How-to · Step-by-step
How to cite a book chapter
Citing a chapter in an edited book means crediting the chapter’s author, then naming the book’s editors, title, page range and publisher.
The step most authors miss
Doing CRediT right? Don’t stop at the statement.
A CRediT statement credits you inside one paper. The recognition CRediT was built for happens when those roles are tied to you, persistently. Sign in with your ORCID — free — and claim your CRediT contributions on casrai.org, the home of the standard. They become a verified, portable part of your identity, not a line that disappears into one PDF.
Free: claim your contributions, then export a journal-ready CRediT statement, schema.org structured data, JATS XML, CSV or BibTeX — and preview your public profile. A membership publishes that profile publicly and verifies the journals you serve.
Step by step
How to do it
1.Record the chapter author and title
Note who wrote the specific chapter and its title — this is the source you are citing, distinct from the book’s editors.
2.Record the editors and book title
Note the editor(s) of the whole volume and the book’s full title. The editors are credited with an "Ed." or "Eds." label.
3.Find the chapter’s page range
Record the first and last page of the chapter within the book; this appears in the entry as "pp. xx–xx".
4.Note publisher and year
Take the publisher and year from the book’s copyright page, as you would for citing the whole book.
5.Assemble the entry
Lead with the chapter author, then the chapter title, then the edited book in the "In ..." position, followed by pages and publisher.
APA 7th edition
Format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of chapter. In E. E. Editor (Ed.), Title of book (pp. xx–xx). Publisher. — Worked example: Smith, J. (2021). Citing across styles. In T. Brown (Ed.), The handbook of referencing (pp. 45–60). Academic Press. In-text: (Smith, 2021). The chapter title is in sentence case and not italicised; the book title is italicised; editor initials precede the surname.
MLA 9th edition
Format: Author. "Title of Chapter." Title of Book, edited by Name, Publisher, Year, pp. xx–xx. — Worked example: Smith, Jane. "Citing across Styles." The Handbook of Referencing, edited by Tom Brown, Academic Press, 2021, pp. 45–60. In-text: (Smith 52). The chapter is the source (in quotation marks) and the book is its container (italicised), with "edited by" before the editor.
Chicago 17th edition (notes–bibliography)
Bibliography: Smith, Jane. "Citing across Styles." In The Handbook of Referencing, edited by Tom Brown, 45–60. New York: Academic Press, 2021. — First footnote: 1. Jane Smith, "Citing across Styles," in The Handbook of Referencing, ed. Tom Brown (New York: Academic Press, 2021), 52. The chapter title is in quotation marks and the book title italicised.
Common questions
FAQ
Do I cite the chapter author or the book editor first?+
Lead with the chapter author, because the chapter is the source you are actually citing. The book’s editor appears later, after the chapter title, with an "(Ed.)" label (APA), "edited by" (MLA) or "ed." (Chicago). Cite the editor as author only if you used the whole book.
Where do the page numbers go?+
Give the chapter’s full page range in the reference entry — "(pp. 45–60)" in APA, "pp. 45–60" in MLA, "45–60" in Chicago. The in-text citation or note then points to the specific page you used within that range.
What if every chapter has the same author?+
If one author wrote the whole book, it is not an edited volume — cite it as a book and, if needed, point to the chapter in the in-text citation by page. The edited-chapter template applies only when different authors wrote different chapters under an editor.
Going deeper
