37 Citing Books and Chapters in Books

When citing a book, you need to determine first:

• Is the entire book written by one author or several authors in which each author has contributed to the writing of the whole book?
• Is each chapter written by an individual author or several authors?

Books in Which One Author or Several Authors Have Written the Whole Book

If the whole book is written by one author or by several authors in which each author has contributed to the writing of the whole book, you need to use rule 6.1 and include the following information:

• name of the author or authors as written on the book;
• title of the book, in italics;
• the edition of the book if it is the second or later edition;
• the publisher of the book;
• the place where the book was published;
• the year the book was published.

You can find most of the information to cite a book from the book itself – look at the first few pages to find the publishing information – or from your institution’s library catalogue.

Note that all books – whether you access them in print or electronically – should be cited using rule 6.1 unless they have only been published electronically with no equivalent print version (rule 6.1.9(b)). This occurs rarely with legal texts.

Authors’ names

In the example above, the book had one author, but sometimes there is more than one author who has contributed to the writing of the whole book. How you cite them depends on the number of authors. Note that in NZLSG authors are cited in the order first name then last name, eg Peter Spiller rather than Spiller, P. If an author uses their initials rather than their first name, use what is written on the book. In addition, unless an author is a Law Lord or a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (and referred to as a Lord or Lady), omit any honorifics such as Dr, Professor, Justice, Judge or titles such as “the Hon” (see rules 1.1.6 and 6.1.2(d)).

If you have more than one author (for example when one authorship team has written the entire book), follow rule 6.1.2 and cite authors as follows:

two authors – first name last name and first name last name, eg

Elizabeth Toomey and Toni Collins

three authors – first name last name, first name last name and first name last name , eg

Elizabeth Toomey, Toni Collins and Adrienne Paul

if there are four or more authors, provide the first-listed author followed by “and others”, eg

Elizabeth Toomey and others

Books in Which Each Chapter Has an Individual Named Author or Authors

Sometimes each chapter within a book has a clearly named author or authors. This occurs when multiple authors contribute to a book that is compiled by an overall editor or editors. The editor or editors may also write their own chapter or chapters within the edited book.

When citing a chapter within a book, cite both the individual chapter and the book in which it was published (so that your marker or reader can locate the chapter) using rule 6.2 and include the following information:

• name of the chapter author or authors;
• title of the chapter, in quotation marks;
• an acknowledgment that the chapter is published in a book with the use of “in”;
• name of the editor or editors as written on the book, indicating their role with the use of (ed) or (eds);
• title of the book, in italics;
• the edition of the book if it is the second or later edition;
• the publisher of the book;
• the place where the book was published;
• the year the book was published;
• the page on which the chapter starts.