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Chicago B: Author-Date Style:  Books & eBooks

UON Library guide to Chicago B: Author-Date Style 17th edition

Books & eBooks: General Rules

 

The following information is for the reference list entries. See also:

Author Names

  • Appear first in the reference. Use the full names of authors and invert only the first author in reference list.
  • Include all author names in the text citation when a book has up to 3 authors; list only the first author followed by et al. for 4 or more authors.
  • List all for up to 10 authors, or the first 7 followed by et al. for more than 10 authors in the reference list.
  • For an edited book, place the editor names in the author position followed by ed (for editor) or eds (for editors). Note that the in-text citation does not include ed.
  • If the book does not have an author, editor, or translator, move the title to the author position; use a short title (first few words) in text citation.

Book Titles

  • Capitalise all words in the title and sub-title (except for common words - of, and, etc).
  • Book titles appear in italics. 

Edition

  • The edition other than the first is cited and placed after the title. The standard first edition is not cited. 
  • Terms of edition are abbreviated, e.g. 2nd ed. (Second Edition), rev. ed. (Revised Edition), or 1st Aust. ed. (First Australian Edition)
  • Remove any superscript from editions when typing - all letters should be on the same line (e.g. 2nd ed.).

Place of Publication

  • Place of publication is the city where the publisher’s main editorial offices are located.
  • If the city may be confused with another city of the same name, the abbreviation of the state or country is usually added.
  • Include only the first place of publication, if more than one is listed.
  • When there is no place of publication, the abbreviation n.p. (or N.p. if following a period) may be used, or just omit that element.  

Publisher

  • The publisher’s name may be given either in full or in an abbreviated form.
  • Omit an initial "The" from a publisher’s name and the words such as "Inc.", "Ltd.", "Co.", or "& Co."

Year of Publication

  • For books, only the year, not the month or day, is included in the publication date.
  • When an entire multivolume, multiyear work is cited, the range of dates is given, e.g. 1952-63.
  • When the publication date of a work is unknown, the abbreviation n.d. takes the place of the year
  • Use forthcoming for books under contract with a publisher and already titled but for which the date of publication is not yet known. In text citations, forthcoming is preceded by a comma, e.g. (Faraday, forthcoming). Books not under contract are treated as unpublished manuscripts.
  • Reprint edition may include the original date of publication, e.g. (Austen [1813] 2003), or note it at the end of reference, e.g. first published 1898.

eBooks

  • For books consulted on the web, include the DOI if available, or the URL of an Open Access book at the end of the citation.
  • For an ebook located from a library database, include the DOI if available, or the name of the database at the end of the citation.
  • For other types of electronic books, add the application, format, device, or medium consulted at the end of citation, e.g. Kindle

Secondary Sources

For citations taken from secondary sources, see the Secondary Sources page

 

Books with 1 author

 

The following is the general format of a reference to a print book with one author. 

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Author's Last Name Year of Publication) ...

... (Weller 2011) ... or     Weller (2011) ...

... (Janke, 2021) ... or    Janke (2021) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Author's Last Names, First Name. Year. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Janke, Terri. 2021. True Tracks: Respecting Indigenous Knowledge and Culture. Sydney: NewSouth Publishing.

Weller, Martin. 2011. The Digital Scholar: How Technology Is Transforming Academic Practice. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Books with 2 authors

 

The following is the general format of a reference to a print book with two authors.

See the general rules for books for more details.

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Last Name of Author One and Author Two Year of Publication) ...

... (Grazer and Fishman 2015) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

1st Author's Last Name, First Name, and 2nd Author's First name Last name. Year. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Grazer, Brian, and Charles Fishman. 2015. A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Books with 3 authors

 

The following is the general format of a reference to a print book with three authors. 

See the general rules for books for more details. 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Last Name of Author One, Author Two, and Author Three Year of Publication) ...

... (Garner, Ferdinand, and Lawson 2015) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

1st Author's Last Name, First Name, 2nd Author's First name Last name, and 3rd Author's First Name Last Name. Year. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Garner, Robert, Peter Ferdinand, and Stephanie Lawson. 2015. Introduction to Politics, 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Books with 4+ authors

 

When a book has 4 or more authors, list only the first author followed by et al. in text citations. List all for up to 10 authors, or the first 7 followed by et al. for more than 10 authors in the reference list.

The following is the general format of a reference to a print book with four authors. 

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Last Name of Author One et al. Year of Publication) ...

... (Haralambos et al. 2013) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

1st Author's Last Name, First Name, 2nd Author's First name Last name, 3rd Author's First name Last name,  and 4th Author's First name Last name. Year. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Haralambos, Michael, Martin Holborn, Steve Chapman, and Stephen Moore. 2013. Sociology: Themes and Perspectives, 8th ed. London: Collins Educational.

 

Books with corporate authors

 

'Corporate authors' are groups, societies or organisations who have written publications. This includes universities, research groups, museums, government departments, professional associations, and so on.

The following is the general format of a reference to a book by a corporate author.

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Corporate Author Year of Publication) ...

... (American Welding Society 2015) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Corporate Author. Year. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher.

American Welding Society. 2015. Guide for the Visual Examination of Welds, 3rd ed. Miami: American Welding Society.

 

Edited books

 

Edited books usually contain chapters written by different authors. In most cases, you would actually want to reference the individual chapters you use from the edited book, not the edited book itself. See the Book chapters page for more information.

An edited work of one author is normally cited under the name of the author. See more details under the edited work of one author at the bottom of this page.

The following is the general format of a reference to an edited book of one editor. The editor is listed in place of an author, followed by the abbreviation ed. (editor; for more than one editor, use eds.). Note that the in-text citation does not include ed. or eds.

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Editor's Last Name Year of Publication) ...

... (Healey 2009) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Editor's Last Name, First Name, ed. Year. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher. 

Healey, Justin, ed. 2009. Stolen Generations: The Way Forward. Thirroul: Spinney Press.

 

Edited work of one author

The edited work of one author is normally listed with the author’s name appearing first and the name(s) of the editor(s) appearing after the title, preceded by edited by in reference list. For example: 

 ... (Bonnefoy 1995) ...

Bonnefoy, Yves. 1995. New and Selected Poems. Edited by John Naughton and Anthony Rudolf. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 

Books with no author listed

 

Some books may not have an author or editor listed. If the author or editor is unknown, the in-text citation and the reference list entry should normally begin with the title. An initial article is ignored in alphabetizing. The in-text citations may refer to a short form of the title but must include the first word (other than an initial article).

The following is the general format of a reference to a print book with no author or editor. 

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Shortened Book Title Year of Publication) ...

... (Anzac Memorial 1916) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Book Title: Subtitle. Year. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Anzac Memorial: Published for the Benefit of the Returned Soldiers Association of New South Wales. 1916. Sydney: Returned Soldiers Association.​

 

Please note that if a work is explicitly attributed to “Anonymous” (e.g., on the title page or at the head of the work), it should be cited accordingly.​

Books with no listed publication date

 

When the publication date of a printed work cannot be ascertained, the abbreviation n.d. takes the place of the year in the reference.

The following is the general format of a reference to a print book without a publication date.  

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Author's Last Name, n.d.) ...

... (Kirby-Smith, n.d.) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Author's Last Names, First Name. n.d. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher.

Kirby-Smith, Virginia. n.d. The Development of Australian Theatre and Drama, 1788-1964. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms.

 

eBooks with a DOI

 

eBooks follow the same formatting patterns as those of print books, but add the DOI to the end of the citation. If no fixed page numbers are available, cite a section title or a chapter or other number in the text citation, if any (or simply omit).

The following is the general format of a reference to an ebook by one author with a DOI. 

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Author's Last Name Year of Publication) ...

... (Bonds 2014, chap. 3) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Author's Last Names, First Name. Year. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher. DOI of the book.

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

 

Notes:

  • Remove the University proxy (ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au) from any link used.
  • Do not insert a hyphen if you need to break a URL across lines. Break the URL before a slash or dash or at another logical division point.
  • Include a full-stop after the URL at the end of the reference.

 

eBooks without DOI

 

eBooks follow the same formatting patterns as those of print books, but add the DOI or URL or Database Name, or the media maker such as Kindle to the end of the citation. For Open Access eBooks without DOI, use their URL. For eBooks from commercial databases (e.g. library databases), use the name of the database instead.

The following is the general format of a reference to an ebook without a DOI

See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Author's Last Name Year of Publication) ...

... (Lystra 2004) ...

--- (Bhopal and Danaher 2013 ) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Author's Last Names, First Name. Year. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher. URL or Database Name.

Bhopal, Kalwant, and Patrick Alan Danaher. 2013. Identity and Pedagogy in Higher Education: International Comparisons. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ProQuest Ebook Central.

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

 

Notes:

  • Remove the University proxy (ezproxy.newcastle.edu.au) from any link used.
  • Do not insert a hyphen if you need to break a URL across lines. Break the URL before a slash or dash or at another logical division point.
  • Include a full-stop after the URL at the end of the reference.

 

Translated texts

 

Translated texts are republished works that have been translated from another original language. They can include ancient texts and modern works. 

The translated work of one author is normally cited under the name of the author. See more details under the translated work of one author at the bottom of this page.

The following is the general format of a reference to a translated book without an author. See the general rules for books for more details. 

 

In-text citation: format and example

... (Translator's Last Name Year of Publication) ...

... (Silverstein 1974) ...

 

Reference list entry: format and example

Translator's Last Names, First Name, trans. Year. Book Title: Subtitle. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher. 

Silverstein, Theodore, trans. 1974. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

 

Translated work of one author

The translated work of one author is normally listed with the author’s name appearing first and the name(s) of the translator(s) appearing after the title, preceded by translated by.  For example: 

Menchú, Rigoberta. 1999. Crossing Borders. Translated and edited by Ann Wright. New York: Verso.