An edited book is planned by one or more editors, with chapters written by different authors. If you used one chapter, cite the chapter, not the book. If one person wrote the whole book, cite the book and give the page or chapter in the in-text citation.
Elements and where to find them
| Element | Where to look | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chapter author | First page of the chapter, table of contents | Often different from the editors |
| Chapter title | First page of the chapter | Use the full heading, not a shortened contents entry |
| Editors (Ed./Eds.) | Title page | "Edited by" |
| Book title and edition | Title page, copyright page | |
| Page range | Table of contents, first and last pages | Required by most styles |
| Year and publisher | Copyright page | Same as for a book |
| DOI | Publisher's chapter page | Many scholarly chapters have their own DOI |
Use the chapter's DOI, not the DOI of the whole volume.
Where the styles differ
| Item | APA 7 | MLA 9 | Chicago 18 | IEEE | Vancouver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter title | Sentence case, plain | Quotes | Quotes | Quotes | Plain |
| Link to the book | In + editors (Ed.), | edited by after the title | In + title, edited by | in + title | In: editors, editor(s). |
| Editor names | Initials surname | Given name surname | Given name surname | Initials surname | Surname initials |
| Pages | (pp. 45–67) after title | pp. 45–67 | page range | pp. 45–67 | p. 45-67 |
The automatically generated examples below show the full patterns.
BibTeX fields and in-text citations
A chapter is @incollection: title holds the chapter title, booktitle the book, author the chapter author, editor the editors and pages the range. Imported records sometimes label chapters as @book or put editors in author, so check them.
In-text citations use the chapter author and the book's year, such as (Kim, 2022) in APA, with a page number for quotations. Editors do not appear in the text citation.
Common mistakes
- Putting the editors in the author position. Editors follow "In."
- Giving the page count of the whole book instead of the chapter's range.
- Forgetting "Ed." vs "Eds."
- Ignoring reprints: when an older article is reprinted in a collection, some styles, including APA, show the original publication date as well.
- Treating encyclopedia entries as chapters. Many styles have a separate reference-work format.
Korean-language edited books
Korean edited volumes show editors as "편" or "엮음". RISS and the National Library of Korea catalog confirm editors and series titles, though chapter-level details often need the table of contents. Korean journals commonly mark chapter titles with 「 」 and book titles with 『 』.
Chapter or whole book?
If one author (or the same co-authors) wrote the whole book, cite the book. If chapters have different authors, cite the chapter. If you used several chapters from the same volume, list each separately. MLA allows a short cross-reference system, but a full entry per chapter is the safer choice for theses.
Introductions and forewords follow the same logic: if the introduction has its own author, that person is the author and "Introduction" (or its title) takes the chapter-title slot.
Checklist
- The chapter author is in the author position
- Ed. or Eds. matches the number of editors
- The page range matches the chapter's actual first and last pages
- The DOI belongs to the chapter, not the volume
- The in-text citation names the chapter author, not the editors
Related tools
Choose "Chapter in edited book" in the reference generator. In-text citations use the chapter author (in-text citation generator). In BibTeX this is @incollection; convert files 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 | Silva, R. (2020). Measuring reading engagement in digital classrooms. In H. Brooks & A. Patel (Eds.), Literacy in the digital age (pp. 87–110). Westbrook Academic. | (Silva, 2020, p. 150) Silva (2020, p. 150) |
| MLA 9th | Silva, Rafael. “Measuring reading engagement in digital classrooms.” Literacy in the digital age, edited by Hannah Brooks and Arjun Patel, Westbrook Academic, 2020, pp. 87–110. | (Silva 150) Silva … (150) |
| Chicago 18th (author-date) | Silva, Rafael. 2020. “Measuring reading engagement in digital classrooms.” In Literacy in the digital age, edited by Hannah Brooks and Arjun Patel, 87–110. Westbrook Academic. | (Silva 2020, 150) Silva (2020, 150) |
| Chicago 18th (notes-bibliography) | Silva, Rafael. “Measuring reading engagement in digital classrooms.” In Literacy in the digital age, edited by Hannah Brooks and Arjun Patel, 87–110. Westbrook Academic, 2020. | 1. Rafael Silva, “Measuring reading engagement in digital classrooms,” in Literacy in the digital age, ed. Hannah Brooks and Arjun Patel (Westbrook Academic, 2020), 150. 2. Silva, “Measuring reading engagement,” 150. |
| IEEE | [1] R. Silva, “Measuring reading engagement in digital classrooms,” in Literacy in the digital age, H. Brooks and A. Patel, Eds., London: Westbrook Academic, 2020, pp. 87–110. | [1, p. 150] Silva [1] |
| Vancouver (NLM/ICMJE) | 1. Silva R. Measuring reading engagement in digital classrooms. In: Brooks H, Patel A, editors. Literacy in the digital age. London: Westbrook Academic; 2020. p. 87-110. | (1, p. 150) 1 |
| Korean journals — social science | Silva, R. (2020). Measuring reading engagement in digital classrooms. In H. Brooks & A. Patel (Eds.), Literacy in the digital age (pp. 87–110). Westbrook Academic. | (Silva, 2020, p. 150) Silva (2020, p. 150) |
| Korean journals — humanities | Rafael Silva, “Measuring reading engagement in digital classrooms,” in Hannah Brooks and Arjun Patel (eds.), Literacy in the digital age, Westbrook Academic, 2020, pp. 87-110. | 1) Rafael Silva, “Measuring reading engagement in digital classrooms,” in Hannah Brooks and Arjun Patel (eds.), Literacy in the digital age, Westbrook Academic, 2020, p. 150. 2) Silva, op. cit., p. 150. |