Citation Help

This page covers some basic examples of APA citations for online and print books.  For more complete information, see the resources listed in the box to the right. 

In each box below you will see a list of the elements you need to gather to create the citation. The citation elements for a book can generally be found on the book title page and the book copyright page that is at the beginning of a book.  Then you will see the formatting to use to put the elements in the proper format.  Last, you will see an example of a citation in APA format.

Also note that the citation examples should be double spaced with a hanging indentation, which are not always displayed correctly online.  To view a paper formatted for APA, including the reference list at the end, see the APA Sample Paper from the OWL at Purdue.

Elements Needed (in the order given) - 

• Author (first and middle name abbreviated to initials) Start with title if no author is listed. Check author order carefully for books with more than one author.
• (Date)
• Title italicized. Only first word, proper nouns and first word after a colon capitalized. Put date after title if there is no author listed.
• End with "Retrieved from.... " and the database name, URL for item, OR, if the doi is provided, end with "doi:" and the doi.

Format -

Author, A., & Author, B. (Date of publication). Title italicized. Retrieved from URL or database or DOI.

Example eBook, two Authors, URL - 

Miller, E., & Miller, R. M. (1998). Indoor pollution: A reference handbook.  Retrieved from http://proxy1.clpccd.cc.ca.us/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=9864&site=ehost-live&custID=s5868231

Example Print, four Authors - 

Peirce, J. J., Weiner, R. F., Vesilind, P. A., & Vesilind, P. A. (1998). Environmental pollution and control.

         Boston, Mass: Butterworth-Heinemann.