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How to cite a chapter in an edited book
When each chapter of a book has its own author, you cite the chapter rather than the book, and the editors and the page range become part of the reference.
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The same source in all seven styles
One classic chapter, Stuart Hall's Encoding/decoding, in all seven styles. These are not typed out by hand: they come from the same formatter that writes your reference above, so what you read here is what you will get.
APA 7
Hall, S. (1980). Encoding/decoding. In S. Hall, D. Hobson, A. Lowe, & P. Willis (Eds.), Culture, media, language (pp. 128–138). Hutchinson.
MLA 9
Hall, Stuart. "Encoding/decoding." Culture, media, language, edited by Stuart Hall et al., Hutchinson, 1980, pp. 128–138.
Harvard
Hall, S. (1980) 'Encoding/decoding', in Hall, S., Hobson, D., Lowe, A. and Willis, P. (eds.) Culture, media, language. London: Hutchinson, pp. 128–138.
Chicago 18
Hall, Stuart. "Encoding/decoding." In Culture, media, language, edited by Stuart Hall, Dorothy Hobson, Andrew Lowe, and Paul Willis, 128–138. Hutchinson, 1980.
IEEE
S. Hall, "Encoding/decoding," in Culture, media, language, S. Hall, D. Hobson, A. Lowe, and P. Willis, Eds. London: Hutchinson, 1980, pp. 128–138.
Vancouver
Hall S. Encoding/decoding. In: Hall S, Hobson D, Lowe A, Willis P, editors. Culture, media, language. London: Hutchinson; 1980. p. 128–138.
AMA 11
Hall S. Encoding/decoding. In: Hall S, Hobson D, Lowe A, Willis P, eds. Culture, media, language. Hutchinson; 1980:128-138.
Plain text cannot carry italics. Where a style italicises a title, apply it in your document after pasting.
What you need, and where to find it
Chapter author
The person who wrote the chapter, not the editors of the book.
Chapter title
The heading of the chapter as printed at its start.
Editors
The names on the title page, introduced by Edited by. APA writes them initials first; MLA and Chicago write the first name first.
Book title
The title of the edited book the chapter appears in.
Page range
The first and last page of the chapter, not the pages you quoted.
Publisher
The publisher of the book. Harvard and Vancouver also keep the city.
DOI
Many academic chapters have their own DOI. Paste it into the generator and the chapter, the book and the editors come from the Crossref record.
Where people go wrong
Cite the chapter, not the whole book
If the chapter has its own author, the reference names that author and that chapter. Citing only the edited book credits the editors with someone else's work.
The page range belongs to the chapter
The pages in the reference are the chapter's full range. The page you quoted goes in the in-text citation.
A book by one author is different
If one author wrote the whole book, cite the book itself. Chapter references are for edited collections.
Questions
Where do I find the editors?
On the title page and the cover, usually introduced by Edited by. Crossref records for chapters usually list them as well, which is why a DOI is the quickest route.
How do I cite a book chapter in the text?
By the chapter's author, not the editors: (Hall, 1980) in APA, and (Hall 130) in MLA with the page you used.
What if the chapter has no DOI?
Follow the worked example above. The parts and their order are the same for any chapter, so the example is a pattern you can fill in by hand.
Citing something else?
Or read the rules for one style
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