Citation of a Book: Further Advice

The 'Basic Tutorial' introduced you to some of the key principles in citing a book, but there are several other principles you need to know to allow you to accurately cite more complex sources:

  1. Names of Authors/Editors: Names should be given as they appear on the title page. For anonymous works, the author field should be left blank: don't use 'anon.' unless it is given in the edition you are using.
    You should give the full names of up to three authors/editors. Where a work has more than three authors/editors, it is sufficient to only give the first name followed by 'and others': e.g. 'Joe Bloggs and others, A Dictionary...'
  2. Titles: The majority of titles should be given in full as they appear on the title page. Where a work has a very long title, it is sufficient to abbreviate it. For instance:
    John Lindsay, The Evangelical History of our Lord Jesus Christ: Harmonized, Explained and Illustrated with Variety of Notes Practical, Historical, and Critical. To which is Subjoined, an Account of the Propagation of Christianity, and the Original Settlement and State of the Church. Together with Proper Prefaces, and a Compleat Index. The Whole Dedicated to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in Parliament Assembled, 2 vols (London: Newbery and Collins, 1757).

    Could be given as:

    John Lindsay, The Evangelical History of our Lord Jesus Christ: Harmonized, Explained and Illustrated with Variety of Notes Practical, Historical, and Critical, 2 vols (London: Newbery and Collins, 1757).

    Where an alternate title is offered, the format is as follows: All for Love; or, The World Well Lost.
    Where the title of another work is given in an italicised title, the title of the other work should be placed within single quotation marks. For example: A Companion to 'The Crying of Lot 49'.
    For books in English, all principal words should be capitalised. For books in other languages, you should follow the capitalisation conventions of that language.
  3. Edition: If you are using an edition of a book other than the first, this should be stated - in the form 2nd edn, 5th edn, rev. edn - after the title and after (where applicable) the translator's/editor's details.
  4. Number of Volumes: Should be given in the form 2 vols, 5 vols, etc. For further information on citing multi-volume works, see Exercise 12 and Exercise 13.
  5. Series: Where the book you are using is part of a numbered series, you should give the series' name and number as follows:
    Pamela Robinson, ‘The Manuscript of The Book of Margery Kempe’, in Recording Medieval Lives: Proceedings of the 2005 Harlaxton Symposium, ed. by Julia Boffey and Virginia Davis, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, 17 (Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2009), pp. 130-40.
    Note the series' title is neither italicised nor placed in quotation marks. If the book is part of a non-numbered series, there is no need to identify the series (although the information can be given if the series' title conveys important information).
  6. Place of Publication: The current English form of foreign cities should be given: so Geneva not Genève. When naming publishers in the US, if the place of publication is likely to cause confusion (e.g. Cambridge in Massachusetts or Athens in Georgia) the official two-letter USPS abbreviation should be given (e.g. Cambridge, MA or Athens, GA). There is never a need to include these abbreviations if the state is given in the name of the publisher (e.g. 'Athens: University of Georgia Press').
  7. Unknown Information: Any detail of publication that is not given in the book, but can be ascertained from another source should be enclosed in square brackets, e.g. '[1987]', '[London]'.
    For any detail of publication that is unknown and cannot be ascertained, the following abbreviated forms of reference should be used: '[n.p.]' (= no place), '[n. pub.]' (= no publisher), '[n.d.]' (= no date).

Exercise 1: A Book >>>