Q. When using APA Style, what do I do when there is more than one date for a book?

Leon Research & Writing Studio, you stated that if the book has been reprinted to include both the original date as well as the reprinted date with a / between them, but does this hold true for a copyright renewal as well?

Rachel, there does not appear to be specific guidance in the APA Manual or on the APA Style Blog regarding your question. However, I would recommend not using a copyright renewal date in a citation. Copyright renewal is more of a reflection of a legal status rather than indicating when content was composed or renewed. For the purpose of a citation it is more important to let your reader know the currency of the source cited rather than the legal status.

I am using a book in my dissertation that was reprinted by a different publisher. (First published in 1886 by William Blackwood and Sons; republished in 1987 by Ailsa Inc.) How would the reference appear in the reference list? Thank you!

@ Marilynn: To our knowledge, and resources we normally consult, APA does not give specific guidance on this. Looking through the APA Publication Manual at reference examples 21 and 26, on pages 203-204, there are some hints about how to best approach this, though there is not an ideal example to model it on. My suggestion would be to largely base it on example 21, but to also add the publisher name afterwards, for example: (Original work published 1886 by William Blackwood & Sons). This may be cleared up further with the APA 7th edition coming out in October, though if you use formatting from that you'll want to make sure to format you entire reference list in 7th edition style.

The university has not yet informed me if I'll need to update to the 7th edition before publication, which I expect to be in about a month. Thank you so much for your quick and comprehensive response!

If there is no date for the version of the book I am using but I know the original publishing date (1900), should I make the in-text like (Author, n.d.: pp.), (Author, n.d./1900: pp.) or (Author, 1900: pp.)? I am asking because I have a couple of other works by the same author with no date for which I know the original date, so I am really hoping I don't have to do use "n.d.-a", "n.d.-b" and "n.d.-c" instead of simply 1900, 1901, 1902.

@Eduardo: That's a good question and one where the APA Manual does not give explicit advice. That said, you are going to want to use the original date in your in-text citation. Since your sources don't have dates for the version where they are released you might decide it is not helpful to your readers to include that information in your reference list, and likewise then not include it in your in-text citation. However, if it seems like your reader might care whether the book is a re-release because that may impact the content, then I recommend including the n.d. part in both the reference list and in-text citation.

Another scenario: A book was published in 2001, then published in paperback in 2004 not as a "2nd ed." but a "paperback edition" (here's the book: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Their-Own-Way-Self-Development/dp/1579220916). I'm a copy editor. The author consistently cited the work with the 2004 date, so that is clearly the version of the work he used.It doesn't seem applicable to cite as 2001/2004 when it is simply a different format. Should the original 2001 date be used?

@Mark: Even if it is a reprint the additional year format should be used. The post has been updated to clarify this. Thanks for the question!

What if the original work is by an ancient author and then is republished in translation and this translation is then converted to an ebook? How do you coordinate these three separate dates?

@Alexa, the APA Manual doesn't have direct guidance on this type of example with three years to coordinate. However, it does say on pp. 322-323 that whenever there is a translation or format change you should indicate that. So in your reference list entry you could lead with most recent date after the author name then in parentheses at the end note "Original work published YEAR and translated YEAR". Then in your in-text citations use YEAR/YEAR/YEAR.

Hi Gabe, thanks for all the answers thus far. i know you said if your using.a new version put original work published in ... however i was wondering if I'm using a newer version and putting the original version do i also have to note if the book has been edited and reviewed as the book I'm referencing, the original has been edited and reviewed prior to publication. thanks

@Aaron: It would depend. You should include whether or not the book is a new edition. For example: Book title in italics (2nd ed.), but that does not necessarily require information about the editor. The APA Manual states on page 322 that "when an editor is credited on the cover of an authored book, provide the name in parentheses after the book title with 'Ed.' or 'Eds.' in parentheses." However, that would be the same regardless of whether the book was republished or not. Let me know if that does not answer your question!

Hey. If suppose an article in a website has no date on when it was written, but there is a reviewed date, should I add the reviewed date as the date in APA format?

@Aza, that's an interesting question that I don't see specific guidance about in the APA Manual. What I would recommend is to first see if you can look up the article by title in Google Scholar to see if you can locate a different place with citation data. It is possible the version you are looking at is informally published or a pre-print. Failing that, I would recommend treating the date as missing information. The Manual has a handy table on page 284, if you have that handy, on how to approach situations like this. Essentially, though, in the place of a date you would put (n.d.) to indicate "no date."

Hi, It seems that the orginal work published date needs to be included with APA style. Is this the very original one i.e 1997 or is it the final updated edition on which the translation was based on i.e 2018 ? I hope this makes sense. Any prompt reply will be appreciated.

@Marianna: The Manual does not appear to give specific guidance on this question. However, in keeping with other principles used for APA citations it seems like it would be most prudent to use the date for the edition you used. Since content has the potential to vary greatly between editions, this will help your reader know the exact source you obtained it from. Also, make sure to indicate the edition. The format used, after the title, in one APA Manual example is (H. Weaver, Trans.; 2nd ed.).

Hi, if a citation is a journal article with a date but it also has another date when it was found, for example: Found August 2004, would I include that?

@Genesis G: Generally you would avoid including an "found on" or "retrieved" date. The time where you would include that date is for articles, or other information sources, where they are regularly updated or change. The best example of this is for Wikipedia entries where they can change moment to moment, so it can be important to cite a particular edit and you would include. For example, if I cited a changing website as I write this I would include the following at the end of the reference list entry: Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://website.com. When it comes to journal articles and books, I can't think of an example of where this would come into play (doesn't mean that is not possible!). What may be causing the confusion for you is that many online journals and books from subscription sources will include a date on the PDF for when it was downloaded and from what institution. This is because they trying to police copyright for articles that might get shared more widely and has no bearing on citation formats.

Hi, how should I cite a magazine with dual years? Examples. "Winter 2020-21" or "Winter 2015/2016."

@Jessie: I recommend a version of the second example you gave, but leading with the the year then season (2015/2016, Winter) since that most closely aligns with the example given on page 290. That example is not identical, since it shows (2020, Spring/Summer), but the most important thing is accuracy anyhow, where the reader will be able to see the connection between your in-text citation and reference list.

I am curious how to cite a book that was originally written in one year, updated later by the author, then updated again with new material added by the spouse after the author's death. (The original author frequently noted that all of his works were actually the products of both spouses, so the spouse's addendum after the other's death isn't completely new work, per se.)

There is a World bank paper produced in 1991 but it was uploaded in 2007; which date should I cite?

@David: The APA Manual notes om page 265 in situations where you have multiple years for a source because it has been republished to use both years with a slash. So in that case it would be (1991/2007).