Important Elements

• Author (last name and initials only for first & middle names)
• Title (capitalize only the first word of title and subtitle, and proper nouns)
• Edition (if applicable)
• Medium Designator (optional) if nonprint format (e.g. audiobook, microfilm, DVD, CD-ROM)
• Publisher
• Publication date
• Pagination (optional)

The basic format would be:

Last Name Initials[period] Year[period] Book title[period] Edition[period] Publisher[period]

Websites and Online Material

The basic rules for citing do not differ for internet items from what is required for print.  Simply listing a URL is not sufficient.

• All the publication information should also be listed as in the examples below
• Use Access Date only if there is no publication, copyright, or modification date
• Add the URL at the end (DOI preferred)

Book by a single author

Zhai L. 2021. Electromagnetic compatibility of electric vehicle. Springer.

Book with up to 5 authors (for books with more than 5 authors, list the first author followed by "et al" unless more coauthors are needed to disambiguate references with the same first author and publication date)

Voet D, Voet JG, Pratt CW. 2016. Fundamentals of biochemistry. 5th ed. John Wiley & Sons.

Book with editors

Tatham P, Christopher M, editors. 2018. Humanitarian logistics: meeting the challenge of preparing for and responding to disasters.3rd ed. Kogan Page.

Online Book

Gupta HK, editor. 2021. Encyclopedia of solid earth geophysics. 2nd ed. Springer. https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-030-58631-7

Book parts (chapters, sections, etc. when written by all the authors of a book)

Nygren J. 2025. The state of conservation: rural America and the conservation-industrial complex since 1920. University of North Carolina Press. Chapter 4, Paying for conservation; p 106-130. 

Book contributions (chapters, sections, etc. when written by someone other than all the authors of a book)

Geisslitz S, Scherf K. 2021. The holy grail of ancient cereals. In: Boukid F, editor. Cereal-based food-stuffs: the backbone of Mediterranean cuisine. Springer. p 269-301.

Dissertations and Theses

Anders, A. 2008. Effects of large-scale climate on avian population dynamics across species' North American breeding distributions [dissertation]. Pennsylvania State University.

Entire Website

Basics of climate change. 2024 Apr 2. United States Environmental Protection Agency. https://www.epa.gov/climatechange-science/basics-climate-change

Page within a website

Tosh PK. 2022 Dec. Monkeypox: what is it and how can it be prevented? Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/infectious-diseases/expert-answers/monkeypox-faq/faq-20533608

Databases and Data Sets

The Human Protein Atlas. 2003- [updated 2021 Nov 18]. Version 21.0 SciLifeLab. https://www.proteinatlas.org/

Audiovisual Sources (podcasts, videos, television shows)

Petrie B. 2025 Apr 14. Why did the CDC shelve a warning about measles and the need for vaccination? [podcast]. Petrie Dish. Texas Public Radio. https://www.tpr.org/podcast/petrie-dish/2025-04-14/why-did-the-cdc-shelve-a-warning-about-measles-and-the-need-for-vaccination

What is the coronavirus? Prevention and Advice for Kids - COVID-19 [YouTube video]. 2020 Oct 6. Smile and Learn - English. YouTube. 2:58 min. https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z9BsKpCJY0

Cendrowski M, director. 2010 Feb 1. The Einstein approximation [TV episode]. In: Big bang theory. CBS.