How to Cite a Book: Title Page, Copyright Page and Style Differences

Book references look simple, but editions, publication years and the place of publication cause frequent errors. The style-by-style examples are generated below; this page explains where each element lives in the book and where styles diverge.

Elements and where to find them

Element	Where to look	Notes
Author or editor	Title page	Prefer the title page to the cover
Title and subtitle	Title page	Subtitle after a colon
Edition	Title page or copyright page	"Revised edition", "2nd ed."
Year	Copyright page	The year of the edition you used
Publisher	Title page, then copyright page	MLA prefers the title-page form
Place	Title page or copyright page	Omitted in several styles
Translator	Title page	Required for translations
DOI or URL	E-book platform, publisher page	Only for e-books

In English-language books the copyright page is the back of the title page; in Korean books it is usually the last page.

Edition vs. printing

A line such as "First edition, fifth printing, 2023" still means the first edition, and you cite the edition's year. Printings do not change the content, so they are never cited. A new edition does change the content: give the edition number and that edition's year. First editions are not labeled.

Where the styles differ

Item	APA 7	MLA 9	Chicago 18	IEEE	Vancouver
Title	Sentence case, italic	Title case, italic	Title case, italic	Title case, italic	Sentence case, roman
Edition	(2nd ed.) after title	2nd ed.,	2nd ed.	2nd ed.	2nd ed.
Place	Omitted	Omitted	No longer required (18th ed.)	City, State, Country:	City:
Year position	After author	After publisher	After publisher (after author in author-date)	After publisher	After publisher, with semicolon

APA 7 dropped the place of publication, and Chicago's 18th edition no longer requires it for books. IEEE and Vancouver still include it. Some universities require it for theses; check with the thesis checklist.

BibTeX fields

Books are @book entries. Check author vs editor, make sure edition is filled in when needed, and add address if you need IEEE or Vancouver, which require a place. ISBNs are stored in isbn but are rarely printed in reference lists. Always compare imported data with the copyright page.

Common mistakes

Treating a printing as an edition.
Mixing original and translation dates. Cite the translation you read; APA adds both years in the text citation (Piaget, 1966/2000).
Citing a whole edited volume when you used one chapter. Cite the chapter.
Keeping "Inc." or "Co." in publisher names.
Citing e-reader location numbers; use chapter or section numbers instead.

Korean-language books

The National Library of Korea catalog (nl.go.kr) confirms title, author, publisher, year and edition, and legal deposit means most Korean publications are there. Online bookstores often show the date of the latest printing, so rely on the copyright page or the library record. Korean journals frequently set Korean book titles in 『』 or bold rather than italics.

Special cases

Group authors: government agencies, societies and committees are cited as authors. APA omits the publisher when it is the same as the author.
Multivolume works: give the volume number (Vol. 2) and the volume title if it has one.
Reprints: cite the version you read; APA shows both years in the text citation.
E-books: add the DOI or URL if you read the e-book. APA does not name the format (Kindle, etc.).
No author: move the title to the author position; for reference books with only editors, list the editors with (Ed.) or (Eds.).

Checklist

Author and title copied from the title page
Edition included unless it is the first
Year of the edition, not the printing
Corporate suffixes removed from the publisher
Place of publication included only if the style requires it

Choose "Book" in the reference generator, build text citations with the in-text citation generator, and import libraries with the BibTeX and RIS converter.

Side-by-side by style

These examples are generated by this site's formatting engine from fictional sample data (not real publications).

Style	Reference	In-text
APA 7th	Harlow, M. (2021). Writing with sources: A practical handbook (2nd ed.). Northfield University Press.	(Harlow, 2021, p. 150) Harlow (2021, p. 150)
MLA 9th	Harlow, Margaret. Writing with sources: A practical handbook. 2nd ed., Northfield UP, 2021.	(Harlow 150) Harlow … (150)
Chicago 18th (author-date)	Harlow, Margaret. 2021. Writing with sources: A practical handbook. 2nd ed. Northfield University Press.	(Harlow 2021, 150) Harlow (2021, 150)
Chicago 18th (notes-bibliography)	Harlow, Margaret. Writing with sources: A practical handbook. 2nd ed. Northfield University Press, 2021.	1. Margaret Harlow, Writing with sources: A practical handbook, 2nd ed. (Northfield University Press, 2021), 150. 2. Harlow, Writing with sources, 150.
IEEE	[1] M. Harlow, Writing with sources: A practical handbook, 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Northfield University Press, 2021.	[1, p. 150] Harlow [1]
Vancouver (NLM/ICMJE)	1. Harlow M. Writing with sources: A practical handbook. 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Northfield University Press; 2021.	(1, p. 150) ¹
Korean journals — social science	Harlow, M. (2021). Writing with sources: A practical handbook (2nd ed.). Northfield University Press.	(Harlow, 2021, p. 150) Harlow (2021, p. 150)
Korean journals — humanities	Margaret Harlow, Writing with sources: A practical handbook (2nd ed.), Boston, MA: Northfield University Press, 2021.	1) Margaret Harlow, Writing with sources: A practical handbook (2nd ed.), Boston, MA: Northfield University Press, 2021, p. 150. 2) Harlow, op. cit., p. 150.

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