note Harvard's "edn." abbreviation, which avoids confusion with "ed." for editor.
Ebooks and Kindle
APA: The format, platform and device are not part of the reference. Cite the ebook as you would the print book, and add a DOI or a URL only if the book has one that works for other readers.
MLA: Put "E-book ed." in the version slot: Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. E-book ed., Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
Chicago: Name the format at the end, or give a URL for books read online. The manual's own example:
Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. Random House, 2008. Kindle.
Harvard: Give the URL and the date: Available at: URL (Accessed: 21 September 2026). Some university guides use "Downloaded:" for a file you saved.
Page numbers. Kindle location numbers are not stable across devices, so no major style accepts them. Cite the chapter or section instead: (Kahneman, 2011, Chapter 3) in APA, or "chap. 3" in a Chicago note.
Editors and Translators
An edited book with no single author puts the editors in the author position:
APA: Editor, E. E. (Ed.). (Year). Title of book. Publisher. MLA: Editor Last, First, editor. Title of Book. Publisher, Year. Chicago: Editor Last, First, ed. Title of Book. Publisher, Year. Harvard: Surname, I. (ed.) (Year) Title of book. Place: Publisher.
If you used one chapter from an edited book, cite the chapter. See how to cite a chapter in an edited book.
For a translation, the original author stays in the author position and the translator is credited after the title. Chicago's own example:
Chicago: Liu Xinwu. The Wedding Party. Translated by Jeremy Tiang. Amazon Crossing, 2021. APA: Liu, X. (2021). The wedding party (J. Tiang, Trans.). Amazon Crossing. (Original work published [year of the original]) MLA: Liu Xinwu. The Wedding Party. Translated by Jeremy Tiang, Amazon Crossing, 2021.
The Chicago and MLA lines are the Quick Guide's own translated-book example. The APA line is the same book rearranged on APA's pattern: APA ends the reference with the year the work first appeared in its original language, so that slot is left as a bracketed placeholder here rather than guessed. The in-text citation then gives both years separated by a slash, original first: (Author, 1915/2016). Take the original year from the copyright page of the translation.
Multiple Authors and Organizations
- Two authors: list both in every style. APA joins them with "&", the others with "and".
- Three or more: APA lists up to 20 in the reference and uses "et al." in the text from the first citation. MLA uses the first author plus "et al." in both places. Chicago 18 lists up to six in the bibliography and uses "et al." in notes for three or more. Harvard lists all authors in the reference list unless your institution allows "et al." and uses "et al." in the text for four or more.
- Organization as author: use the full name. When the organization is also the publisher, APA omits the publisher and MLA starts the entry with the title.
The rules are covered in full in how to cite multiple authors.
Common Mistakes
- Copying the title from the cover or an online shop listing instead of the title page
- Using the first publication year for a later edition or reprint you actually read
- Keeping the publisher's city in APA 7 or MLA 9
- Writing "1st ed." for a first edition
- Citing Kindle location numbers as page numbers
- Citing a whole edited collection when you used one chapter by a different author
Sources for These Formats
- APA Style, "Book/Ebook References" (apastyle.apa.org)
- MLA Style Center, "Works Cited: A Quick Guide" (style.mla.org)
- The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed., Citation Quick Guide and "What's New in the 18th Edition" (chicagomanualofstyle.org)
- Pears and Shields, Cite Them Right, Harvard section on books
- IEEE Reference Guide, version 3.28.2025, section B, "Books"
Full style rules: APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE.
