Each of the four popular reference styles has slightly different rules for citing edited books. It is important that you know how to cite sources of this type in bibliographies (also called works cited or reference lists) and in parenthetical citations in the text, non-parenthetical citations in the text or footnotes. After reviewing the guidelines of the Modern Language Association (MLA), the American Psychological Association (APA), the editors of the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) or the American Medical Association (AMA), you'll be prepared to cite edited books of all kinds in whatever format you need.
Steps
Method 1 of 4: Use the MLA format
Step 1. Start with the name of the publisher in case you are going to cite the book in its entirety
You must first write the last name of the editor and after his first name, separating them by a comma, and then write "editor". Then write the title of the book in italics and then the publisher. Finally, write the publication date. Separate the publisher's name, book title, and publisher with a period, and place a comma before the publication date.
- For example: Reverby, Susan, M., editor. Tuskegee’s Truths: Rethinking the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Editorial University of North Carolina Press, 2000.
- Unlike other reference styles, the MLA does not need to include the publisher's location for books published after 1900.
Step 2. Separate multiple editors with commas and the word "and"
You should not reverse the name of the second editor. In case there are more than two editors, you just have to write the name of the first one followed by "et al".
- In the case of 2 editors: Osgood, Kenneth, and Andrew K. Frank, editors. Selling War in a Media Age: The Presidency and Public Opinion in the American Century. Editorial University Press of Florida, 2010.
- For more than 2 editors: Baughman, James L., et al., Editors. Protest on the Page: Essays on Print and the Culture of Dissent since 1865. Editorial University of Wisconsin Press, 2015.
Step 3. Start with the author's name in case you are going to quote a part of the book
Write the last name of the author of the chapter (or of the story, poem or fragment), then add a comma and write his first name followed by his middle name or initial (if applicable). Put the title of that part in quotation marks and then the title of the book in italics followed by a comma, the words "edited by" and the publisher's first and last name. You must include the publisher and publication date and, finally, write the page numbers of that part.
- For example: Yoon, Carol Kaesuk. "Families Emerge as Silent Victims of Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments." Tuskegee’s Truths: Rethinking the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, edited by Susan M. Reverby, University of North Carolina Press, 2000, pp. 457-462.
- Unlike in cases where the publisher's name appears at the beginning of the reference, you must separate the publisher's name and the publisher with a comma (instead of a period).
Step 4. Quote the editor twice in case you are going to refer to a part he has written
You should choose this format in case you are going to cite an introduction or a chapter that the editor has written, in which case the editor is not only the author at the beginning of the reference but also the editor in the middle. The second time you mention the publisher, it is only necessary to write their last name.
For example: Reverby, Susan M. “Introduction. More Than a Metaphor: An Overview of the Scholarship of the Study. " Tuskegee’s Truths: Rethinking the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, edited by Reverby, University of North Carolina Press, 2000, pp. 1-14
Step 5. Write the full quote once if you are going to refer to more than one chapter
The MLA format allows you to cross-reference the entire citation on the works cited page, for which you must cite the entire edited collection once with the name of the publisher (s) at the beginning of the citation and then each time If you cite a single chapter or part of the book, you can omit the publisher and the date of publication. In the case of these quotes, you should write only the last name of the publisher and omit the words "edited by".
Here's what this abbreviated quote would look like: Yoon, Carol Kaesuk. "Families Emerge as Silent Victims of Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments." Tuskegee’s Truths: Rethinking the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Reverby, pp. 457-462
Step 6. Include the publisher's name in the in-text citation when referencing the publisher
In case you are going to cite either a part of the book that the publisher has written or the entire edited book, you will need to refer to the publisher in the in-text citation. To do this, write in parentheses the last name of the publisher and the pages to which you refer. This quote should appear before the end of the sentence in which you have cited, paraphrased, or referenced the publisher's work.
For example: (Reverby 10)
Step 7. Include the author's name in an in-text citation if it is part of the book
This in-text quote would come after a quote, a paraphrase, or a reference to a particular chapter written by an author other than the publisher of the book. You must write in parentheses the author's last name and the page number (s) you refer to. This in-text quote should go to the end of the sentence in which you referenced.
For example: (Yoon 458)
Method 2 of 4: Cite in APA format
Step 1. Use the editor's last name and initials when citing the entire book
To get started, write the editor's last name and then his first and middle initials. Then write "(Ed.)" And the year of publication also in parentheses. Then, write the title of the book in italics, capitalizing only the first word of the title and the subtitle. Finally, include the location followed by a colon and the publication date.
- For example: Reverby, S. M. (Ed.). (2000). Tuskegee’s truths: Rethinking the Tuskegee syphilis study. Chapel Hill: Editorial University of North Carolina Press.
- Proper nouns in titles and subtitles must always be capitalized.
Step 2. Separate 2-7 editors with commas and the "&" sign
As is the case when there is only one editor, you must use the editors' last names and initials and reverse the names of all.
- For example: Osgood, K., & Frank, A. K. (Eds.). (2010). Selling war in a media age: The presidency and public opinion in the American century. Gainesville: University Press of Florida Editorial.
- You must include the names of up to 7 editors in your reference list, but you can represent all of them except the first one using "et al" in in-text citations in case there are 6 or more editors.
Step 3. Represent 8 or more editors with an ellipsis
In the case of these books, you must write the last names and initials of the first 6 publishers that appear on the cover. Then, place an ellipsis (…) and then the last name and initials of the last editor on the cover.
Step 4. Start with the author's last name for sections of the book
Write the author's last name and then the initials of their first and middle names. Then, enclose the publication date in parentheses and then the chapter title without using quotation marks. Write "En" and then the name of the publisher (s) followed by a comma and the title of the book in italics. Make reference to the chapter page numbers in parentheses, and finally give the place of publication and publisher.
For example: Yoon, C. K. (2000). Families emerge as silent victims of Tuskegee syphilis experiments. In S. M. Reverby (Ed.), Tuskegee’s truths: Rethinking the Tuskegee syphilis study. (pp. 457-462). Chapel Hill: Editorial University of North Carolina Press
Step 5. Reference the publisher twice if they are also the author
For example, if you are citing an introduction, a preface, or a chapter that the editor has written, it will have two roles. You should write their last name and initials at the beginning of the quote and also in the middle.
For example: Reverby, S. M. (2000). Introduction. More than a metaphor: An overview of the scholarship of the study. In S. M. Reverby (Ed.), Tuskegee’s truths: Rethinking the Tuskegee syphilis study. (pp. 1-14). Chapel Hill: Editorial University of North Carolina Press
Step 6. Use only last names for in-text citations when paraphrasing
Write the last name of the publisher in case you are going to refer to the entire edited book or to a part of the book that he has written. In the case of chapters by a different author, you must use his last name. In parentheses, write your name, put a comma, and then the publication date. Include this in-text quote at the end of the sentence in which you paraphrased the text.
- In the publisher's case: (Reverby, 2000).
- In the case of an author: (Yoon, 2000).
- Separate two editors with the "&" sign: (Osgood & Frank, 2010).
- In case there are 3 to 5 editors, you must use commas and the "&" sign for the first in-text quotation: (Crenshaw, Gotanda, Peller, & Kendall Thomas, 1995). Then, for all subsequent in-text citations, you can write: (Crenshaw, et al., 1995).
- In case there are 6 or more editors, you will use in all the citations within the text only the last name of the first editor that appears followed by "et al".
Step 7. Put page numbers in in-text references for citations
Using the page numbers, you will inform the reader of the exact place they can go to find the material you have cited. Write "p." if it is a page and "pp." if there are several and then place the number or numbers at the end of the reference.
For example: (Reverby, 2000, pp. 10-12)
Method 3 of 4: Cite according to the Chicago Manual of Style
Step 1. Make a footnote for a complete edited book
The CMS format uses footnotes instead of in-text citations. These are full bibliographic citations that appear at the bottom of the page where you referenced a particular text. In the case of edited books, you must include in the footnote the name of the publisher or publishers (first the first name and then the last name), the abbreviation "eds." and the title of the book in italics. Then, you must write in parentheses the place of publication, the publisher and the date of publication.
For example: Thomas C. Holt and Laurie B. Green, eds., The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 24: Race (Chapel Hill: Editorial University of North Carolina Press, 2013)
Step 2. Make a footnote for a chapter in an edited book
In this case, you will start with the author of the chapter and the title of the piece in quotation marks. Then write "en" and then the name of the publisher (s) along with the title of the book in italics. Enclose the publication information in parentheses, and finally place the page numbers for the selection. The different elements of the footnote (for example, the author and the title) must be separated by commas and not by periods.
For example: Lori Rotskoff, “'Little Women's Libbers' and 'Free to Be Kids': Children and the Struggle for Gender Equality in the United States,” in Lori Rotskoff and Laura L. Lovett, eds., When We Were Free To Be: Looking Back at a Children's Classic and the Difference It Made (Chapel Hill: Editorial University of North Carolina Press, 2012), 92-110
Step 3. Shorten the footnotes after the first entry
In the CMS format, abbreviated footnotes can be used in an essay after the full footnote has been written. These notes contain the last name of the author or editor and an abbreviated title, which should include several keywords so that the source to which reference is made is clear to the reader. If you are referring to a particular page number, you should include it at the end of the footnote.
- For example: "Holt and Green, Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, 2" or "Rotskoff," 'Little Women’s Libbers. "
- For single chapters, you should use the chapter title.
Step 4. Make a few changes to the footnotes for the bibliography
The footnotes are complete bibliographic citations, so you will have already written all the necessary information. You just have to reverse the first and last name of the first publisher (or author) listed. In case there is more than one editor or author, you must put a comma and write the name of that person (with the first name followed by the last name). Separate individual elements of the footnote with periods, and finally, omit the parentheses around the publication information.
- In the case of an edited collection: Holt, Thomas C., and Laurie B. Green, eds. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 24: Race. Chapel Hill: Editorial University of North Carolina Press, 2013.
- In the case of a single chapter in the collection: Rotskoff, Lori. "‘Little Women’s Libbers’and‘Free to Be Kids’: Children and the Struggle for Gender Equality in the United States." In When We Were Free To Be: Looking Back at a Children's Classic and the Difference It Made, edited by Lori Rotskoff and Laura L. Lovett. Chapel Hill: Editorial University of North Carolina Press, 2012.
Step 5. Use "et al" to replace the names of the editors in the footnote in case there are between 4 and 10
You should only write the name of the first editor that appears on the cover and then put a comma and write "et al". You will still write the names of all the editors in the bibliography.
- For the footnote: Cheryl I. Harris, “Whiteness as Property,” in Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement, eds. Kimberlé Crenshaw, et al. (New York: The New Press, 1995), 276-291.
- For bibliography: Harris, Cheryl I. "Whiteness as Property." In Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement, edited by Kimberlé Crenshaw, Neil Gotanda, Gary Peller, and Kendall Thomas. New York: The New Press, 1995.
Step 6. Use "et al" to replace the names of more than 10 editors in the bibliography
In any case, you will write in the bibliography the names of the 7 publishers that appear first on the cover, but then use "et al" to replace the names of the subsequent authors.
Method 4 of 4: Follow WADA Guidelines
Step 1. Use the editor's last name and initials to refer to the entire book
Write the editor's name with the last name first and then the first letter of his first and middle names, followed by the abbreviation "ed." and the title of the book in italics. Finally, include the place of publication, the name of the publisher, and the date of publication.
For example: Reverby, SM, ed. Tuskegee’s Truths: Rethinking the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press Publishing; 2000
Step 2. Write the author's last name and initials in the case of individual chapters
You must include the title of the chapter just after the name of the author or authors of the chapter, capitalizing only the first word. Then write "In" and then the name of the publisher or publishers of the book. Type in the title and publication information as you normally would, and finally, enter a colon and the chapter page numbers.
- For example: Griffin, JP, Yancey, E, Armstrong-Mensah, E. Building partnerships in community-based participatory research. In: Blumenthal, DS, DiClemente, RJ, Braithwaite, R, Smith, SA, eds. Community-Based Participatory Health Research: Issues, Methods, and Translation to Practice. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company; 2013: 19-34.
- You should not leave a space between the colon and the chapter page numbers.
Step 3. Use "et al" to replace the names of the editors if there are 7 or more
In case the editors are 7 or more, you just have to write the names of the first 3 that appear on the cover, then put a comma and write "et al".
For example: Fauci, AS, Braunwald, E, Kasper, DL, et al., Eds. Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine. 17th ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill Publishing House; 2008
Step 4. Use number citations within the text to link to the reference list
In the WADA format, you only need to include a superscript (a small number that is above the line of the text) in Arabic numerals to cite the sources in your essay. These numbers are linked to the full citations you have written in the reference list.