apa format for writing book review

APA Citation Guide (7th edition) CGS

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Book Review From Library Database (No Title)

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name].  Name of Journal ,  Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/DOI-number  (if given)

For more information on how to cite Book Reviews in APA 7, refer to pages 334-335 of the Publication Manual of the APA located at the circulation desk.

Book Review from a Website (with Title)

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). Title of Review. [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name].  Title of Website , URL

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How to Write a Book Review in the APA Format

How to write a paper in mba style.

The academic disciplines of psychology and sociology require authors to submit work that conforms to APA standards. These standards are set by the American Psychological Association (APA) to “advance scholarship by setting sound and rigorous standards for scientific communication.” When writing an APA book review to conform to these standards, authors should also be mindful of APA formatting, style and usage issues.

General APA Book Review Requirements

When writing a book review, spend some time introducing the author's background, motivation and qualifications for writing the book. Note that an APA style book report describes what happens in the book with descriptions of the book's contents and ideas. In contrast, an APA style book review looks at the book's ideas but focuses primarily on the reviewer's opinion and analysis of the book itself. In your book review, begin by introducing the concepts of the book clearly and thoroughly. Summarize the author’s intentions and methods and then evaluate the effectiveness of those methods. Did the book make a convincing argument? Did the data or information presented effectively prove the thesis? Was it interesting? Humorous? How does the book engage the reader?

In-text Citations

When using direct quotations or a paraphrase from a book in your book review, you must cite the author according to the book review format in APA style. This is done by including the name of the author, the year of publication and the page number. You can accomplish this by using a signal phrase that includes the author’s last name. As an example, “According to Gosling (2008), 'We know that creative people tend to be more philosophical but no more or less anxious than other types' (p. 36)." Be sure to place the punctuation after the parenthetical citation rather than directly after the quote. If, throughout the article, you are only quoting from the one book you are reviewing and this is clear to the reader, it is not necessary to include the date after each quote or paraphrased section.

APA Style Reference List

Each quote cited in the APA book review must correspond to a source in a reference list at the end of the article. In a book review, this usually consists of only one book. On occasion, a reviewer may cite other texts in comparison with the one being reviewed. In those cases, the references must appear alphabetically. Sources must be double-spaced and formatted with a hanging indent with all lines but the first line of each entry must be indented. The references should be presented with the author’s name, the publication year in parenthesis, the title (in italics and in sentence case), the city and state of publication and the publisher. If an author's name is not available for the source, verify the reference by visiting the related .edu website. Note the placement of specific punctuation in this example: Gosling, Sam. (2008). Snoop: What your stuff says about you. New York, NY: Basic Books.

APA Book Review Formatting

APA format requires some general formatting standards. The preferred typeface for APA publications is Times New Roman with a 12 point font size, according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Use a one-inch margin all around. Double space lines of text throughout the document. This includes the title, headings, body and any references. Align the lines using the flush-left feature in your word processing software. Never divide words at the end of a line by using a hyphen. It is better to keep the line short than break a word at the end of a line.

Check Before Submitting

Before submitting, always check with the source to verify whether certain features are required in the document. For instance, many APA publications require an abstract or a brief summary of the article. However, this is not usually required with a book review and is reserved for papers containing scientific research. Do not hesitate to check with your professor or copy editor with any questions before submitting your manuscript.

Style and Usage Issues

Style and usage requirements are not universal across all disciplines. When conforming to APA book review standards, keep these requirements in mind. Capitalize major words in titles of books and articles within the body of the paper. This excludes conjunctions, articles and prepositions unless they contain over four letters. Capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound when it appears in a title. Use the serial comma throughout your work. Place a comma after each element in a series of three or more items even when the last element is followed by a conjunction. For instance, “the students measured the height, width, and depth of the nests.” Use numerals to express numbers ten and above and all numbers that represent statistical data. For example, you would write, “Mr. Smith spent five years writing the book,” but “Mr. Smith spent 25 years writing the book” and “more than 5 percent of the sample.”

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• Purdue Owl: Writing a Book Review
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Debbie McCarson is a former English teacher and school business administrator. Her articles have appeared in "School Librarians’ Journal" and "The Encyclopedia of New Jersey." A South Jersey native, she is a regular contributor to "South Jersey MOM" magazine.

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APA Citation Style 7th Edition: Book Reviews

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On This Page: Book Reviews

Book review from library database (no title), book review from a website (with title).

Hanging Indents:

All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Hyperlinks:

Both blue underlined (live) hyperlinks and black without underlining are both acceptable.

All hyperlinks must include https://

Do not put a period after DOIs or hyperlinks.

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name].  Name of Journal , Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi number if given

For more information on how to cite Book Reviews in APA 7, refer to pages 334-335 of the Publication Manual of the APA located at the circulation desk.

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). Title of Review. [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name]. Title of Website , URL

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APA Style 7th Edition

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• When Creating Digital Assignments
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• Citation Basics
• Reference List and Sample Papers
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• Academic Writer
• Plagiarism & Citations

Hanging Indents:

All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Hyperlinks:

Both blue underlined (live) hyperlinks and black without underlining are both acceptable.

All hyperlinks must include https://

Do not put a period after DOIs or hyperlinks.

Book Review from Library Database (No Title)

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name].  Name of Journal ,  Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. DOI Number if Given

For more information on how to cite Book Reviews in APA 7, refer to pages 334-335 in the APA Publication Manual. 

Book Review from a Website (with Title)

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). Title of Review. [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name].  Title of Website , URL

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APA Citation Guide (7th edition) : Book Reviews

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On This Page

Book review from library database (no title).

• Book Review From Library Database (with Title)

Hanging Indents:

All citations should be double-spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference list.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Hyperlinks:

Both blue underlined (live) hyperlinks and black without underlining are both acceptable.

All hyperlinks must include https://

Do not put a period after DOIs or hyperlinks.

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name].  Name of Journal , Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. DOI Number if Given

For more information on how to cite Book Reviews in APA 7, refer to pages 334-335 of the Publication Manual of the APA.

Book Review from a Website (with Title)

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). Title of Review. [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name]. Title of Website , URL

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• Last Updated: Mar 9, 2023 7:13 AM
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How to Cite a Book Review in APA Referencing

3-minute read

• 4th May 2023

A book review is a form of literary criticism where a book is summarized or critically evaluated by a reviewer. Reviews can be based on opinion or academic analysis and are often written by experts in the field or individuals with a specific interest in the book’s material. In this post, we’ll demonstrate how to cite a book review in APA format , both in the text and on the reference page.

How to Cite a Book Review on a Reference Page

Book reviews can be found in a variety of publications, such as newspapers, scholarly journals, and magazines. For reference list entries, use the citation format for the type of content within the particular container source, adding information about the reviewed book and author in square brackets after the title of the review. 

For example, a book review in a newspaper follows the same citation format as an article in a newspaper, but it contains extra information about the book that was reviewed. Here’s an example of a book review within a newspaper and how it might look on your reference page:

Review’s Surname, Initials. (year, month day). Title of the review [Review of the book Title of book , by Initial. Surname]. Newspaper Title , https://doi number

Smith, J. (2019, July 5). Examining the future of malls [Review of the book The rise of retail outlets , by A. Jones]. The New York Times , https://nytimes.com

And here’s the format and an example of a book review in an academic journal:

Reviewer’s Surname, Initials. (year). Title of the review [Review of the book Book title , by Initial. Surname]. Name of Journal, Volume Number (Issue Number), Page range. https://doi number

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Smith, J. (2019). Do malls have a place in society? [Review of the book The rise of retail outlets , by A. Jones]. Retail Research Today, 51 (7), 25–35. https://doi number

How to Cite a Book Review in the Text

To write an in-text citation for a book review, follow the author–date method, using the author of the book review and the date of publication. A parenthetical in-text citation will include the reviewer’s last name and the year of publication in parentheses following the information requiring a citation. For example:

For quotations, include the referenced page number:

A narrative citation cites the year of publication immediately following the author’s name. For example:

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Organizing Research for Arts and Humanities Papers and Theses

• General Guide Information
• Developing a Topic
• What are Primary and Secondary Sources
• What are Scholarly and Non-Scholarly Sources
• Writing an Abstract
• Writing Academic Book Reviews
• Writing A Literature Review
• Using Images and other Media

Purpose of a Book Review

Note: This information is geared toward researchers in the arts and humanities. For a detailed guide on writing book reviews in the social sciences, please check the USC Libraries guide to  Writing and Organizing Research in the Social Sciences , authored by Dr. Robert Labaree.

When writing an academic book review, start with a bibliographic citation of the book you are reviewing [e.g., author, title, publication information, length]. Adhere to a particular citation style, such as Chicago, MLA, or APA.  Put your name at the very end of the book review text.

The basic purpose of a book review is to convey and evaluate the following:

a.     what the book is about;

b.     the expertise of the author(s);

c.     how well the book covers its topic(s) and whether it breaks new ground;

d.     the author’s viewpoint, methodology, or perspective;

e.     the appropriateness of the evidence to the topical scope of the book;

f.      the intended audience;

g.     the arrangement of the book (chapters, illustrations) and the quality of the scholarly apparatus, such as notes and bibliographies.

Point "c. how well the book covers its topics and whether it breaks new ground" requires your engagement with the book, and can be approached in a variety of ways. The question of whether the book breaks new ground does not necessarily refer to some radical or overarching notion of originality in the author’s argument. A lot of contemporary scholarship in the arts or humanities is not about completely reorienting the discipline, nor is it usually about arguing a thesis that has never been argued before. If an author does that, that's wonderful, and you, as a book reviewer, must look at the validity of the methods that contextualize the author's new argument.

It is more likely that the author of a scholarly book will look at the existing evidence with a finer eye for detail, and use that detail to amplify and add to existing scholarship. The author may present new evidence or a new "reading" of the existing evidence, in order to refine scholarship and to contribute to current debate. Or the author may approach existing scholarship, events, and prevailing ideas from a more nuanced perspective, thus re-framing the debate within the discipline.

The task of the book reviewer is to “tease out” the book’s themes, explain them in the review, and apply a well-argued judgment on the appropriateness of the book’s argument(s) to the existing scholarship in the field.

For example, you are reviewing a book on the history of the development of public libraries in nineteenth century America. The book includes a chapter on the role of patronage by affluent women in endowing public libraries in the mid-to-late-1800s. In this chapter, the author argues that the role of women was overlooked in previous scholarship because most of them were widows who made their financial bequests to libraries in the names of their husbands. The author argues that the history of public library patronage, and moreover, of cultural patronage, should be re-read and possibly re-framed given the evidence presented in this chapter. As a book reviewer you will be expected to evaluate this argument and the underlying scholarship.

There are two common types of academic book reviews: short summary reviews, which are descriptive, and essay-length critical reviews. Both types are described further down.

[Parenthetically, writing an academic/scholarly book review may present an opportunity to get published.]

Short summary book reviews

For a short, descriptive review, include at least the following elements:

a.     the bibliographic citation for the book;

b.     the purpose of the book;

c.     a summary of main theme(s) or key points;

d.     if there is space, a brief description of the book’s relationship to other books on the same topic or to pertinent scholarship in the field.

e.     note the author's affiliation and authority, as well as the physical content of the book, such as visual materials (photographs, illustrations, graphs) and the presence of scholarly apparatus (table of contents, index, bibliography, footnotes, endnotes, credit for visual materials);

f.     your name and affiliation.

Critical or essay-length book reviews

For a critical, essay-length book review consider including the following elements, depending on their relevance to your assignment:

b.     an opening statement that ought to peak the reader’s interest in the book under review

c.     a section that points to the author’s main intentions;

d.     a section that discusses the author’s ideas and the book’s thesis within a scholarly perspective. This should be a critical assessment of the book within the larger scholarly discourse;

e.     if you found errors in the book, point the major ones and explain their significance. Explain whether they detract from the thesis and the arguments made in the book;

f.     state the book's place within a strand of scholarship and summarize its importance to the discipline;

g.    include information about the author's affiliation and authority, as well as the physical content of the book, such as visual materials (photographs, illustrations, graphs) and the presence of scholarly apparatus (table of contents, index, bibliography, footnotes, endnotes, credit for visual materials);

h.     indicate the intended readership of the book and whether the author succeeds in engaging the audience on the appropriate level;

i.     your name and affiliation.

Good examples of essay-length reviews may be found in the scholarly journals included in the JSTOR collection, in the New York Review of Books , and similar types of publications, and in cultural publications like the New Yorker magazine.

Remember to keep track of your sources, regardless of the stage of your research. The USC Libraries have an excellent guide to  citation styles  and to  citation management software . 

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APA 7th Edition Citation Examples

• Volume and Issue Numbers
• Page Numbers
• Undated Sources
• Citing a Source Within a Source
• In-Text Citations
• Academic Journals
• Encyclopedia Articles
• Book, Film, and Product Reviews

Format for book, film, and product reviews

Library database.

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• Technical + Research Reports
• Court Decisions
• Treaties and Other International Agreements
• Federal Regulations: I. The Code of Federal Regulations
• Federal Regulations: II. The Federal Register
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• Charter of the United Nations
• Federal Statutes
• Dissertations and Theses
• Interviews, E-mail Messages + Other Personal Communications
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• PowerPoints
• AI: ChatGPT, etc.

Author last name, first initial. (Date). Article title. [Review of the book/film/product  Book/film/product title ].  Journal Title, volume (issue), page numbers. URL  

• Author:  List the last name, followed by the first initial (and second initial). See  Authors  for more information.
• Date:  List the date between parentheses, followed by a period.
• Article title:  Capitalize the first word of the title, subtitle, and proper nouns, followed by a period.
• Review of: Include words "Review of the [book/film/product]" before title. Italicize the title. Capitalize the first word of the title, subtitle, and proper nouns, followed by a period.
• Journal title:  In italics. Capitalize all important words.
• Volume and issue number:  Volume number in italics. Issue number in parentheses, no italics.
• Page number(s):  If from a database, list page numbers followed by a period.
• URL:  If from the free web, use a URL. 

See specific examples below.

A titled book, film, or product review:

Grimes, W. (2006, December 13). Beyond Mandalay, the road to isolation and xenophobia [Review of the book The river of lost footsteps: Histories of Burma, by T. Myint-U]. New York Times , pp. E8, E10.

An untitled book, film, or product review (for example, a review covering multiple works):

Guha, M. (2006). [Review of the books Fleeting pleasures: A history of intoxicants, by M. London and Dirty: A search for answers inside America's teenage drug epidemic , by M. Maran]. Journal of Mental Health, 15 , 713-716. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713432595

Follow the correct formatting for the type of publication (e.g. a newspaper, a scholarly journal) the review is taken from, including the DOI if one is available.

Cohen, P. (2007, May 9). Love, honor, cherish, and buy [Review of the book One perfect day: The selling of the American wedding, by R. Mead]. New York Times . http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/books/09bride.html

See  Publication Manual , 10.7.

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• Using Visual Media

What is a Literature Review?

What do we mean by "the literature", literature review video tutorial, find sample literature reviews.

• Organizing Your Literature Review
• Sample Papers & Other APA Resources

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Commonly referred to as a “Lit Review”, a literature review is a critical, analytical summary and synthesis of the current knowledge of a topic.

• Have a particular focus or theme to organize the review.
• Discuss the significant academic literature important for that focus.
• Compare, relate, and contrast different theories and findings.
• Reflect trends over time.
• Be written in a legible academic style, leading logically from idea to idea.
• Remember to use parenthetical references in the text, for example: ...describe recent trends in supervision (Diaz, 2006; Stacey & Holmes, 2004).

Keep in mind that if your literature review stands alone—distinct from a thesis, study or dissertation—it should include a brief introduction and conclusion.

• Scholarly journals (a.k.a. "peer-reviewed" & "academic")
• Professional journals
• Academic books & e-books
• Research reports
• Conference proceedings
• Doctoral dissertations

A 10-minute overview of what a literature review is and its purpose.

You can search for literature reviews in our databases by searching your topic and adding "literature reviews" as a search term.

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Everything About APA, MLA, and CMS Book Review Format Styles

Are you looking for the information about book review format? There are a lot of articles on the Web dedicated to book reviews in general. However, it is hard to find the information particularly about book review formats. Here, you will find the information about how to format and cite a book review in APA, MLA, and Chicago. And also a short instruction on how to get “ write my essay for me cheap ” help.

What Is Book Review Format?

Font, margins, spacing, and other similar points are considered in the format requirements. Broadly speaking, review format contains requirements for the way the text should look. If you need to follow a specific format style such as APA, MLA, or another style you should find out what format requirements you need to apply for it. In further paragraphs, we will tell you about format requirements of the three popular format styles:

• APA (American Psychological Association)
• MLA (Modern Language Association)
• CMS (Chicago Manual of Style).

Typically, your instructor will tell you which format style you need to use. However, the teacher may not give you particular specifications about the format and style. In the text below we will show you the differences between APA, MLA, and CMS formats, and give you examples of the title pages and citations. Our recommendations are suitable for writing a critical book review, a compare and contrast book review, or other types of book reviews.

Note: Always give preference to the initial formatting instructions from your teacher.

How to Write a Book Review in APA Format

If you were asked to write a book review in the APA format, follow the basic guidelines in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA). Here we will share with you the general format for a book review in APA, 6th edition:

APA Book Review Title Page

Don’t make a title page if your instructor does not request you to do so. In the following attachment, you can see the sample title page for a book review formatted in APA style. First you need to set the font, spacing, and margins. In the sample, we use Time New Roman, 12 pt font, and double line spacing. Also, we recommend turning on the option labeled “don’t add spacing between paragraphs of the same style.” Indentation and spacing sections should be set to 0 pt. Set the margins to 1 inch at all sides.

According to APA style (6th edition) the title page should contain:

• Running head
• Author byline
• Institutional affiliation
• Author note

Sample APA Book Review Title Page

Note: Some educational institutions may add or remove certain sections, so make sure that our instructions are the same as what your college or university requires.

Also, you will need to identify full bibliographical information at the beginning of the main text of your APA style book review. This is how the next page after the title page will begin:

 Author, N.N. (Year of publication). Book title: Capital letter for the first word of       subtitle. Place of publication: Publisher, number of pages.

What if the professor didn’t require a title page? All is simple: you begin your first page with the bibliographical information as we have listed above. Also, you will need to mention your name at the end of the review. You can skip three lines after the end of the main text and type your name along the right margin with the course title and semester. For example:

Ashley Simpson HIS 3380 Introduction to Historical Methods Fall 2018

How to Cite a Book Review APA format

If you need to include in your references someone else’s book review in APA format, check the following templates:

How to Write an MLA Format Book Review

According to the MLA style (8th addition), the format of the paper should stick to the following requirements:

We recommend you to apply the formatting settings before you start writing your paper. This won’t distract you from writing, and you will be fully concentrated on the writing itself. When your text is ready, double-check the formatting standards.

MLA Format Structure and Requirements

There are no strict requirements in the MLA Handbook for book reviews. If the professor did not set the requirements for the format and structure of your book review, you can use the following basic structure:

• Informational block at the upper-left corner of the page
• The text of the book review
• Works cited list

Do you need a title page? We need to mention that the MLA guideline doesn’t require a cover page for your paper. The first page of your paper should contain a header with the page number and your surname on the top right corner. Also, you will need to list your name, professor’s name, course, and the date in the left corner. It will look something like this:

Bill Green Professor George T. Michael English 111 3 September 2019

After this block, you need to write the title of your book review on the next line in the center. Write the title in title case (following the standards of capitalization). If you need to mention the book title in the paper’s title, use italics. For example:

• Women Characters in Their Eyes Were Watching God
• Book Review of The Great Gatsby

MLA Book Review: Title Page

If your teacher has asked you to add a cover page to your book review and did not set the requirements, check the following sample title page. Also, notice that there is no need to include information that we listed above on the first page after the title page.

Sample MLA Book Review Title Page

How to Cite an MLA Book Review

If you are writing an academic paper and need to cite a book review from another author, you can follow these samples:

And here we want to remind you that you can ease your life and don’t learn all these rules and nuances. You can pay someone to write my paper cheap here, and get an original paper sample.

How to Format a Book Review in Chicago Manual of Style (CMS)

CMS format is usually applied for book reviews written for history, English, and art classes. Make sure that your professor hasn’t given you particular requirements for the paper. In general, CMS format is much more flexible in comparison to APA and MLA styles. Here are general recommendations from Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.) that you can apply to your book review:

Chicago Style Citation Book Review: Title Page

The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) handbook gives students the freedom of choice: either to make a title page, or start the paper with the title on the first page of the paper. Note that the title page should be double-spaced. If your teacher asked you to create a title page in CMS book review format, include the following points:

• Title centered in the first third of the page
• Your first and last name following several lines
• Course and class name

For better understanding, check out the following sample title page. And remember, your teacher’s requirements always dominate the instructions we give you in this article.

Sample CMS Book Review Title Page

What if your professor doesn’t require a title page? Start the first line of the main text with the complete bibliographical information about the book. Then list your name and the date. It will look like the following:

Author’s Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Place of publication: Publisher’s Name, Year of publication. Nathan Drake 30 Aug. 2018

How to Cite a CMS Book Review

If you are writing an academic paper in the CMS format and need to cite a book review from another author, you can follow these samples:

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