How to cite a book

Step 1: Formatting the Author's name

• Place the name of the Author in a reversed order. (Last name, First name) Remember to write the complete first name and not the initials only. If you are to add middle initials or any suffixes such as Jr. and Sr. or roman numerals, add these after the first name and separated it with a comma. End the cited name with a period.

—Example: Howard, Ferdinand
Howard, Ferdinand, Jr.

• If the book is written by more than one writer, place the name of each writer one after the other using the Chicago style of formatting names as instructed above and separate each one with a comma. The last name in the series of entries will be separated with "and."

—Example: Howard, Ferdinand, Lee, Robert and Percival Harold.

Step 2: Formatting the title of your source

• After placing the name of the Author, place the complete title of the source you are citing from. Remember to italicize the entire title and end it with a period.

—Example: Howard, Ferdinand. When pigs fly

Step 3: Place the information about its publication

• Place the publication information after the title of your source. You can drop the use of unnecessary suffixes such as co., Ltd, Inc and such. In formatting the publication information, place the name of the city where the source was published, place a colon after it and place the name of the publisher, follow it with a comma then finally the year when the source was published. End the whole citation with a period. (Do not italicize the publication information)

—Example: Howard, Ferdinand. When pigs fly, London: Printing press,

• When citing only a chapter or a specific page, place the chapter before the title of your source using the abbreviation "Chap" and place the page numbers at the end of the citation after the year of publication. Remember to place "in" before placing the page numbers.

—Example: Howard, Ferdinand. Chap. 2, When pigs fly, London: Printing press, 2003, in 23-24.

• If there are different editions and revision of the source, place this publication information after the title of the source and separate it with a comma.

—Example: Howard, Ferdinand. When pigs fly, 2nd ed. London: Printing press, 2003.