Hi everyone, and welcome to this short video. Today we are going to talk about how to write
a reference for a chapter in a book using APA 7th style.
As you may know, in APA7th style, ebooks are treated the same as print books – and
to create your reference entry correctly, you’ll need the following elements:
“….the publisher name plus any applicable DOI or URL”
Notice that a publisher location is not included in APA 7th style.
So let’s take a look at what a reference entry for a chapter in a book looks like in APA 7th style.
So, here’s an example of the basic format for referencing a chapter in an edited book.
You can see that the first element is the chapter author names. Note that the names are inverted so
that the last name comes first, followed by a comma and then the initials. Notice that there
is a space between the initials and these are punctuated with a full stop. But notice that after
the first author’s initial we have a full stop and a comma before the ampersand. The next element is
the year of publication which is contained in round brackets and punctuated with a full stop.
Next, we have the title of the chapter. Notice that the title is in normal font,
it is not italicised, and it’s in sentence case (which means that only the first letter
of the first word is capitalised). And the chapter name ends with a full stop.
Now, the next element is the names of the editors. Here, we write the word “In” followed by the
editor names. Notice that the editor names are not inverted, so the editors’ initials
comes before their last name. The editor name is followed by an abbreviation of the word “Editors”
which we can see has a capitalised “E” and a lower case “ds”. This information is punctuated with a
full stop and contained in round brackets, which is followed immediately by a comma.
Next, we have the title of the whole book, which we can see is in italics. Now after the title,
in round brackets, we have any edition information as well as the page range of the chapter.
You can see that the edition information and the page rage is separated by a comma,
and that the page rage is denoted by pp. Then the next element is the name of the
publisher, followed by a full stop,
followed by the DOI or URL. Note that we don’t put a full stop after the DOI or URL.
So, here’s an example of a reference for a book. You can see that the chapter author names are
inverted, and that the initials are punctuated with a full stop.
Notice the comma separating first author’s initial from the ampersand. The next element
is the year of publication which is contained in round brackets and punctuated with a full stop.
Next, we have the title of the chapter. Notice that the title is in normal font and
in sentence case and punctuated with a full stop. Now, the next element is the name of the editor.
We can see that the editor’s initial comes before the last name along with the word
“In” (capitalised). The editor name is followed by an abbreviation of the word “Editor” which
we can see has a capitalised “E”, a lower case “d”, and a full stop, which is contained within
round brackets. This is followed by a comma. Next, we have the title of the whole book,
which we can see is in italics, and the page range which is contained in round brackets.
Then the last element is the name of the publisher, followed by a full stop.
We would include a DOI here if one was available.
Now, this book is from an academic research database, so we can end the reference after the
publisher name; we don’t include the publisher location. But if we were citing a book that
did not have a DOI and was not from an academic research database, then we would include a URL.
And just remember when constructing your reference list, the heading “references” should be in the
centre and in bold. Your entries should be in alphabetical order based on the author surnames.
Your entries should be doubled spaced, without extra spacing between, and
should have a hanging indent. Lastly, make sure all works cited in-text are in your list
and all entries in your list are cited in-text. So now you now how to reference a chapter in a
book in APA 7th style. If you want to know more about referencing, have a look at SCU’s online
referencing guides – you can find a link to those guides on the library’s homepage – or
ask your friendly Learning Experience Team – and good luck with your referencing!