Cite a Textbook

If you reference a textbook in a published work, you must provide enough information about the textbook to guide interested readers back to the original source. You're likely to use one of three styles, depending on what sort of paper you're writing. American Psychological Association, or APA, style is appropriate for work dealing with the social sciences; Modern Language Association, or MLA, style is more commonly used within the humanities and liberal arts, and the Chicago Manual of Style, or CMS, is used to cite references in published books. In each style, a short in-text citation guides the reader to a more complete listing at the end of the work.

Steps

Citing a Textbook Using APA Style

  1. Insert an in-text citation. Place the in-text citation in parentheses, as soon as possible after the quote or clause being referenced. Include the following information in the parenthetical citation (unless you can include any of the information in the text itself, in which case there's no need to repeat it in the citation):
    • The author's last name, or the authors' last names, followed by a comma. Separate multiple author names with a comma, and use "&" instead of "and" to end a list of author names.
    • The year of publication. If you're referencing a specific quote or passage, you must also include the page number or numbers, prefaced by "p." and separated from the year of publication by a comma. Example: (Smith, 2005, p. 42). If you're referencing a general idea from the textbook, you do not need to include the page number. Example: (Smith, 2005).
    • Any sentence punctuation - e.g. commas, periods - goes outside the parentheses.
  2. Cite the textbook on the References page. Include all of the following, or as much as is available from the textbook in question, on your References page at the end of your work:
    • Author's full name, last name first, followed by a period. If there are multiple authors, place a comma between each name, including a terminal comma, and preface the last author's name with "&".
    • Year of publication, in parentheses, followed by a period.
    • The book's title, italicized. End with a period.
    • If the book is not a first edition, include the edition after the title, in parentheses. Place a period outside the parentheses. Do not italicize. Example: (4th ed.).
    • Place of publication, followed by a colon, then the name of the publishing company, ending with a final period. For example: New York, NY: Dover.

Citing a Textbook Using MLA Style

  1. Insert an in-text citation. Place the in-text citation in parentheses, as soon as possible after the quote or clause being referenced. As with APA style, punctuation goes outside the parentheses. Include the following, unless you can work them into the text, in which case there is no need to repeat the information in the in-text citation:
    • Author's last name. If you cite multiple authors (of different textbooks) with the same last name, include first initials or, if necessary, full first names. If the textbook was written by multiple authors, as is often the case, list all authors' last names in the order they appear on the title page.
    • Page or page range being cited. Do not place a comma between the author's name and the page numbers, and do not preface the page numbers with "p." as in an APA-style in-text citation. Examples: (Doe 42), (P. Smith 202), (R. Smith 16).
  2. Cite the textbook on the Works Cited page. Include all of the following information, or as much as is available to you, in the Works Cited entry for each textbook:
    • Author's name, last name first, ending with a period. If there are multiple authors, list them in the order they appear on the title page, separated by commas (including a terminal comma). Preface the last author's name with "and."
    • The textbook's title as it appears on the title page, written in italics. End with a period. If the book is not a first edition, include the edition number after the title, but not italicized. End with a period. Example: 2nd ed.
    • City of publication, followed by a colon, then the publisher's name, followed by a comma, then the year of publication followed by a period. For example: New York: Dover, 2003.
    • Include "Print." - the medium of publication - at the end of the listing.

Citing a Textbook Using CMS

  1. Insert an in-text superscript and note. CMS uses notes, rather than in-text citations, to cite references. Place a superscript as soon as possible after the quote or clause being referenced. The corresponding note (either a footnote at the bottom of the page or an endnote at the end of the chapter or book) should include the following:
    • Author's full name, followed by a comma. If the note is the second citation for this particular work, include only the author's last name, followed by a comma. Use the same method for listing multiple authors of the same volume.
    • The textbook's title as it appears on the title page, written in italics, followed by a comma. If this is the second citation for this particular work, use an abbreviated version of the title.
    • Next comes the following information contained within parentheses: the textbook's place of publication, followed by a colon, followed by the publishing company, followed by a comma, followed by the date of publication. Example: (New York: Penguin, 1999). If this is the second citation for this particular work, omit this information entirely.
    • Page number, or range of page numbers separated by an en-dash, followed by a period. Example: 99–104. The same format is used for succeeding references to the same work.
  2. Cite the textbook on the Bibliography page. Include all of the following information, or as much as is available to you, in the bibliography:
    • Author's name, last name first, ending with a period. If there are multiple authors, list them in the order they appear on the title page, separated by commas (including a terminal comma). Preface the last author's name with "and."
    • The textbook's title as it appears on the title page, written in italics. End with a period. If the book is not a first edition, include the edition number after the title, but not italicized. End with a period. Example: 2nd ed.
    • City of publication, followed by a colon, then the publisher's name, followed by a comma, then the year of publication followed by a period. For example: New York: Dover, 2003.

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