APA book citation generator

Use your book's ISBN to prepare an APA reference-list entry.

ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 both work. Spaces and hyphens are optional; ISBN-10 may end in X.

Try an example

The structure of scientific revolutions — ISBN 9780226458113

Thomas S. Kuhn. (n.d.). The structure of scientific revolutions (Fourth edition.). The University of Chicago Press.

Check the year and edition against your copy. Missing dates appear as “n.d.” in APA.

Make an APA book reference

Enter the ISBN printed on your book, then copy or download the APA reference. Both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 are accepted. Use the identifier for the edition you actually consulted.

Author, date, title, publisher

APA book references put the publication date near the author. Review the author names, year, title, edition, and publisher against the book. If a publication year is unavailable, the reference uses “n.d.”; do not replace it with the year the book was first written.

The output is a reference-list entry. Your in-text citation depends on the passage and how you introduce the author; a quotation usually also needs its page number.

Translations and different editions

Translations, revised editions, hardbacks, and ebooks can have different publication details. A matching title alone does not identify the edition. Read how to cite a translated book and how to check a citation.

If no citation is available, check the ISBN and use the title and copyright pages to prepare the reference. A failed lookup does not prove that the book is fictitious.