Citing a book in APA format for academic research is straightforward once you get the hang of it. The basic structure includes the author's last name, followed by their initials, the year of publication in parentheses, the title of the book in italics, and the publisher. For example, if you're citing 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it would look like this: Fitzgerald, F. S. (1925). 'The Great Gatsby'. Scribner. If the book has an edition number, include it after the title, like '2nd ed.'. For e-books, add the DOI or URL at the end. Always double-check the APA manual or your institution's guidelines to ensure accuracy, especially for unique cases like translated works or edited volumes.