Citing and referencing: Books

A guide to the styles recommended by Monash schools and departments for students and researchers

Books

  • One author
  • Multiple authors
  • Organisations in the place of an author
  • Edited books
  • Chapters in edited books
  • Reprints and modern editions (when the original year of publication is relevant)
  • Books with an author and a translator
  • Exhibition catalogues
  • A primary source quoted in a secondary source
  • Electronic books (e-books) and books consulted online

One author

The basic elements of references to books in Chicago’s notes and bibliography system include the author’s name, the title, and the publication details (the place, the publisher, and the year). Present these elements in the same order as they appear on the title page of the source. They allow interested readers to easily locate referenced sources. Numbered footnotes, at the bottom of each page, list the author, the title, and the publication details, and correspond to superscript reference numbers in the text. For quotations and references to specific passages citations also include page numbers. Note that the edition is only included if it is not the first edition.

The first time you cite a source, the note includes the full details. Then for subsequent citations, the note only includes the author’s surname, the short form of the title (omitting subtitles), and page numbers (if needed). 

Rule for Note

Note number. Author’s Full Name, Title of Book: Subtitle of Book, edition. (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages.

Example of Note entry

1. Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr., Sexual Discretion: Black Masculinity and the Politics of Passing, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014), 32.

Subsequent Note entry

2. McCune, Sexual Discretion.

Rule for Bibliography

Author’s Surname, Author’s Given Name. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication.

Example of Bibliography entry

McCune, Jeffrey Q., Jr. Sexual Discretion: Black Masculinity and the Politics of Passing. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014.

 

Multiple authors

List up to three authors in both the notes and the bibliography. Above three authors, list only the first followed by et al. in the notes and all in the bibliography. Above ten authors, list only the first followed et al. in the notes and only the first seven followed by et al. in the bibliography.

Note that multiple authors are listed in the same order as they appear on the title page, which may not necessarily be alphabetical order. Note also that for a book with two or more authors, only the first-listed name is inverted in the bibliography. Remember that the edition is only included if it is not the first edition.

Rule for Note

List two or three authors:

Note number. First Author’s Full Name and Second Author’s Full Name, Title of Book: Subtitle of Book, edition (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages.

Note number. First Author’s Full Name, Second Author’s Full Name, and Third Author’s Full Name, Title of Book: Subtitle of Book, edition (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages.

For four or more authors list the first author followed by et al.

Note number. First Author’s Full Name et al., Title of Book: Subtitle of Book , edition (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages.

Example of Note entry

1. Astri Suhrke and Howard Adelman, The Path of a Genocide: The Rwanda Crisis From Uganda to Zaire (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1999), 292.

2. Edward O. Laumann et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994).

Subsequent Note entry

3. Suhrke and Adelman, The Path of a Genocide, 308.

4. Laumann et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality.

Rule for Bibliography

List all authors up to ten in the bibliography:

First Author’s Surname, First Author’s Given Name, Second Author’s Full Name, and Third Author’s Full Name. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication.

First Author’s Surname, First Author’s Given Name, Subsequent Authors’ Full Names. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication.

For books with over ten authors list only the first seven followed by et al.

Example of Bibliography entry

Suhrke, Astri, and Howard Adelman. The Path of a Genocide: The Rwanda Crisis From Uganda to Zaire. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1999.

Laumann, Edward O., John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels. The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.

 

Organisations in the place of an author

For sources that are published by an organisation and that do not include a person’s name on the title page, cite the organisation in the place of an author.

Rule for Note

Note number. Organisation’s Name, Title of Book: Subtitle of Book, edition (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages.

Example of Note entry

1. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Hidden History of the Kovno Ghetto (Boston, MA: Little Brown and Company, 1998).

Subsequent Note entry

2. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Hidden History of the Kovno Ghetto.

Rule for Bibliography

Organisation’s Name. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication.

Example of Bibliography entry

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Hidden History of the Kovno Ghetto. Boston, MA: Little Brown and Company, 1998.

 

Edited books

If a book is not attributed to an author on the title page, the editor or a translator may be cited. Note that works prepared by multiple editors follow the same patterns as those prepared by multiple authors.

Rule for Note

Note number. Editor’s Full Name, ed., Title of Book: Subtitle of Book, edition (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages.

Example of Note entry

1. Margit Misangyi Watts, ed., Technology: Taking the Distance Out of Learning (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003).

Subsequent Note entry

2. Watts, Technology.

Rule for Bibliography

Editor’s Surname, Editor’s Given Name, ed. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication.

Example of Bibliography entry

Watts, Margit Misangyi, ed.Technology: Taking the Distance Out of Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003.

 

Chapters in edited books

When a chapter in an edited multi-author book is relevant cite the author of the chapter and the chapter’s title enclosed in quotation marks before citing the book as a whole. For quotations and references to specific passages cite the page number in the footnote, but indicate the chapter's inclusive range of pages in the bibliography.

Rule for Note

Note number. Chapter Author’s Full Name, “Chapter Title,” in Title of Book: Subtitle of Book, ed. Editor’s Full Name (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages.

Example of Note entry

1. Colin Lucas, “Nobles, Bourgeois and the Origins of the French Revolution,” in The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies, ed. Gary Kates (London: Routledge, 1998), 56.

Subsequent Note entry

2. Lucas, "Nobles, Bourgeois and the Origins of the French Revolution."

Rule for Bibliography

Chapter Author’s Surname, Chapter Author’s Given Name. “Chapter Title.” In Title of Book: Subtitle of Book, edited by Editor’s Full Name, Chapter Page Range. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication.

Example of Bibliography entry

Lucas, Colin. “Nobles, Bourgeois and the Origins of the French Revolution.” In The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies, edited by Gary Kates, 44–67. London: Routledge, 1998.

Reprints and modern editions (when the original year of publication is relevant)

To emphasise the historical context of a reissued publication, include the publication details of the first edition along with the modern publication details, and indicate the edition to which page numbers refer.

Rule for Note

Note number. Author’s Full Name, Title of Book (First Edition Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication; Modern Edition Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages. Indicate the edition to which page numbers refer.

Example of Note entry

1. F. Scott, Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (New York: Scribner, 1925; New York: Collier Books, 1992), 26. Citations refer to the 1992 edition.

Subsequent Note entry

2. Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 26.

Rule for Bibliography

Author’s Surname, Author’s Given Name. Title of Book. First Edition Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication. Reprinted details. Modern Edition Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication.

Example of Bibliography entry

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 1925. Reprinted with preface and notes by Matthew J. Bruccoli. New York: Collier Books, 1992.

 

Books with an author and a translator

Rule for Note

Note number. Author’s Full Name, Title of Book, trans. Translator’s Full Name (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages.

Example of Note entry

1. Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera, trans. Edith Grossman (London: Cape, 1988).

Subsequent Note entry

2. García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera.

Rule for Bibliography

Author’s Surname, Author’s Given Name. Title of Book. Translated by Translator’s Full Name. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication.

Example of Bibliography entry

García Márquez, Gabriel. Love in the Time of Cholera. Translated by Edith Grossman. London: Cape, 1988.

 

Exhibition catalogues

Reference exhibition catalogues in the same way as other published books. Specific essays may be referenced like chapters in edited books. If the author is unknown, exhibition catalogues may be referenced by the title. In the bibliography entry also list the exhibition and the institution with which the publication is associated.

Rule for Note

Note number. Chapter Author’s Full Name, “Chapter Title,” in Title of Catalogue, Institution’s Name in place of an editor (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages.

or

Note number. Title of Catalogue. Edited by Editor’s Full Name. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication.

Example of Note entry

1. Samantha Friedman, “Inner and Outer Worlds,” in MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria and The Museum of Modern Art (Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2018), 101.

or

2. Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, ed. Judith A. Barter (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, with Harry N. Abrams, 1998).

Subsequent Note entry

3.  Friedman, “Inner and Outer Worlds,” 101.

or

4. Mary Cassatt.

Rule for Bibliography

Chapter Author’s Surname, Chapter Author’s Given Name. “Chapter Title.” In Title of Catalogue. Institution’s Name in place of an editor, Chapter Page Range. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication. Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, shown at Institution’s Name.

or

Title of Catalogue. Year of Publication. Edited by Editor’s Full Name. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name. Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, shown at Institution’s Name.

Example of Bibliography entry

Friedman, Samantha. “Inner and Outer Worlds.” In MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art. National Gallery of Victoria and The Museum of Modern Art, 92–115. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2018. Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, shown at the National Gallery of Victoria.

or

Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman. Edited by Judith A. Barter. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, with Harry N. Abrams, 1998. Published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name, shown at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the National Gallery in Washington DC, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

 

A primary source quoted in a secondary source

Consulting and referencing primary sources is always preferable. However, if such material is only available in a secondary source then introduce the original source and note that the source is “quoted in” the secondary source. Include only the secondary source in the bibliography.

Rule for Note

Note number. Original Source Author’s Full Name, Title of Book (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages, quoted in Secondary Source Author’s Full Name, Title of Book (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Page or Pages.

Example of Note entry

1. Hastings Ismay, The Memoirs of General Lord Ismay (New York: Viking, 1960), 199, quoted in James Holland, The Battle of Britain, (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010), 335.

Subsequent Note entry

2. Ismay, Memoirs, quoted in Holland, The Battle of Britain, 335.

Rule for Bibliography

Secondary Source Author’s Surname, Given Name. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication.

Example of Bibliography entry

Holland, James. The Battle of Britain. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2010.

 

Electronic books (e-books) and books consulted online

Electronic books are referenced in the same way as print books with the addition of an application, device or file format reference, for example, iBooks, Kindle edition, Palm e-book, PDF e-book, and etcetera. Many e-books do not have fixed page numbers. In this case, use other locaters such as a chapter number or a section heading instead.

References to books consulted online include a URL or a persistent Digital Object Identifier (DOI). If allocated, the DOI is the preferred electronic resource identifier. Note that a DOI may have the form of a URL. If so, it is included in full.

The Chicago Manual of Style does not require that access dates be included in references to formally published electronic and online sources. However, students may be required to include them for assessment tasks.

Rule for Note

Note number. Author’s Full Name, Title of Book: Subtitle of Book (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Chapter Number, Application, Device or File Format.

or

Note number. Author’s Full Name, Title of Book: Subtitle of Book (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Chapter Number, DOI.

or

Note number. Author’s Full Name, Title of Book: Subtitle of Book (Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication), Chapter Number, URL.

Example of Note entry

1. Andres R. Edwards, Thriving Beyond Sustainability: Pathways to a Resilient Society (Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2010), chap. 2, Kindle.

or

2. Mark Evan Bonds, Absolute Music: The History of an Idea (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), chap. 2, https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199343638.001.0001.

or

3. Karen Lystra, Dangerous Intimacy: The Untold Story of Mark Twain’s Final Years (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), chap. 2, http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt8779q6kr/.

Subsequent Note entry

4. Edwards, Thriving Beyond Sustainability, chap. 2.

5.  Bonds, Absolute Music, chap. 2.

6.  Lystra, Dangerous Intimacy, chap. 2.

Rule for Bibliography

Author’s Surname, Author’s Given Name. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication. Application, Device, or File Format.

or

Author’s Surname, Author’s Given Name. Year of Publication. Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication. DOI.

or

Author’s Surname, Author’s Given Name.Title of Book: Subtitle of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of Publication. URL.

Example of Bibliography entry

Edwards, Andres R. Thriving Beyond Sustainability: Pathways to a Resilient Society. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2010. Kindle.

or

Bonds, Mark Evan. Absolute Music: The History of an Idea. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199343638.001.0001.

or

Lystra, Karen. Dangerous Intimacy: The Untold Story of Mark Twain’s Final Years. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt8779q6kr/.