E-book Citation in APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard

Style rules checked October 23, 2026 · AI-assisted research and drafting · Maintained by Plagiarism Checker Online, operated by Markus Nick

Examples in every style

Open HTML textbook, second edition

Cite the open second edition of Think Stats, not the newer third edition advertised beside it.

Public online edition of a republished novel

This example identifies Project Gutenberg ebook 1342 by its 1998 electronic release, with 1813 retained as the original publication year for republished-book citation rules.

How the styles differ for this source

Edge cases

• The reader only shows Kindle location numbers. Do not turn a device location into a page number. MLA warns against device-specific numbering; Chicago permits a chapter or section when fixed pages are absent. Style guide. Applies to MLA Handbook 9th edition (in-text citations), Chicago Manual of Style 18th edition (notes and bibliography).
• A public ebook URL and a library database record are both available. For APA, use a DOI if supplied; otherwise a stable URL open to readers can be included. An academic database name is not added to a normal book reference. Style guide. Applies to APA Style 7th edition.
• Your online copy is unpaginated. The Open University's Cite Them Right guide provides a URL or DOI form for unpaginated online books. Check the Harvard variant assigned by your course. Style guide. Applies to Cite Them Right 12th edition (author-date/Harvard).
• The publisher advertises a newer edition next to the copy you used. Keep the edition and year of the consulted object. The open Think Stats page explicitly says that a third edition exists; the worked example remains the second edition. Official page. Applies to APA Style 7th edition, MLA Handbook 9th edition (in-text citations), Chicago Manual of Style 18th edition (notes and bibliography), Cite Them Right 12th edition (author-date/Harvard).

Common mistakes

Using the e-reader brand as the author or publisher

The reading device is not the creator of the book. Use the author and publication information of the consulted edition.

Not this: Kindle listed as author

Do this (APA Style 7th edition, reference list entry): Downey, A. B. (2014). Think stats: Exploratory data analysis in Python (2nd ed.). Green Tea Press. https://greenteapress.com/thinkstats2/html/index.html

Presenting a Kindle location as a printed page

Locations are device-specific, so another reader's copy may not display the same locator.

Not this: p.480 when the screen says Location480

Do this (MLA Handbook 9th edition (in-text citations), reference list entry): Downey, Allen B. Think Stats: Exploratory Data Analysis in Python. 2nd ed., Green Tea Press, 2014, greenteapress.com/thinkstats2/html/index.html.

Replacing the used edition with a newer edition's year

A newer edition can contain different material. The example below deliberately cites the older open second edition.

Not this: Think Stats third-edition year attached to the second-edition URL

Do this (Chicago Manual of Style 18th edition (notes and bibliography), reference list entry): Downey, Allen B. Think Stats: Exploratory Data Analysis in Python. 2nd ed. Green Tea Press, 2014. https://greenteapress.com/thinkstats2/html/index.html.

Check before you cite

• Open the title and copyright pages of the copy actually read.
• Record author, title, edition and the publication year of that edition.
• Decide whether the passage belongs to a whole authored book or a separately authored chapter.
• Use a DOI or public stable URL where your chosen style requires it, not a temporary library-session link.
• Check whether the locator is a printed page, a chapter, a section or a device-specific location.

Is this the right source type?

Start with the book you actually read, not with the device on which you read it. A Kindle copy and a browser edition can share a title while differing in pagination or editorial material. Open the title and copyright pages, record the edition, and then decide whether the book is a whole authored work or a chapter in a collection. The examples below deliberately use open electronic editions with public URLs, so another reader can inspect the same object without your library login. For a quotation, return to the copy on your screen and look for a stable page, chapter, or section: a Kindle location is not interchangeable with a printed page. APA does not add Kindle to the reference; MLA and Chicago can identify a relevant ebook version or format. The Harvard column shows the site's pinned Cite Them Right implementation, so compare it with your course's required variant. Don't replace an older edition with a newer edition you haven't consulted merely because it appears first in a catalog search.

Frequently asked questions

Compare other source types in the citation examples index.