Print Books

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.

New to the 18th Edition: For books published after 1900, place of publication is no longer required for footnotes, endnotes, or bibliography entries. Writers can optionally include this information if they feel readers would benefit from knowing a work’s origin. (For instance, in a case where a book was published first in Dublin and then later in New York with revisions, it might be instructive to note the difference between editions.)

Print Book

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

2. Penrose, Lives of Lee Miller, 42.

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

Multiple Authors

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

2. Sennett and Cobb, Hidden Injuries, 10.

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

NOTE: For books with multiple authors, list up to six of them in the bibliography entry. For works with more than six authors, list only the first three followed by “et al.” However, in the notes, any amount of authors greater than two should be shorted to just the first author and “et al.”

Unknown Author

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

2. Cypher's Guide, 133.

A Cypher's Guide to Staying Under the Radar. 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. (W.W. Norton & Company, 2013), 184.

2. Cooley, Norton Sampler, 3.

Cooley, Thomas, ed. The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition, 8th ed. 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 (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. W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.

Translated Work

1. Dimitri Topher, Munch's Scream, trans. Peter Sussan (Madman Publishing, 1987), 21.

2. Topher, Munch's Scream, 32.

Topher, Dimitri. Munch's Scream. Translated by Peter Sussan. Madman Publishing, 1987.

Edition Other Than the First

1. Brenda Ueland, If You Want to Write, 2nd ed. (Gray Wolf Press, 1987), 16.

2. Ueland, Write, 24.

Ueland, Brenda. If You Want to Write, 2nd ed. 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 (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. 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. 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 (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. Houghton Mifflin, 1981.