How to cite a book in APA correctly

The APA rules They were born with the objective of establishing a set of rules that help to encode different components within scientific writing. This means that by following the same rules, reading this type of text is much easier. With these rules we can cite all sources that we use for our work, but in this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to see how to cite a book in APA.

At the time of being able to show the sources that we have used to make a scientific type work, it is necessary to cite them correctly. Although there are different forms of citation, the most widespread in the scientific community is that of the APA. Below we show you how a book is cited according to these rules.

Traditional books

If you have obtained information about a traditional book and you want to cite it, you must attend to the following categories:

• Surname, N. (year). Work title. Editorial.

Online book

In the event that it is published on the Internet, you can also cite it using the following formula:

• Surname, N. and Surname, N. (year). Title of the book. Editorial. DOI or URL

Book with editor

In some cases the books are by several authors who are unified through the criteria of an editor. If this is your case, you should cite the book as follows:

• Surname, N. (Ed.). (year). Work title. Editorial.

When you have to reference a chapter in a book, or an encyclopedia entry, you will need to use different formats depending on the origin of the cited text:

Chapter of a book with editor

These are quite frequent and if you only want to cite a specific chapter of a book that has been written by several authors with an editor, you should do it in the following way:

• Last name Author, N. N. (year). Title of the chapter or entry in N. Last name Editor (Ed.), Book title (xx ed., Vol. xx, pp. xxx – xxx). Editorial.

How to cite a chapter in a book

When all the chapters have been written by the same author or authors and reference is made to different parts of the book and not to a specific chapter, each of the chapters must be treated with a resource Independent. In the bibliography it should be cited as follows:

• Printed version: Surname, A. and Surname, B. (year). Chapter title. In N. Surname (Ed.), Book title (pp. xx-xx). Editorial.
• Electronic version of the printed version: Surname, A. and Surname, B. (year). Chapter title. In N. Surname and B. Surname (Eds.), Book title (pp. xx-xx). Editorial. http://www.url.com
• Online version: Surname, A. and Surname, B. (year). Chapter title. In N. Surname (Ed.), Book title (pp. xx-xx). Editorial. https://doi.org/xxxxxxxxx

It is possible that for the realization of your scientific work you have decided to use classical authors or works in the public domain. Despite this, they must also be cited in the bibliography, because we must not forget that a scientific work must be properly justified. When we use classic works for our research, chances are that you will never get your hands on the original edition. Imagine you want to quote The Quijote from Miguel de Cervantes, sure that the book you are working with is not the original, so you will need to refer or cite the one you used as a source for conducting your research or scientific work. Therefore, when you are going to use classic works you should always indicate the edition that you are using.

For example:

Aristotle (1931). Metaphysics (Trad. T. Pinilla). Editorial ABC. (Original work published ca. 1311)

Although at first it may seem a bit complicated, the truth is that once you start using them, you will easily learn to insert them into the bibliographies of your research works. Remember that these should always be ordered in descending alphabetical order, that is, starting with the letter A and ending with Z. The inclusion of the bibliography in a scientific investigation helps people who are going to read your work to find the original sources on which you have relied, in addition to validating your research. On the other hand, they can help you locate authors and sources unknown to other people and help them to carry out their research in fields similar to yours.

We hope that these guidelines on how to cite a book in APA have helped you to know how to use them correctly in your research work. If you want to continue learning with more lessons on Spanish language, we encourage you to take a look at our sections. In them you will find information about this and other matters that will help you answer your questions about any matter. What are you waiting for?