Citelle · Library
APA 7: cite a edited-book chapter
Reference one separately authored chapter of an edited book in APA 7, keeping chapter author, book editor, book title and page range apart.
Chapter author on one side, book editor on the other
Use this case when a chapter in an edited collection has its own author. Maya Stone wrote A sample chapter; Leo Rowan edited the book Collected Sample Studies, which Example Press published. The reference has to lead a reader to both the contribution and the book that contains it, so each name stays with its own title.
Put together, the chapter's APA 7 entry on this page is: Stone, M. (2024). A sample chapter. In L. Rowan (Ed.), Collected Sample Studies (pp. 12–18). Example Press. The chapter title is plain text and the containing book title is italicized. The editor's initial comes before the family name, followed by (Ed.), and the chapter's own page range sits in parentheses after the book title.
Steps for the Stone chapter
- Select APA 7 reference and the Source kind Separately authored book chapter. An Editors, in source order group appears only for this kind and for conference papers.
- Enter Maya Stone under Authors and Leo Rowan under Editors, each split into Given names and Family name.
- Type A sample chapter as the Source title and its reviewed sentence-case form, and Collected Sample Studies in Containing work or site.
- Add Example Press, 2024 and the chapter pages 12-18, then press Create reference.
- If the editor row is empty, the entry is held with Editor details: provide the source information. A missing book title gives the same kind of message for Containing work or site.
Book title casing differs between the two tools
The workbench prints the book title exactly as you type it, which is why the example shows Collected Sample Studies. The Citelle app behaves differently: for an APA chapter it puts the containing book title into sentence case as well, so the same record would show Collected sample studies. Compare the result with the APA chapter examples linked on this page and correct the title in the app's Edit source screen if your instructor follows the form shown here.
Adding the chapter in the app
When you look up a chapter by DOI, Crossref sometimes lists both a book series and the book itself. Citelle keeps the book, not the series, as the containing title. If you enter the chapter manually, pick Book chapter as the type; that type shows the Editors section and the Pages field.
Where chapter entries go wrong
- Moving the editor into the author position because the editor's name is on the cover.
- Using the whole book's page count instead of the chapter's own range.
- Treating every chapter as separately authored when one person wrote the whole book; that is an authored book.
- Swapping the chapter title and the book title between fields.
Gather the source details
- Confirm that the chapter has its own author.
- Record the chapter title and containing book title separately.
- Record the book editor and publisher.
- Check the chapter’s published page range and any required edition details.
- Author
- Maya Stone
- Title as supplied
- A sample chapter
- Publication year
- 2024
- Containing work or site
- Collected Sample Studies
- Editor
- Leo Rowan
- Publisher
- Example Press
- Published pages
- 12-18
- Publication place
- London
Tools
Sources
Next guide: Chicago 18 author-date: cite a edited-book chapter