Video Transcripts:

Commonly Cited Sources: Book Reference Entries

Last update 3/18/2020

 

Visual: Screen opens to a background image with a person typing on a laptop and a notebook and pencil, along with the Walden University Writing Center logo. The title Walden University Writing Center and tagline “Your writing, grammar, and APA experts” appears on the screen. The screen changes to show the series title “Commonly Cited Sources” and the video title “Book Reference Entries.”

Audio: Guitar music

 

Visual: Slide changes to the title “Book Reference Entries” and the following. As the speaker discusses each component of the reference entry, it is highlighted on the slide.

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the book (xx ed.). Publisher. https://doi.org/xxxx

ISBN number

Audio: Students often use books as sources in their writing, especially early in their coursework, so it’s one of the first reference entries students learn how to create. In this video, we’ll explore how to create a reference entry for a book.

First let’s look at the basic components of book reference entries. The reference entry starts with the author or authors of the book, listed in the same order as they are listed in the book itself. Note that you should include the authors’ first and middle initials if they are given in the book.

Next we include the publication year of the book within parentheses. Note that these parentheses are followed by a period.

After the year include the title of the book in sentence case and italicized. This means that only the first word of the title, the first word after the colon, and any proper nouns are capitalized. Also note that this is where we include the book’s edition, if it’s not a first edition.

Next include the book’s publisher. Note that you’ll use the most specific publisher; for example, you might have a larger publishing house that has a smaller imprint that published this book. In that case, you’ll include the smaller imprint as the publisher.

Finally, end the reference entry with a DOI, if the book has one. Not all books have a DOI number, and it really depends on if the publisher has assigned a DOI number, but if one exists, we include it here.

One final note: Notice that the book’s ISBN number or other similar information isn’t included here.

 

Visual: Screenshots of a book’s cover page and copyright information are shown. They look like the following:

 

 

 

Audio: So now we know the basic components of a book reference entry, but where do you find this information? Most of this information can be found on the cover of the book; in this example, we can see the book’s authors, title, and edition. For all of the other information, check the copyright page, where we see the book’s publication year and publisher. You’ll also look for a DOI number on this copyright page.

 

Visual: The screen changes to show the following reference entry:

Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (2016). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Wiley.

No DOI available

Audio: With this information, we can now create the reference entry. Here you can see that I’ve included both of the book’s authors, including their initials and separating the authors’ names with the ampersand (“&”) symbol. Next we have the year in parentheses and the book’s title, which follows title case and is italicized. After the title I’ve included the book’s edition in parentheses, and then we end the entry with the publisher. This particular book did not have a DOI number, so we end the entry with the publisher.

 

Visual: Screenshots of another book’s cover page and copyright information are shown. They look like the following:

 

 

 

 

Audio: Let’s look at another example to explore how to create another book reference entry. This book has the author and title listed on the book cover, along with the book’s edition. The publication year is listed on the copyright page, as is the publisher and the DOI number. This is all of the information we need to create the reference entry.

 

Visual: The screen changes to show the following reference entry:

Brown, L. S. (2018). Feminist therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000092-000

DOI available

Audio: With this information, we can now create the following reference entry. In particular, note that the biggest difference for this example is that it does have a DOI number, which I have included at the end of the entry as a URL. This last component completes this reference entry, and now you’ve seen an example of a book reference entry both with and without a DOI number. Reference entry formatting can be overwhelming at first, so be sure to follow our suggestions.

 

Visual: The screen changes to displaying the following bullets as the speaker discusses them:

• Take it each section at a time
• Follow examples
• Pay close attention to formatting and punctuation
• Ask if you have questions!

Audio: Approach the reference entry a section at a time; follow the examples on our website, in this video, and in the APA Manual; pay close attention to formatting, like italics, and punctuation, like commas and periods; and ask if you have questions—we’re happy to help!

 

Visual: The screen changes to an ending slide a background image with a person typing on a laptop and a notebook and pencil, along with the Walden University Writing Center logo. The email address writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu appears on the screen.