Print Books | 17th Edition

A wall of books.Click on the listings below to see sample citations for various types of books. In each example:

The first entry is a sample footnote/endnote as it would appear the first time that a work is cited. Remember, while our examples begin with “1.”, notes should be numbered based on the order they occur in the paper.

The second entry is a shortened version for subsequent notes from the same source.

The third entry is the bibliographic citation that will be found at the end of the work. Remember, a bibliography is alphabetized by author’s last name.


Print Book

1. Antony Penrose, The Lives of Lee Miller (London: Thames and Hudson, 1985), 191.

2. Penrose, Lives of Lee Miller, 42.

Penrose, Antony. The Lives of Lee Miller. London: Thames and Hudson, 1985.

Multiple Authors

1. Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb, The Hidden Injuries of Class (New York: Vintage Books, 1973), 102-7.

2. Sennett and Cobb, Hidden Injuries, 10.

Sennett, Richard, and Jonathan Cobb. The Hidden Injuries of Class. New York: Vintage Books, 1973.

NOTE: In cases when a book has four or more authors, list all of the authors in the bibliography. However, in the notes, list only the first author followed by et al. (meaning “and others”).

Unknown Author
1. A Cypher's Guide to Staying Under the Radar (London, 2002), 10.

2. Cypher's Guide, 133.

A Cypher's Guide to Staying Under the Radar. London, 2002.

NOTE: Alphabetize the bibliographic entry by the first word of the title (ignoring articles such as A, An, and The).

In situations when a book is specifically attributed to “Anonymous” on the title page, “Anonymous” should be used for the author’s name in the citation and in bibliographic alphabetization.

Edited Work as a Whole
1. Thomas Cooley, ed., The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, 8th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013), 184.

2. Cooley, Norton Sampler, 3.

Cooley, Thomas, ed. The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.
Chapter or Selection From an Edited Work

1. Sojourner Truth, "Ain't I a Woman?," in The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, 8th ed, ed. Thomas Cooley (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013), 627.

2. Truth, "Ain't I," 628.

Truth, Sojourner. "Ain't I a Woman?" In The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, 8th ed, edited by Thomas Cooley, 627-29. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.
Translated Work
1. Dimitri Topher, Munch's Scream, trans. Peter Sussan (Madrid: Madman Publishing, 1987), 21.

2. Topher, Munch's Scream, 32.

Topher, Dimitri. Munch's Scream. Translated by Peter Sussan. Madrid: Madman Publishing, 1987.
Edition Other Than the First
1. Brenda Ueland, If You Want to Write, 2nd ed. (Saint Paul, MN: Gray Wolf Press, 1987), 16.

2. Ueland, Write, 24.

Ueland, Brenda. If You Want to Write, 2nd ed. Saint Paul, MN: Gray Wolf Press, 1987.
Series and Multivolume Works
1. James T. Patterson, Grand Expectations, The United States, 1945-1975, Oxford History of the United States, Book 10 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 51.

2. Patterson, Grand Expectations, 45.

Patterson, James T. Grand Expectations, The United States, 1945-1975. Oxford History of the United States, Book 10. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

NOTE: In situations when it’s necessary to cite the entirety of a series or multivolume work in a bibliography, follow the format below.

Patterson, James T. Oxford History of the United States. 13 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Letter in a Published Collection
NOTE: If the letter writer’s name is part of the collection title, then begin the note with only their last name but use their full name in the bibliography entry.
1. Tolkien to Sir Stanley Unwin, 9 May 1947, in The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, ed. Humphrey Carpenter (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981), 119-120.

2. Tolkien, The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, 120.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Humphrey Carpenter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981.

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