cite a book review apa

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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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APA Citation Guide (7th edition) : Book Reviews

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On This Page

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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