Referencing books

Reference styles do vary. The examples on this page may not match the preference of your School or Department - please check the guidelines from your School or Department to ensure you are following the preferred style.

Referencing print books

References to books should include the following:

• The author(s), or editor(s) - by surname and initial(s)
• Year of publication
• The title (in italics or bold)
• The edition other than the first (if applicable)
• Place of publication
• The publisher's name

Publications with an editor

Use the abbreviation 'ed' to indicate an editor, ('ed' is also used for 'edition') e.g.

Drake, G., ed. (2006) Springer handbook of atomic, molecular and optical physics. 2nd ed. New York: Springer

Publications with no author

If the work does not appear to have an author use 'Anon', e.g.

Anon.(2005) Handbook of physics. London: Wiley

Publications with multiple authors

If there are 2 or 3 authors, list each one, in the order they appear on the title page of the publication.

If there are 4 or more authors, give all names if possible. If any are omitted, use 'et. al.' or 'and others' to indicate there is more than one author.

List all authors with surname first, followed by initials, e.g.

Smith, J.E., Teske, P. and Marschall, M.

Although you may sometimes see subsequent authors listed with their first name or initial(s) first followed by surname.

Referencing chapters in books

References to chapters in books should include the following:

• The author(s) of the chapter - by surname and initial(s)
• The title of the chapter
• The author(s) or editor(s) of the book - by initial(s) and surname
• The title of the book (in italics or bold)
• The edition other than the first (if applicable)
• The place of publication
• The publisher's name
• Year of publication
• The page numbers of the chapter

Referencing eBooks

When referencing electronic sources, students should include the URL of the webpage to allow others to trace the site easily.

It is also important to specify that the reference is an online source and to identify the date on which you accessed the site.

If the eBook also has a print equivalent, you can simply follow the guidelines for referencing the print book.  If the eBook is only available online, follow the guidelines below:

References to electronic books should include:

• The author(s), or editor(s) - by surname and initial(s)
• The year of publication
• The book title (in italics)
• The edition other than the first (if applicable)
• [online]
• The place of publication
• The publisher
• The URL
• The date you viewed the eBook 

Further help with referencing books