Why should book citations be your first stop on this guide?
Citations can be complicated! They have lots of parts, the formatting is very specific, and it can feel overwhelming when you're trying to figure out where to start. Getting familiar with the parts and makeup of book citations is a great place to start, since once you feel comfortable with what a properly-formatted citation for a book looks like, you can apply that knowledge to citing many different types of materials.
Questions? Need help? Email Jessica Abbazio, Music Librarian, at jabbazio@umn.edu!
What kind of examples are included on this page?
As you scroll, you'll find footnote and bibliography entry templates and examples of citations for real sources for the following types of books:
- Book with one author
- Book with two or three authors
- Book with four or more authors
- Institution or organization as author
- No author
- Editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author
- Editor or translator INSTEAD OF author
- Edition other than the first: Numbered editions (2nd, 3rd, etc.)
- Revised edition
- Reprint edition
- Book in a series
- Specific volume in a multivolume work
- Part of a larger whole: Chapter, essay, or section by one author in a book that's edited by someone else
Anatomy of a citation: Books
Book with one author
Book with one author footnotes:
Book with one author bibliography entries:
Book with two or three authors
Book with two or three authors footnotes:
Book with two or three authors bibliography entries:
Book with four or more authors
Book with four or more authors footnotes:
Book with four or more authors bibliography entries:
Institution or organization as author
Notes:
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From Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 9th ed., 173: “If a publication issued by an organization, association, commision, or corporation has no personal author’s name on the title page, list the organization itself as author in the bibliography, even if it is also given as publisher.”
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Often when an organization is listed as the author of a text, that text is made up of essays by individuals.
When footnoting information from a text like this, use the formatting example for Part of a larger whole: Chapter, essay, or section by one author in a book that's edited by another that appears below.
Institution or organization as author footnotes:
Institution or organization as author bibliography entries:
No author
From pp. 173-74 of Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 9th ed.:
- "If the authorship is known or guessed at but omitted form the book's title page, include the name in brackets (with a question mark if there is uncertainty). If the author or editor is unknown, avoid the use of Anonymous in place of a name (but see below), and begin the note or bibliography entry with the title."
- "If the author is explicitly listed as 'Anonymous' n the title page, cite the book accordingly."
No author footnotes:
No author bibliography entries:
Editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author
Editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author footnotes:
Editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author bibliography entries:
Editor or translator INSTEAD OF author
Note:
- This type of citation formatting is often useful for citing collections of essays by multiple authors that have been compiled into a single volume and edited by an individual or a group. If you need to cite one section of an edited volume (e.g. an individual chapter or essay, use the formatting example for Part of a larger whole: Chapter, essay, or section by one author in a book that's edited by another that appears below.
Editor or translator INSTEAD OF author footnotes:
Editor or translator INSTEAD OF author bibliography entries:
Edition other than the first: Numbered editions (2nd, 3rd, etc.)
Notes:
- When listing the edition number, use ordinal numbers: 2nd ed., 3rd ed., 4th ed., 5th ed., etc.
- You don't need to include an edition number if you're working with the 1st edition of a book (if there's no indication that it's the 2nd, 3rd, etc. edition, then it's the 1st!)
Edition other than the first: Numbered footnotes:
Edition other than the first: Numbered bibliography entries:
Revised edition
Revised edition footnotes:
Revised edition bibliography entries:
Reprint edition
Notes:
- Including as much information as you can about the original publisher and city of publication is very helpful! Look at both the front AND back of the title page to see if the book includes any relevant info you can include in your citation
- If you can't find the original place of publication and the name of the original publisher, including the original year of publication is enough
Reprint edition footnotes:
Reprint edition bibliography entries:
Book in a series
Note:
- Not all series include numbers; if the item doesn't include a number, just list the series title
Book in a series footnotes:
Book in a series bibliography entries:
Specific volume in a multivolume work
Note:
- Citing individual volumes of multivolume works can be tricky; see pp. 178-79 of Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 9th ed. or the Chicago Manual of Style Online for specific examples that don't fit the templates below
Specific volume in a multivolume work footnotes:
Specific volume in a multivolume work bibliography entries:
Part of a larger whole: Chapter, essay, or section by one author in a book that's edited by someone else
Notes:
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This template applies when you need to cite a single chapter by one author that appears in a book that’s edited by someone else. It does NOT apply to individual chapters in a book that is entirely by one author - in that case, you’d just cite the book as a whole
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This template can also apply to an introduction to a score, liner notes for a recording, an individual song in a published collection, or any other single piece by one author that makes up one section of a larger whole that's edited or attributed to someone else.
Part of a larger whole footnotes:
Part of a larger whole bibliography entries: