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Finding Books, Book Chapters, and Book Reviews: Citation Manuals & Book Citation Examples

Citation Examples Using Bluebook Style

A sample Bluebook citation from the Bluebook for books. The example divides the sample citation into the different portions, notably: (1) Author's Full Name: Francis A. Carey, (in large caps) (2) Title of Book: Organic Chemistry (in large caps) (3) Page Cited: 310 (4) Editor(s) Name(s): (Kent A. Person et al. (5) Abbreviation for Editors: eds., (6) Edition Cited: 6th ed. (7) Year of Publication: 2006)

Sample citation of a book

Sample citations of book sections. The first example is a section from a looseleaf and the second is a book chapter.

4 listed examples of a monograph, a looseleaf treatise, an edited monograph and a book chapter.

A Few Common Errors with Book Citations Using Bluebook Style

1) Incorrect formatting of the book author's name. See, e.g., B. 15.1(a) ("The first time a work is cited, always give the author’s full name as it appears on the publication, . . . ").

2) Misusing "et al." with the authors' names. See, e.g., B 15.1(b) "More than two authors. Use the first author’s name followed by “et al.” when saving space is desired and in short form citations. List all of the authors’ names when particularly relevant . . ."

3) When there are two authors, using incorrect order of authors' names and using "and" instead of an ampersand. See, e.g., B 15.1(a) ("List the authors’ names in the order in which they appear on the title page, separated by an ampersand . . . ).

4) Incorrect capitalization of prepositions in the book title. See, e.g,. B 8(a) ("Do not capitalize articles, conjunctions, or prepositions when they are four or fewer letters, unless they begin the heading or title, or immediately follow a colon."). This rule applies (usually) even if the book's actual title is capitalized differently. See B 15.3 (Cite the full main title as it appears on the title page, but capitalize according to rule 8 (unless the title is not in English, in which case follow rule 20.2.2(b)). 

 5) As of the latest version of the Bluebook, publisher information is no longer required (with the exception of R15.4 where publisher information is included to distinguish the work in certain scenarios.)