Books & book chapters

Book refers to print books and ebooks where one author wrote the entire book. If different authors wrote chapters you need to include every book chapter referred to in your reference list.

In-text citation

In text citations for book references follow the same format as all other reference types, using a superscript number.

You can use either information prominent or author prominent sentences, see incorporating sources from Academic Skills for more examples.

Information prominent example

Uses in 19th century medicine included3 …

Author prominent example

Carew and Flynn4 suggest this is under-represented in the literature because…

Reference List

If an ebook has a DOI use this, if not use a URL accessible to your reader.

  • Entire print book template

    Author. Title of Book: Subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year.

    Entire print book example

    1. Doherty P. An Insider's Plague Year. Melbourne University Press; 2021

  • Entire ebook with accessible URL template

    Author. Title of book: subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL

    Entire ebook with accessible URL example

    3. Martindale W. Coca and Cocaine: Their History, Medical and Economic Uses, and Medicinal Preparations. H. K. Lewis; 1892. Accessed 2 June, 2023. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70643

  • Entire ebook with DOI template

    Author. Title of book: subtitle. Edition. Publisher; Year. doi:xxxxx

    Entire ebook with DOI example

    2. Glenn RW. Come Hell or High Fever: Readying the World's Megacities for Disaster. ANU Press; 2023. doi:10.22459/CHHF.202

  • Entire ebook with DOI template

    Author (of chapter). Title of chapter. In: Editors (of book). Title of Book. Edition. Publisher; Year.

  • Author (of chapter). Title of chapter. In: Editors (of book). Title of Book. Edition. Publisher; Year. Accessed Month Day, Year. URL

    • If a DOI is present use this
    • If no DOI is present use a URL that will be accessible to your reader

  • Ebook chapter with DOI template

    Author (of chapter). Title of chapter. In: Editors (of book). Title of Book. Edition. Publisher; Year. doi:xxxxx

    Ebook chapter with DOI example

    4. Carew P, Flynn T. Hearing and language. In: Law J, Reilly S, McKean C, eds. Language Development: Individual Differences in a Social Context. Cambridge University Press; 2022. doi:10.1017/9781108643719

    • If a DOI is present use this
    • If no DOI is present use a URL that will be accessible to your reader

Tips for this reference type

  • Rules for numbers of authors

    No author
    • leave blank.
    • Don't use Anonymous unless the author is specifically credited as Anonymous.
    1 author
    • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
    • No punctuation in between surname and initials.

    Doherty P.

    2-6 authors
    • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
    • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
    • Use a comma to separate authors.

    Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y.

    6+ authors
    • Use initials for all of the given names of the author.
    • No punctuation in between surname and initials.
    • After 3 authors use et al

    Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al.

    No author example

    Nobel Lectures in Physiology or Medicine 1922-1941. World Scientific; 1999.

    1 author example

    Doherty P. An Insider's Plague Year. Melbourne University Press; 2021.

    2-6 authors example

    Lo Bianco J, Slaughter Y. Second Languages and Australian Schooling. Australian Education Review. ACER Press; 2009. Doherty P. An Insider's Plague Year. Melbourne University Press; 2021.

    6+ authors example

    Lacy-Nichols J, Nandi S, Mialon M, et al. Conceptualising commercial entities in public health: beyond unhealthy commodities and transnational corporations. Lancet. 2023;401(10383):1214-1228. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00012-0

  • Titles of book chapters are in sentence case.

    • Sentence case means using an initial capital for the first word and any proper nouns. All other words are in lower case.
    • Proper nouns are the specific names of people, places, organisations or things.

    Titles of  books are in title case.

    • Title case means all words except minor words are capitalised.
    • Minor words  are three letters or fewer.

    Minor words examples

    and, as ,but, for, if, nor, or, so, yet
    a, an, the
    as, at, by, for in, of, off, on per, to, up, via

  • If you find elements of your references are missing using the following wording in your references:

    Year of publication missing?

    date unknown

    Publisher missing?

    publisher unknown

    Author missing?

    Leave blank

    • Do not use Anonymous for no author. This is only used if the author is specifically credited as Anonymous

  • For book chapters in authored book (rather than a book with editors and different authors for book chapters) refer to entire book.

  • Include edition number if it's not the first edition.

  • Use 'Forthcoming' after publisher. 'In press' is no longer used.

    • A DOI (digital object identifier) is a more permanent location for an online resource than a regular web link.
    • Always include if available, most online journal articles or ebooks will have one.
    • More on DOIs

  • AMA style manual 3.12 References to books (ebook).

    University of Melbourne login required

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

AMA Style FAQs

General Referencing FAQs

Permanent link to this page (books and book chapters):  https://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite/referencing-styles/vancouver/book