Citing Sources: Books, eBooks & Pamphlets

Note: All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a References List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

See how to create a hanging indent in Word here (see top tabs for Windows, Mac and Web options).

Authors/Editors

An author can be a person but can also be an organization, or company. These are called group or corporate authors.

If a book has no author or editor, begin the citation with the book title, followed by the year of publication in round brackets.

If an author is also the publisher, omit the publisher from the reference to avoid repetition. This happens most often with corporate or group authors.

When a book has one to 20 authors or editors, all authors' names are cited in the References List entry. When a book has 21 or more authors or editors, list the first 19 authors followed by three spaced ellipse points (. . .), and then the last author's name. No ampersand is necessary. Rules are different for in-text citations; please see the examples provided.

Titles

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word of the title. If there is a colon (:) in the title, also capitalize the first letter of the first word after the colon. 

Capitalize the first letter of proper names in titles, such as names of places or people. Example: Canada

DOIs

Some print books and eBooks will have a DOI (digital object identifier). If a DOI is given, include it at the end of the citation. Otherwise end the citation after the publisher name. Do not include a URL for an eBook from a library database. 

eBooks from Websites (not from library databases)

If an eBook came from a publicly accessible website, such as Google Books or Project Gutenberg, and has a stable URL, include the URL at the end of the citation, after the publisher's name. Do not include any punctuation after the URL.

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Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name. DOI if included

Note: Do not include the publisher location. If the book does not have a DOI, end the book reference after the publisher name. 

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name. DOI if included

Note: Do not include the publisher location. If the book does not have a DOI, end the book reference after the publisher name. 

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name. URL

First Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. & Second Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name. DOI or URL if included

Last Name of First Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., Last Name of Second Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given., & Last Name of Last Author, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name. DOI or URL if included

Note: Authors' names are separated by commas. Put a comma and an ampersand (&) before the name of the last author cited.

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of chapter, article, essay or short story. In Editor's First Initial. Second Initial if Given. Editor's Last Name (Ed.), Title of book (pp. first page number-last page number). Publisher Name. DOI or URL if included

Note:

• If you have more than one editor list their name(s) after the first editor listed in the book, giving their initials and last name. Put an ampersand (&) before the last editor's name.
• When you have one editor the short form (Ed.) is used after the editor's name. If you have more than one editor use (Eds.) instead.

Name of Corporate Author. (Year of Publication). Title of book: Subtitle if given (edition if given and is not first edition). Publisher Name. DOI or URL if included

Name of Corporate/Group Author. (Year of Publication). Title of pamphlet or brochure: Subtitle if given [Pamphlet OR Brochure]. Publisher Name. URL if available

Note: Include a URL if the pamphlet or brochure came from a publicly available website, such as a government website. If you read the pamphlet in print or retrieved it from a library database, omit the URL.