Books
Ebooks and printed books.
One author
In-text citations
Author’s surname with year. Optional: page number.
Reference list
Author (Year) Title. Edition. Place: Publisher.
Bailey, S. (2018) Academic writing : a handbook for international students. 5th edn. Abingdon: Routledge.
Godfrey, J. (2013) How to use your reading in your essays. 2nd edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Shields, M. (2010) Essay writing : a student’s guide. London: Sage.
Two authors
In-text citations
Authors’ surnames with year. Optional: page number.
Reference list
Author and Author (Year) Title. Edition. Place: Publisher.
Gravelle, H. and Rees, R. (2004) Microeconomics. 3rd edn. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Lahiri, S. and Ono, Y. (2003) Trade and industrial policy under international oligopoly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sloman, J. and Jones, E. (2014) Essential economics for business. 4th edn. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Three authors
In-text citations
Authors’ surnames with year. Optional: page number.
Reference list
Author, Author and Author (Year) Title. Edition. Place: Publisher.
Baylis, J., Smith, S. and Owens, P. (2017) The globalization of world politics : an introduction to international relations. 7th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
North, D. C., Wallis, J. J. and Weingast, B. R. (2009) Violence and social orders : a conceptual framework for interpreting recorded human history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Four or more authors
Use only the first author’s name + et al. (= and others).
In-text citations
First author’s surname followed by et al. with year. Optional: page number.
Reference list
First author et al. (Year) Title. Edition. Place: Publisher.
Campbell, N. A. et al. (2018) Biology : a global approach. 11th edn. Harlow: Pearson.
Dean, J. R. et al. (2011) Practical skills in chemistry. 2nd edn. Harlow: Pearson.
Edited book
In-text citations
Editors’ surnames with year. Optional: page number.
Reference list
Editor(s) (ed./eds) (Year) Title. Edition. Place: Publisher.
Clark, D. A. (ed.) (2006) The Elgar companion to development studies. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Daniels, P. et al. (eds) (2016) An introduction to human geography. 5th edn. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Desai, V. and Potter, R. B. (eds) (2014) The companion to development studies. 3rd edn. Abingdon: Routledge.
Chapter in an edited book
In-text citations
Chapter author’s surname with year. Optional: page number.
Reference list
Chapter author(s) (Year) ‘Chapter title’, in Editor(s) (ed./eds) Title. Edition. Place: Publisher, pp. Page numbers of chapter.
Ballas, D. and Dorling, D. (2016) ‘Demographic transformations’, in Daniels, P. et al. (eds) An introduction to human geography. 5th edn. Harlow: Pearson Education, pp. 79-106.
Ellis, F. (2006) ‘Rural poverty reduction’, in Clark, D. A. (ed.) The Elgar companion to development studies. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 530-534.
Heinemann, E. (2014) ‘Rural poverty’, in Desai, V. and Potter, R. B. (eds) The companion to development studies. 3rd edn. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 225-229.
Old book
When referring to a historical text, you probably won’t have the original printed book. Instead you will have a more recent edition or an online copy of the original.
Scanned book available online
Cite it like the original printed book. You do not need to include the URL. See the references below for these books: Darwin (1859) and Smith (1776).
Author(s) (Year) Title. Edition. Place: Publisher.
Darwin, C. (1859) On the origin of species: by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray.
Smith, A. (1776) An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. Vol. I. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell.
Online version, not a scan
Author(s) (Year) Book title. Available at: URL (Accessed: Access date).
Wilde, O. (1891) The soul of man under socialism. Available at: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/wilde-oscar/soul-man/index.htm (Accessed: 10 February 2022).
New edition
Printed or online. Use the year of the new edition, not the original year. In your text you could mention that the author was writing in an earlier period.
Author(s) (Year of new edition) Title. Edition. Place: Publisher.
Darwin, C. (2009) On the origin of species: by means of natural selection or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: Penguin.
Smith, A. (2008) An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations: a selected edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.