Books
Different units at Deakin use different referencing styles. Always check your unit assessment information to find which style you are required to use.
Note: There are a number of interpretations of the Oxford style referencing used by different publishers and universities. Check with your teacher, supervisor or publisher whether you are required to follow a variant of Oxford that differs from the advice presented in this guide.
Deakin guide to Oxford (PDF, 639.5 KB)
Last updated: 6 March 2024
Overview
- In most cases, e-books are cited the same way as print books. There usually is no need to include a URL, database name or date of access. Learn more in the topic: e-books.
- Include the following elements for book sources, where available and relevant.
Footnotes
Author
Authors’ names should be in the order they appear in the publication
A. Author & B. Author, Title of Book (Place: Publisher, year), page.
1. S. Piggin & R.D. Linder, The Fountain of Public Prosperity: Evangelical Christians in Australian History 1740–1914 (Melbourne: Monash University Press, 2018), 31.
An author can be an organisation. If this organisation is also the publisher, do not include twice in the footnote.
Organisation, Title of Book (Place, year), page number.
3. Amnesty International, Prisoners Without a Voice: Asylum Seekers in the United Kingdom (London, 1995), 36–8.
Place of publication, publisher and year
After the title, the place of publication, publisher and year is placed in brackets
A. Author, Title of Book (Place: Publisher, year), page number.
5. J. Pilger, Distant Voices (London: Vintage, 1994), 523.
If the publisher is also the author, or the publisher’s name is in the book title, there is no need to include twice.
2. M. Dibdin, ed., The Picador Book of Crime Writing (London, 1993), 85–6.
Edition
- Include the edition number of a book before the place of publication and inside the brackets.
- This is not necessary for a first edition.
A. Author, Title of Book (edition, Place: Publisher, year), page number.
9. H. Gardner, Gardner's Art through the Ages (6th edn, New York: Harcourt Brace, 1975), 126–8.
Volumes
- Use roman numerals for volume numbers (e.g. i, ii, iii, iv).
- Include the volume title if there is one.
A. Author, Title of Book, number of volume: Title of Volume (Publisher, year), page number.
10. J. Hocking, Gough Whitlam, i: A Moment in History (Melbourne: MUP, 2008), 201.
Translators, revisers and editors
- Other contributors to the publication are placed after the title.
- Use tr., rev., ed. and eds. before the name of the translator, reviser, editor or editors.
A. Author, Title of Book: Subtitle of Book, tr. A. Translator (Place: Publisher, year), page number.
4. E. Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, tr. C. Belfrage (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1973), 38.
Bibliography
Amnesty International, Prisoners Without a Voice: Asylum Seekers in the United Kingdom (London, 1995).
Dibdin, M., ed., The Picador Book of Crime Writing (London, 1993).
Galeano, E., Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, tr. C. Belfrage (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1973).
Hocking, J., Gough Whitlam, i: A Moment in History (Melbourne University Publishing, 2008).
Piggin, S. & Linder, R.D., The Fountain of Public Prosperity: Evangelical Christians in Australian History 1740 – 1914 (Melbourne: Monash University Press, 2018).
e-book
Footnotes
In most cases, e-books citations:
- are the same as forprint books (with the addition of a DOI, if available)
- do not require a URL, database name, or date of access.
For example, here is a footnote that refers to an e-book accessed via a Deakin database. Note how this citation has the same elements as citation for a print book.
3. G.L. Geison, The Private Science of Louis Pasteur (Princeton University Press, 1995), 85.
e-reader editions
However, for special e-reader editions that have differing page numbers, it may sometimes be useful to provide further information about the edition.
For e-books editions that do not have page numbers, you may cite a chapter or section in the footnote.
Author, Title of Book, rev. A Reviser, tr. A. Translator (e-book edition, Publisher, year), ‘Title of Chapter’.
28. Herodotus, The Histories, rev. J. Marincola, tr. A. Selincourt (Kindle edn, Penguin, 2002), ‘Book Seven’.
Author, Title of Book (e-book edition, Publisher, year), chapter, section, paragraph.
29. M. Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success (Kindle edn, New York: Little, Brown & Company, 2008), ch. 1, section 2, para. 5.
Digitised books
For digitised print books, you may want include further information to direct your reader to the source, such as the: URL and the date you accessed the website.
18. J. Maritain, An Introduction to Philosophy, tr. E.I. Watkin (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1937),170, https://archive.org/details/introductiontoph0000mari, accessed 20 June 2020.
19. L. Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (Project Gutenberg, 2008) http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11, accessed 13 Feb. 2020.
Bibliography
Carroll, L., Alice in Wonderland (Project Gutenberg, 2008), http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11, accessed 13 Feb. 2020.
Geison, G.L., The Private Science of Louis Pasteur (Princeton University Press, 1995).
Gladwell, M., Outliers: The Story of Success (Kindle edn, New York: Little, Brown & Company, 2008).
Herodotus, The Histories, rev. J. Marincola, tr. A. Selincourt, (Kindle edn, Penguin, 2002).
Maritain, J., An Introduction to Philosophy, tr. E.I. Watkin (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1937), https://archive.org/details/introductiontoph0000mari, accessed 20 June 2020.
Chapter
If citing a chapter in a book by a single author or single set of authors, there is no need to cite a specific chapter. Cite the whole book. See the Oxford Book topics: Overview and e-books.
However, if the chapter is from an edited collection, a book of collected works by different authors, then also include the:
- author of the chapter
- title of the chapter
- editor of the book.
Footnotes
A. Author, 'Title of Chapter', in A. Editor, ed., Title of Book (Place: Publisher, year), page.
9. E.H. Gombrich, 'The Early Medicis as Patrons of Art', in E.F. Jacob, ed., Italian Renaissance Studies (London: Faber and Faber, 1960), 280.
Bibliography
Include the page range of the chapter.
Author, A., 'Title of Chapter', in A. Editor, ed., Title of Book (Place: Publisher, year), page range.
Gombrich, E.H., 'The Early Medicis as Patrons of Art', in E.F. Jacob, ed., Italian Renaissance Studies (London: Faber and Faber, 1960), 279–311.