How to cite a book
A book citation is one of the most standardized. You need the author, the year, the title (italicized), and the publisher. Editions and translators go in too when present. For an e-book, cite it the same way — the format usually isn’t part of the reference anymore.
What you'll need
- Author(s)
- Year of publication
- Title (italicized)
- Publisher
- Edition / translator (if any)
Examples: how to cite a book
Real, correctly formatted citations — generated by Corroba's engine, not hand-typed.
APA (7th ed.)
In-text: (Kahneman, 2011)
MLA (9th ed.)
In-text: (Kahneman)
Chicago (notes)
In-text: Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011).
Harvard
In-text: (Kahneman, 2011)
Example source shown for illustration. Always cite the actual book you used.
Common gotchas
- Modern APA (7th) and MLA (9th) no longer require the city of publication.
- Chapter in an edited book? Cite the chapter, with the book’s editors — see “book chapter”.
- Include the edition (e.g., 3rd ed.) only if it isn’t the first.
Cite a book automatically
Skip the manual formatting. Paste a link, DOI, or title and Corroba builds a perfect citation from real data — free, no sign-up, no ads.
Open the citation generator →Cite other sources
Questions
- What do I need to cite a book?
- To cite a book you need: Author(s), Year of publication, Title (italicized), Publisher, Edition / translator (if any).
- How do you cite a book in APA?
- Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- How do you cite a book in MLA?
- Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011.
- Does Corroba cite a book automatically?
- Yes — paste a link, DOI, or title and Corroba builds the citation from real data, for free, in APA, MLA, Chicago and thousands more styles.