How do I cite an ebook in APA 7?

Cite it like a print book: author, year, title in italics and sentence case, publisher, and a DOI or URL if there is one. Do not name the Kindle, the app or the format. Roy, A. (2008). The god of small things. Random House. In text: (Roy, 2008).

How do I cite a Kindle book in MLA 9?

Treat Kindle as the version of the book and put it after the title: Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. Kindle ed., Random House, 2008. Do not add a URL for a book read in the app. If you have the page numbers of the print edition, use them in the in-text citation; otherwise give a chapter.

How do I cite page numbers in an ebook?

Only use page numbers that are fixed, such as a PDF ebook with the print edition's pagination. For reflowable text, APA accepts a chapter, a section heading or a paragraph number, MLA a chapter or section, and Chicago a chapter or section title. Location numbers are not used.

Do I need a URL for an ebook?

Only when readers can open it at that address. A Kindle or other e-reader book has no URL. A DOI, when the book has one, is always better than a URL.

Is an ebook cited differently from a print book?

Hardly at all. The author, title, edition, publisher and year are the same. The difference is the small extras: MLA and Chicago name the format, and APA, MLA and Chicago add a DOI or URL when the book was read online.

E-book Citation Generator

Cite an ebook you read on a Kindle, in an app or on a library site. Enter the author, title, publisher and year, add a DOI or URL if the book has one, and get the reference and in-text citation in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 and 10,834 other styles. Free, no sign-up.

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Saved citations build a full bibliography in the StudioOpen Bibliography Studio

How to Use the Ebook Citation Generator

1. Enter the book's details. The generator opens on Manual Entry with the source type set to Book. Type the title, the author or authors, the year and the publisher. Look on the title page or the copyright page of the file, not on the store listing.
2. Add a DOI or URL only if the book has one. An ebook read on a website, in a library collection or as an open textbook may have a DOI or a stable URL. A book read in the Kindle app or on an e-reader has none, so leave both empty.
3. Decide about the format. MLA and Chicago want it named; APA does not. The Format / medium box prints whatever you type (for example Kindle), including in APA, so leave it empty when you cite in APA.
4. Choose a style, check and copy. Pick APA, MLA, Chicago or another style, compare the result with the book's copyright page, and use Edit if something is off.

How Each Style Treats an Ebook

	APA 7	MLA 9	Chicago 18
Format or device	Never named	Named as the version: Kindle ed.	Named at the end of the entry: Kindle
DOI or URL	Give it if the book has one	Give it if the book was read online	Give it, or the name of the database
Page numbers	None for reflowable text: use a heading, paragraph number or chapter	Use chapter or section numbers, not device locations	Use a chapter or section; leave it out if there is none
Otherwise	Same as a print book	Same as a print book	Same as a print book

An ebook is the same work as the print book, so author, title, publisher and year come from the ebook edition's own copyright page. The location numbers a Kindle shows change with the screen size and are not a stable page, so none of the three styles uses them.

Ebook Citation Examples

A Kindle edition of Arundhati Roy's The God of Small Things, as in Chicago's own ebook example. For APA, leave the Format box empty.

APA 7th edition

Reference list:

Roy, A. (2008). The god of small things. Random House.

In-text citation:

(Roy, 2008, Chapter 6)

MLA 9th edition

Works Cited:

Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. Kindle ed., Random House, 2008.

In-text citation:

(Roy, ch. 6)

Chicago 18th edition (notes and bibliography)

Footnote:

Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (Random House, 2008), chap. 6, Kindle.

Bibliography:

Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. Random House, 2008. Kindle.

An ebook read online with a DOI, here an open textbook (illustrative details, not a real book).

APA 7th edition

Reference list:

Doe, J. (2019). Research methods in psychology (2nd ed.). Open Textbook Library. https://doi.org/10.1000/example

MLA 9th edition

Works Cited:

Doe, Jane. Research Methods in Psychology. 2nd ed., Open Textbook Library, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1000/example.

The generator prints the format where its template puts it, which is after the title in MLA and Chicago. Chicago closes an ebook entry with the format, so move Kindle to the end of the bibliography entry and the note by hand if it lands in the middle.

Common Mistakes

Naming the device in APA. APA 7 leaves out Kindle, Nook and the app. The reference is the same as for the print book.
Citing Kindle locations as pages. A location number is not a page. Use a chapter, a heading or a paragraph number instead, or nothing.
Using the store's date or publisher. Retailers show the date the ebook went on sale. Use the copyright page of the file.
Adding a URL that needs a login. A link to your library's database proxy or to a Kindle cloud reader is no use to a reader. Use a DOI, a public URL, or none.
Forgetting the edition. An ebook of the 3rd edition is not the same source as the 1st. Add the edition number after the title.

Which Tool Do You Need?

You have	Use
An ebook, in any app or on any site	This page
A printed book	Book Citation Generator
An ISBN	ISBN Citation Generator
One chapter of an edited ebook	Book Chapter Citation Generator

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I cite an ebook in APA 7?: Cite it like a print book: author, year, title in italics and sentence case, publisher, and a DOI or URL if there is one. Do not name the Kindle, the app or the format. Roy, A. (2008). The god of small things. Random House. In text: (Roy, 2008).
How do I cite a Kindle book in MLA 9?: Treat Kindle as the version of the book and put it after the title: Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things. Kindle ed., Random House, 2008. Do not add a URL for a book read in the app. If you have the page numbers of the print edition, use them in the in-text citation; otherwise give a chapter.
How do I cite an ebook in Chicago style?: Cite the book as usual and name the format at the end of the note and the bibliography entry: Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (Random House, 2008), chap. 6, Kindle. If you read the book through a library site, give a URL or the name of the database instead of the format.
How do I cite page numbers in an ebook?: Only use page numbers that are fixed, such as a PDF ebook with the print edition's pagination. For reflowable text, APA accepts a chapter, a section heading or a paragraph number, MLA a chapter or section, and Chicago a chapter or section title. Location numbers are not used.
Do I need a URL for an ebook?: Only when readers can open it at that address. A Kindle or other e-reader book has no URL. A DOI, when the book has one, is always better than a URL.
Is an ebook cited differently from a print book?: Hardly at all. The author, title, edition, publisher and year are the same. The difference is the small extras: MLA and Chicago name the format, and APA, MLA and Chicago add a DOI or URL when the book was read online.

How to cite an E-book Without Page Numbers in each style

Format rules, templates, and worked examples for the styles most often required.

All source types and styles →

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