Everything you need to know about the APA for books
It seems remote to think that, until a few years ago, books were our primary source and practically the only one to obtain valuable information and be part of scientific research. But, although times have changed and now we have various sources of information, books still have a place in degree and thesis work, so it is necessary to know the APA conditions for books.
To know about the APA for books
Before getting into the subject, it is important to know that this guide is not only suitable for "common" books, but also works for encyclopedias, dictionaries, monographs and theses.
It is also important to note that the latest version of the Standards of the American Psychological Association (APA), shows a change with respect to the penultimate edition (the sixth) on how to make the bibliographical references of the books. While in the sixth edition it was necessary to include the city in which the text's publishing house is located, the seventh edition omits that detail.
Going into the matter: APA for books
APA standards have a basic format to quote and, subsequently, refer to each of the sources that are part of the investigation. Obviously, the books follow that format: name, year.
Therefore, quotations from books are always made under the same format: Author's last name, year of publication of the work and page number, the latter only if it is really relevant.
The bibliographical references are a little more complete, but simple. To create them, you must have the following information:
- The first thing we should mention is that a blog is one of the easiest tools to cite because they clearly show each of its elements. Following the basic format of Write the author's last name followed by a comma and the initials of the name.
- The first thing we should mention is that a blog is one of the easiest tools to cite because they clearly show each of its elements. Following the basic format of Just write the year in parentheses.
- Title of the book: Do not forget to write the name of the work.
- Collaborator data: Did the work have a translator? Who edited it? Write the initials of the names of these collaborators in parentheses, followed by a comma and their last name. Complete the information with an “Ed”, in case it is the publisher, or “Trans.” if the data corresponds to a translator.
- Edition: How many times has the work been published? Add which edition you took the information from, as the texts can change from one edition to another.
Following these data, the format for citing a book is:
Author's last name, Author's initials. (Year of publication of the work). Title of the work. (Initials of the editor or translator, Surname of the editor or translator, Ed. Or Trans.) (Edition).
For example:
Larson, J. (2021) Tick, tick, boom. (L.M., Miranda, Ed.) (3rd edition).
And the quotes are written like this:
(Larson, 2021, p. 58).
Let's cite e-books
Once you know how to cite books, the rest of the citations are easily constructed. For example, What happens if the book you want to quote is not in your hands? In this era, electronic versions of books abound, ebooks and even books that, for various reasons, are only released in electronic format.
If you obtained the book online, make sure you have the DOI of the work. The DOI is a kind of “fingerprint” for electronic publications; it is a way of classifying and locating online material such as books and magazines. If you do not have the DOI, then you must place the URL where the work is hosted, although there is a risk that it will change and the information will be lost.
Another interesting point is that the APA allows data such as chapter number or name, section title or paragraph number to be used to locate the information, instead of writing the page number. This is because this data can be difficult to find in books of this type.
Following this, e-book references are done like this:
Author's last name, Author's initials. (Year of publication of the work). Title of the work. Editor. DOI or URL
For example:
Larson, J. (2021) Tick, tick, boom. L.M. Miranda. https://estoessolounemeplo.com
And the quotes would be done like this:
(Larson, 2021, Chapter V)
Citing an edited book
An edited book is one that is made up of chapters or texts written by several authors. A publisher takes all the information, edits it and presents it in a complete work. If the book you want to cite is of this type, the reference must follow the following format:
Author's last name, Author's initials. (Year of publication). Title of the chapter In Initials of the editor, Last name (Ed.). Book title (pp. page range). Editor. DOI.
Under that format, this is a good example:
Larson, J. (2021). Bohemian life. In LM Miranda (Ed.), Tick, tick, boom (pp. 30-38). Scholastic. https://thisisanexample
And the quotes are done like this:
(Larson, 2021, p.30).
multi-volume books
There are large encyclopedias or even books that are published in several volumes. For example, there is a very famous version of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo divided into three parts. What happens in these cases?
If you only want to cite one of the volumes, the reference will depend on whether each volume has its own name or a number that identifies it.
If there is a specific title, it is necessary to write it as part of the title in the references:
Larson, J. (2021). Tick, tick, boom: Vol. 1 Vida Bohemia. (L.M. Miranda, Ed.), Scholastic.
If the volume is only identified by a number, it is added in parentheses after the title of the work, like this:
Larson, J. (2021). Tick, tick, boom (Vol. 1) Scholastic.
And if you want to cite the set of books, you just have to write the number of volumes in parentheses, this after the title of the work. This is a good example:
Larson, J. (2021). Tick, tick, boom. (Vols. 1-5) (L.M. Miranda Ed). Scholastic.
The necessary data
All the information you will need to cite the books can be easily found on the cover, back cover and the one dedicated to copyright. Remember that if you need a piece of information and it is really impossible for you to get it, you can ignore it.