How to Reference a Textbook in APA Format

Many college and high school teachers want students to use APA style when citing facts you have used in your paper. APA, which stands for American Psychological Association, tells your reader where you got your information. It also proves that you are not plagiarizing a work; rather, you are giving the author the correct credit for using his words.

Things You'll Need

  • Textbook
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Instructions

    • 1
      Type your author's information in the piece.

      Place the author's information in the body of your essay where you are using that author's quote or words. This is done for what is called in-text citing. The APA format states you should put the author's last name, followed by a comma and then the year the textbook you are getting your information from was published, all in parenthesis. For example, it might look something like this: (Smith, 2009).

    • 2
      If there are two authors, you will need to use the ampersand symbol.

      Place all the authors' last names in parenthesis if there is more than one author. The first time you use your citation, you'll include all the author's last names. For example, it might look something like this: (Smith, French, Doe, 2009) or (Smith & French, 2009). Use the ampersand symbol when there are only two authors. After the first time citing the authors, you will need to keep citing the textbook the same way if there are only two authors. If there are more than two authors, on all the other times you cite, you'll just put the last name of the first author and then the phrase, et al., and then the year the textbook was published in parenthesis. For example, it could look something like this: (Smith et al., 2009).

    • 3
      Cite all quotes.

      Cite exact quotes or phrases with a specific citing style. Use the same style as you do for citing authors, but include the page number of where you are citing the item. For example, it might look something like this: (Smith, 2009, p. 14). Notice that you don't spell out the word page; instead, you put a period after the letter "p."

    • 4
      Place the textbook name in italics.

      Place all the items you cited on your reference page in alphabetical order. The textbook needs to be referenced on this page with the last name and then comma and then first initial of the author and a period after that initial. Follow with the textbook publication date in parenthesis. Place a period. Next list the textbook title in italics. Place a period. List the city the textbook was published in followed with a colon. Follow with the publisher's name. Place a period. For example, it could look something like this: Smith, J. (2009). Theories in Writing. San Francisco: Log Publishing. Be sure to italicize the title of the textbook.

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