What Does an APA Citation Look Like? Format and Example Explained

Learn how to correctly format an APA citation for books with clear examples and tips for accurate referencing.

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An APA citation for a book typically looks like this: Author, A. A. (Year of Publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher. For example: Smith, J. (2020). The power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and business. Penguin Books.

FAQs & Answers

  1. What is the basic format of an APA book citation? An APA book citation includes the author’s last name and initials, year of publication, book title in italics with subtitle capitalized, followed by the publisher’s name.
  2. How do I cite a book with multiple authors in APA format? List all authors by last name and initials, separated by commas, using an ampersand before the last author, followed by the year, title, and publisher.
  3. Where do I place the publication year in an APA citation? The year of publication is placed in parentheses immediately after the author’s name(s) in an APA citation.

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