Citation Guide: Books

If the work you are citing has multiple authors, list them in the order the work gives them.  If the work has only two authors, you can just separate their names with “and.”  If the work has three or more authors, separate their names with commas and put an “and” in before the last name.

Footnote

#. John A. Buehrens and Rebecca Ann Parker, A House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion for the Twenty-first Century (Boston: Beacon Press, 2010), 41.

For the shortened footnote, just give the authors’ last names.

          #. Buehrens and Parker, A House for Hope, 41.

In the bibliography, alphabetize the entry under the first author’s last name.  The first author is the only author for whom you should put the last name first; keep the other names written first name then last name.

Buehrens, John A., and Rebecca Ann Parker.  A House for Hope: The Promise of Progressive Religion for the Twenty-first Century.  Boston: Beacon Press, 2010.

Footnote

#. Author’s firstname lastname, Title, trans. Firstname lastname (Place of publisher: Publisher, year), page numbers.

#. Jalal al-Din Rumi, The Masnavi, book one, trans. Jawid Mojaddedi (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 4-5.

For the shortened footnote, it is not necessary to include the translator’s name unless you are comparing multiple translations:

#. Author’s lastname, Shortened Title, optional trans. lastname, page numbers.

#. Rumi, The Masnavi, 4-5.

#. Rumi, The Masnavi, trans. Mojaddedi, 4-5.

#. Rumi, The Masnavi of Rumi, trans. Williams, 2-3.

Bibliography

Author’s lastname, firstname. Title. Translated by firstname lastname.  Place of publisher: Publisher, year.

Rumi, Jalal al-Din Rumi, The Masnavi. Book one. Translated by Jawid Mojaddedi.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

This is also the space where you would put in the name of any other important contributor.  If, for example, you wanted to cite the brush drawings in the following book, you would do so as follows:

#. Tales in Praise of the Ari, trans. Aaron Klein and Jenny Machlowitz Klein, drawings by Moshe Raviv (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America), 13.

Tales in Praise of the Ari.  Translated by Aaron Klein and Jenny Machlowitz Klein, drawings by Moshe Raviv.  Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1970.

The URL always goes at the very end, after the page numbers.  When citing eBooks, make sure to use a permalink/stable URL/DOI (see the box to the right for more information).

Footnote

#. Author’s firstname lastname, Title (Place of publisher: Publisher, date), page numbers, URL.

#. Amanda Weidman, Brought to Life by the Voice: Playback Singing and Cultural Politics in South India (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2021), 2, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2rb75cn.

Shortened footnote

            #. Author’s lastname, Shortened Title, page numbers.

            #. Weidman, Brought to Life by the Voice, 2.

Bibliography

Author’s lastname, firstname. Title.  Place of publisher: Publisher, date. URL.

Weidman, Amanda.  Brought to Life by the Voice: Playback Singing and Cultural Politics in South India.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 2021.  http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2rb75cn.

Format your citation for a Kindle edition just like you would for a normal book, but add the word Kindle at the end after the page numbers, in the place of the URL.  That means that even though it is a Kindle edition, you still must note the publisher and place of publication!

Footnote:

#. Author’s firstname lastname, Title (Place of publisher: Publisher, date), page numbers, Kindle.

#. Walter Earl Fluker, Ethical Leadership: The Quest for Character, Civility, and Community (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009), 24, Kindle.

Shortened footnote:

#. Author’s lastname, Shortened Title, page numbers.

#. Fluker, Ethical Leadership, 24.

Bibliography:

Author’s lastname, firstname. Title.  Place of publisher: Publisher, date. Kindle.

Fluker, Walter Earl. Ethical Leadership: The Quest for Character, Civility, and Community.  Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009.  Kindle.

Footnote

#. Author’s firstname lastname, “Article Title,” in Book Title, ed. Editor’s firstname lastname (Place of publisher: Publisher, year), page numbers.

#. Michael Werner, “Unitarian Universalism and Religious Purpose,” in The Transient and Permanent in Liberal Religion, ed. Dan O’Neal, Alice Blair Wesley, and James Ishmael Ford (Boston: Skinner House Books, 1995), 341.

Shortened footnote

#. Author’s lastname, “Shortened Title,” page numbers.

#. Werner, “Unitarian Universalism,” 341.

Bibliography

Author’s lastname, firstname.  “Article Title.” In Book Title, edited by Editor’s firstname lastname, article page range.  Place of publisher: Publisher, year.

Werner, Michael.  “Unitarian Universalism and Religious Purpose.” In The Transient and Permanent in Liberal Religion, edited by Dan O’Neal, Alice Blair Wesley, and James Ishmael Ford, 341-350. Boston: Skinner House Books, 1995.

For citing the Bible, you typically only need to note the book name (abbreviated or unabbreviated), chapter, and verse number(s). Such citations can be in-text or in footnotes.  For example, any of the follow are fine:

2 Corinthians 10:14-15

2 Cor 10:14-15

II Cor 10:14-15

However you chose to format your biblical citations (abbreviated or unabbreviated book titles, footnotes or in-text citations), stay consistent!

The same rules largely apply to citing from other sacred works (like the Qur'an) that have set chapter and verse numbers:

Qur’an 11:115 

Unless you are writing a paper specifically comparing multiple translations or versions of the Bible or another such work, you typically DO NOT need to include the Bible in your bibliography.  That said, the first time you quote from the Bible, Qur'an, or another such work in a paper, it is recommended (although not necessarily required) that you note which translation or version you are using.  Certain versions of the Bible are considered well-known enough by acronym that you can just include that (for example, KJV = King James Version, NSRV = New Revised Standard Version).  For example:

2 Cor 10:14-15 NRSV

Qur’an 11:115 (I will be using M.A.S. Abdel Haleem’s translation throughout this paper) 

"Volume" is the general for a work made up of multiple separate books; if the work uses a different terminology, use that instead.

Footnote

            #. Author’s firstname lastname, Title, vol. #, Volume Title (Place of publisher: Publisher, year), page numbers.

            #. Jalal al-Din Rumi, The Masnavi, book one, trans. Jawid Mojaddedi (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 4-5.

            #. Earl Morse Wilbur, A History of Unitarianism, vol. 2, In Transylvania, England, and America (Boston: Beacon Press, 1945), 318.

Shortened footnote

            #. Author’s lastname, Shortened Title, vol. #, page numbers.

            #. Rumi, The Masnavi, 4-5.

            #. Wilbur, A History, vol. 2, 318.

If you only consulted a single volume in your paper, then your bibliographic entry should just note that single volume:

Author’s lastname, firstname. Title.  Vol. #, Volume Title.  Place of publisher: Publisher, year.

Rumi, Jalal al-Din.  The Masnavi. Book one.  Translated by Jawed Mojaddedi.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Wilbur, Earl Morse.  A History of Unitarianism.  Vol. 2, In Transylvania, England, and America.  Boston: Beacon Press, 1945.

If, however, you consulted multiple volumes or every volume in the multivolume work, then you should just make a single bibliographic entry for the complete set.  If the volumes were published over multiple years, then include the beginning to end year range:

Rumi, Jalal al-Din.  The Masnavi.  5 vol. Translated by Jawed Mojaddedi.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004-2022.

Wilbur, Earl Morse.  A History of Unitarianism. 2 vol.  Boston: Beacon Press, 1945.

Footnote

#. Reviewer Firstname Lastname, review of Book Title, by book author, Journal Title #, no. # (date): page numbers, URL.

#. Mara E. Donaldson, review of Drawing down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today, by Margot Adler, Journal of the American Academy of Religion 50, no. 2 (June 1982): 304, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1463214.

Shortened footnote

            #. Reviewer Lastname, review of Shortened Title, page number.

            #. Donaldson, review of Drawing down the Moon, 304.

Bibliography

Reviewer Lastname, Firstname.  Review of Book Title, by book author.  Journal #, no. # (date): page numbers. URL.

Donaldson, Mara E.  Review of Drawing down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today, by Margot Adler.  Journal of the American Academy of Religion 50, no. 2 (June 1982): 303-304. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1463214.