Formatting a Book Reference

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.

For books, you can search for its bibliographic information using the book’s ISBN number. PERRLA will find the book’s information, pre-populate the reference form for you, and then automatically format it correctly and add it to your paper.

[shows PERRLA creating a reference during the above script with this ISBN: 978-0765312174]

Done – and APA-compliant from the start.

If you're not using PERRLA (yet), let's walk through how to format this reference manually.

Step-by-Step Breakdown

Let’s create a reference for this book as an example:
Sasquatch: Legend meets science by Jeff Meldrum, published in 2007 by Forge Books.

1. Author’s Name

Start with the author’s last name, then a comma, followed by their initials:

Meldrum, J.

Use periods after each initial and leave a space between them.

A few special notes:

• Hyphenated first names like James-Michael become: Brown, J.-M.
  When a first name is hyphenated, don’t include any spaces between them – this is different from how we space out the initials for first and middle name..
  
  
• Suffixes like “III” go at the end: Brown, J.-M., III.
  These are separated from the other names by a comma and a space.
  
  
• Professional titles (like Ph.D. or Dr.) are not included
  
  
• Pen names are used exactly as printed in the source
  
  
• If two different authors have the same name and initials (like “Reynolds, R.”), APA requires adding the full first name in 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, use (n.d.) – which is short for “no date.”

3. Book Title

The full title of the book comes next:

• Italicized
  
  
• Sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns capitalized)
  

Sasquatch: Legend meets science.

End with a period, but make sure the period is not italicized.

4. Publisher

Add the name of the publisher:

Forge Books.

APA 7 no longer requires the city or state – just the name of the publisher. And don’t include words of incorporation like “Inc.” or “LLC” but do include non-business designations like Press or Books.

If the author and the publisher are the same – like when a book is self-published – omit the publisher from the reference to avoid duplication.

Final Result

Here’s our complete reference:

Meldrum, J. (2007). Sasquatch: Legend meets science. Forge Books.

It’s that simple – once you understand each part.

And remember, if you’re using PERRLA, it builds all of this for you automatically.

Quick checklist

▢ Author inverted with initials and suffix rules
▢ Year in parentheses with period after
▢ Title italicized in sentence case, period not italic
▢ Publisher name only, no location
▢ Spacing and punctuation checked

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Let PERRLA Handle your Formatting

PERRLA can build a book reference from an ISBN. The form fills the fields, and the final entry appears on the References page with the correct italics, spacing, and hanging indent.