# Help me cite a book APA style. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-cite-a-book-apa-style/420027 "2007-09-21T20:12:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-cite-a-book-apa-style/420027/1 "2007-09-21T20:12:52Z")
I’m going to be referencing a book I found online published under the [GNU Free Documentation License](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html) . I downloaded the pdf version of the file. The link to the book can be found here: [http://www.informatik.uni-mannheim.de/~haensel/sn\_book/](http://www.informatik.uni-mannheim.de/~haensel/sn_book/) Sensornetworks by Dr. Thomas Haenselmann Here’s what I came up with: Haenselmann, T (2006, April 5). Sensornetworks. Is that enough? ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-cite-a-book-apa-style/420027/2 "2007-09-21T23:49:41Z")
Here’s an online copy of APA style guide. This may answer your immediate question as well as other. It’s a good cite to bookmark for future reference. [http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/apagd.php](http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/apagd.php) Hawk ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-cite-a-book-apa-style/420027/3 "2007-09-22T00:24:43Z")
You can also use something like [citationmachine.net](http://citationmachine.net/) - but take a glance past the citation once you’ve got it to compare it - I rarely run into problems using it, but there has been the occasional problem (usually due to user error). ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-cite-a-book-apa-style/420027/4 "2007-09-22T00:40:16Z")
I have a hard copy of the APA style guide, and I frequently use the free cite creator at [citationmachine.net](http://citationmachine.net). I just didn’t find this particular style defined, or at least I’m no 100% confident that I’m using the right one. I probably need to dig through my book some more, but, hey I was trying to take the easy way out. Especially since when I wrote the post, I was at the University’s library, and my personal copy is at home. ---
**Author:** ![Spezza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Spezza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spezza)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-cite-a-book-apa-style/420027/5 "2007-09-22T01:12:29Z")
[QUOTE=Enright3] Here’s what I came up with: Haenselmann, T (2006, April 5). Sensornetworks. Is that enough? [/QUOTE] No. If you had posted only that cite and asked the board to find that document I doubt many would have - though I’m certain at least a few of you would have. Regardless, that is hardly enough information for a reasonable person to find the article and therefore it is not a proper citation - it doesn’t even point a person in the direction of _how_ or _where_ to find the article. (In a few months I’d spend the time to give you a complete answer to your question, but for right now I’ll just say that if handed that into one of my professors I’d be in serious trouble.) ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2007, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-cite-a-book-apa-style/420027/6 "2007-09-22T13:59:45Z")
There is a way to cite online articles in APA that incorporates the URL and the date the document was accessed by the writer. The internal cite would be (Haenselmann, 2006) and the bibliographic entry would be: > [@bibliographic entry](#): > > Haenselmann, T. (2006, April 5). Sensornetworks. Retrieved September 22, 2007, from An FDL’ed Textbook on Sensor Networks: [http://www.informatik.uni-mannheim.de/~haensel/sn\_book/sensor\_networks.pdf](http://www.informatik.uni-mannheim.de/~haensel/sn_book/sensor_networks.pdf) For future reference, you need the author, date of the document, the title of the article, the date you accessed it, the name of the website and the entire URL that points directly to the document you accessed. If your word processor automatically parses URLs, leave the link intact if you have to submit the paper electronically. It’s easier to cut and paste the URL and allow the grader to click on the link rather than risking points off because of a typo. Copyright generally doesn’t have a lot to do with citations, since you’re allowed to use material from copyrighted material for reference or critical purposes, provided you cite your source. Oh, and if you use Word 2007, there is a tab marked “Reference” that will do the citations for you. Robin, APA style goddess