Chicago / Turabian Book Citation

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How to reference a book using the Chicago Manual of Style

The most basic entry for a book consists of the author’s name, the title of the book, publisher city, publisher name, and the year of publication.

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher City: Publisher Name, Year Published.

Brown, Dan. The DaVinci Code. New York: Scholastic, 2004.

The first author’s name should be reversed, with a comma being placed after the last name and a period after the first name (or any middle name/initial). The name should generally be written as it appears on the title page, although certain adjustments may need to be made. Titles and affiliations associated with the author should be omitted. A suffix, such as a roman numeral or Jr./Sr. should appear after the author’s given name, preceded by a comma.

For a book written by two or more authors, list them in order as they appear on the title page. Only the first author’s name should be reversed, while the others are written in normal order. Separate author names by a comma.

Smith, John, Jane Doe, and Bob Anderson. The Sample Book. Pittsburgh: BibMe, 2008.

The full title of the book, including any subtitles, should be stated and italicized. If the book has a subtitle, the main title should be followed by a colon (unless the main title ends with a question mark, exclamation point, or dash). The complete title should be followed by a period.

The publication information can generally be found on the title page of the book. If it is not available there, it may also be found on the copyright page. List the publication city, followed by a colon and the publisher name. The publisher name may be given in full or it can be abbreviated. In all cases, introductory articles (e.g. The, A, An) and some business titles (e.g. Inc., Ltd., S.A.) are omitted. Other business titles (e.g. Co., & Co., Publishing Co.) are often omitted, but can be retained. “Books” is usually retained. “Press” may be omitted or retained – if it is used with a university name, it must be retained. The word “University” can be abbreviated as “Univ.” The publisher is followed by a comma, and then the year of publication. End the citation with a period.

If you are citing a specific chapter from the book, include the following information before the book title: the chapter name and a period in quotations, and the text “In”. Also include either the inclusive page numbers of the chapter (along with a period after the year of publication) or the chapter number (along with the text “Chap.”, preceding the “In” text before the book title).

Smith, John. “The First Chapter.” Chap. 1 in The Sample Book. Pittsburgh: BibMe, 2008.

Smith, John. “The First Chapter.” In The Sample Book. Pittsburgh: BibMe, 2008. 12-20.

When a book has no edition number/name present, it is generally a first edition. If you have to cite a specific edition of a book later than the first, you should indicate the new edition in your citation. If the book is a revised edition or an edition that includes substantial new content, include the number, name, or year of the edition and the abbreviation “ed.” in parentheses between the book title and the period that follows it. “Revised edition” should be abbreviated as “Rev. ed.” and “Abridged edition” should be abbreviated as “Abr. ed.” “Second edition, revised and enlarged” can be abbreviated simply as “2nd ed.” The edition can usually be found on the title page, as well as on the copyright page, along with the edition’s date.

Smith, John. The Sample Book. 2nd ed. Pittsburgh: BibMe, 2008.

Smith, John. The Sample Book. Rev. ed. Pittsburgh: BibMe, 2008.

If the book is a reprint edition and is a newly republished version of an older book, include the original year of publication and a period after the period that follows the book title. Place the word “Reprint” and a comma before the publication city. The publication year at the end of the citation should be the year of the book’s reprinting.

Smith, John. The Sample Book. 1920. Reprint, Pittsburgh: BibMe, 2008.

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