The 4 Elements of a Reference

 

 

1. The author. 
2. The year of publication.
3. The title of the book.
4. The location and name of the publisher.

Each of the 4 elements is ended with a period and one space. (After the last one, you don't need a space, but you DO need a period.

1. To make sure a reference is findable in a list, write the surname (family name) first. In this case, the author is Violet Findley, so we write:
   Findley, V.
2. The year of publication is 2006. Write:
   (2006). 
3. Write the title. Sometimes titles are written in ALL CAPS on book covers, but that is just a design matter, so don't copy it. Ideally, you should use italics for the title.
4. The location is New York, NY and the publisher is Scholastic, so write:
   New York, NY: Scholastic.

So this book is written:

 

Findley, V. (2006). The Gingerbread Man. New York, NY: Scholastic.