Formatting a Book Reference in APA 7: Four Parts

Let's build our first reference: a book with one author.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

If you're using PERRLA, this part is a breeze. Look the book up by its ISBN, and PERRLA finds the book's details, fills in the reference form for you, formats the reference correctly, and adds it to your paper.

Done, and right from the start. Not using PERRLA (yet)? Here's how to format the same reference by hand.

Step by step

We'll create a reference for this book: Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science by Jeff Meldrum, published in 2007 by Forge.

1. Author's name

Start with the author's last name, then a comma, then their initials:

Meldrum, J.

Put a period after each initial and a space between initials. A few special cases:

• Hyphenated first names like James-Michael become Brown, J.-M. Keep the hyphen and leave no space between the two initials, unlike a first and middle initial.
• Suffixes like III go at the end, after a comma and a space: Brown, J.-M., III.
• Professional titles and degrees, like Dr. or PhD, are left off.
• Pen names are used exactly as they're printed in the source.
• Two different authors with the same last name and initials? Add each one's full first name in square brackets:

Reynolds, R. [Ryan].

Reynolds, R. [Richard].

Finish the author part with a period.

2. Year of publication

Put the year in parentheses, followed by a period:

(2007).

If there's no publication date, write (n.d.), short for "no date."

3. Book title

The full title of the book comes next. It is:

• Italicized
• In sentence case: capitalize only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns

Sasquatch: Legend meets science.

End with a period, and make sure the period itself isn't italicized.

4. Publisher

Add the name of the publisher:

Forge.

APA 7 no longer includes the publisher's city or state, just the name. Leave off words like Inc. or LLC, but keep words that are part of the name, like Press or Books.

If the author and the publisher are the same, as with a self-published book, leave the publisher out so the name isn't repeated.

The finished reference

Here's the complete reference, as it sits on the references page:

1. AuthorLast name, comma, initials, period.
2. YearIn parentheses, then a period.
3. TitleItalic, sentence case, with a period that isn't italic.
4. PublisherThe name only, no city or state.

It's that simple once you know each part. And if you're using PERRLA, all of it is built for you.

Quick checklist

• Author inverted, with initials and the rules for suffixes
• Year in parentheses, with a period after
• Title italicized, in sentence case, with a period that isn't italic
• Publisher name only, no location
• Spacing and punctuation checked

Related APA 101 lessons

• Adding references to your paper: the three common reference types, and alphabetical order.
• Formatting a journal article reference: volume, issue, page range, and the DOI.
• Formatting a webpage reference: dates, website names, retrieval dates, and pages with no author.
• In-text citations: author, year, and page, and when et al. applies.
• All 18 lessons in APA 101