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How to Cite a Book in MLA | Format & Examples
Published on June 28, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on March 5, 2024.
An MLA book citation always includes the author(s) , title (italicized), publisher, and publication year in the Works Cited entry. If relevant, also include the names of any editors or translators, the edition, and the volume. “University Press” should be abbreviated to “UP” in a Works Cited entry.
The in-text citation gives the author’s last name and a page number in parentheses.
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Table of contents
Citing a book chapter, editions of books, multi-volume books, translated books, e-books and online books, where to find information for a book citation, frequently asked questions about mla style.
Use this format if the book’s chapters are written by different authors, or if the book is a collection of self-contained works (such as stories , essays, poems or plays ). A similar format can be used to cite images from books or dictionary entries . If you cite several chapters from the same book, include a separate Works Cited entry for each one.
Start the Works Cited entry with the author and title of the chapter, followed by the book’s title, editor, publisher, and date , and end with the page range on which the chapter appears.
If there are two editors, give the full names of both. If there are more than two editors, follow the same rules as for citing multiple authors : name only the first editor followed by et al.
If you are citing a work from a book with no named editor (e.g. a collection of a single author’s poems or plays), use the same format, but leave out the editor element.
- Multiple editors
MLA format | Author last name, First name. “Title of Chapter or Work.” , edited by Editor name, Publisher, Year, pp. Page range. |
Smith, Ali. “The Universal Story.” y, edited by Philip Hensher, Penguin Books, 2018, pp. 99–107. | |
(Smith 101) |
MLA format | Author last name, First name. “Title of Chapter or Work.” , edited by Editor names, Publisher, Year, pp. Page range. |
Le Guin, Ursula K. “Deep in Admiration.” , edited by Anna Tsing et al., U of Minnesota P, 2017, pp. 15–21. | |
(Le Guin 17) |
MLA format | Author last name, First name. “Title of Chapter or Work.” , Publisher, Year, pp. Page range. |
Beckett, Samuel. “Catastrophe.” , Grove Press, 2010, pp. 293–300. | |
(Beckett 299) |
Citing a whole collection or anthology
If you refer to a whole collection without citing a specific work within it, follow the standard book citation format. Include the editor(s) where the author would usually go, with a label to identify their role.
MLA format | Editor last name, First name, editor. Publisher, Year. |
Tsing, Anna, et al., editors. . U of Minnesota P, 2017. | |
(Tsing et al. 3) |
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If the book cover or title page specifies an edition, add the edition number or name, followed by the abbreviation “ed.”, after the title. Note that versions of the Bible are treated slightly differently.
MLA format | Author last name, First name. . Edition ed., Publisher, Year. |
Butler, Judith. . 2nd ed., Routledge, 1999. | |
(Butler 23) |
Including the original publication date
Classic books are often published and republished many times. If the original publication date is relevant or necessary to put the source in context, you can also include this directly after the title.
MLA format | Author last name, First name. . Original publication year. Edition ed., Publisher, Edition publication year. |
Brontë, Emily. . 1847. Revised ed., Penguin Classics, 2002. | |
(Brontë 31) |
If you cite only one volume of a multi-volume work, include the volume number in the Works Cited entry.
If you cite more than one volume of the book, cite them as a single work and specify the total number of volumes in your Works Cited entry. In this case, the in-text citations must include the volume number as well as the page number.
- Citing a single volume
- Citing multiple volumes
MLA format | Author last name, First name. . Edition ed., vol. Volume number, Publisher, Year. |
Rampersad, Arnold. . 2nd ed., vol. 2, Oxford UP, 2002. | |
(Rampersad 64) |
MLA format | Author last name, First name. . Edition ed., Publisher, Year. Number of volumes vols. |
Rampersad, Arnold. . 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 2002. 2 vols. | |
(Rampersad 1: 25) |
If the book is translated, include the translator’s name after the title.
MLA format | Author last name, First name. . Translated by Translator name, Publisher, Year. |
Camus, Albert. . Translated by Robin Buss, Penguin Books, 2013. | |
(Camus 62) |
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The citation format for an e-book depends on how you accessed it.
Books accessed online
If you accessed the book via a website or database, use the standard MLA book citation format, followed by the name of the website or database and a link to the book. Look for a DOI, stable URL or permalink. If the book was accessed as a PDF, you may note this in your reference .
MLA format | Author last name, First name. . Publisher, Year. , DOI/URL. |
Brown, Wendy. . Princeton UP, 1995. , hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.32981. | |
(Brown 12) |
Downloaded e-books
If you downloaded the book onto an e-reader device or app, you only have to add “E-book ed.” after the title.
If the e-book does not have page numbers, use an alternate locator, such as a chapter or section heading, in your in-text citation. Do not use locators that are specific to the device (e.g. Kindle locations).
MLA format | Author last name, First name. . Format, Publisher, Year. |
Anderson, Benedict. . E-book ed., Verso, 2006. | |
(Anderson, ch. 5) |
The title, author, publisher, and publication year are usually found on the book’s title page. You might have to check the copyright page for the publisher and publication year.
Note that the copyright date is not always the same as the publication date. If several different years appear on the copyright page, use the most recent one.
If the book has any editors or translators named on the cover page, include them in the citation after the book’s title.
In MLA style , book titles appear in italics, with all major words capitalized. If there is a subtitle, separate it from the main title with a colon and a space (even if no colon appears in the source). For example:
The format is the same in the Works Cited list and in the text itself. However, when you mention the book title in the text, you don’t have to include the subtitle.
The title of a part of a book—such as a chapter, or a short story or poem in a collection—is not italicized, but instead placed in quotation marks.
If a source has two authors, name both authors in your MLA in-text citation and Works Cited entry. If there are three or more authors, name only the first author, followed by et al.
Number of authors | In-text citation | Works Cited entry |
---|---|---|
1 author | (Moore 37) | Moore, Jason W. |
2 authors | (Moore and Patel 37) | Moore, Jason W., and Raj Patel. |
3+ authors | (Moore et al. 37) | Moore, Jason W., et al. |
In MLA Style , you should cite a specific chapter or work within a book in two situations:
- When each of the book’s chapters is written by a different author.
- When the book is a collection of self-contained works (such as poems , plays , or short stories ), even if they are all written by the same author.
If you cite multiple chapters or works from the same book, include a separate Works Cited entry for each chapter.
Some source types, such as books and journal articles , may contain footnotes (or endnotes) with additional information. The following rules apply when citing information from a note in an MLA in-text citation :
- To cite information from a single numbered note, write “n” after the page number, and then write the note number, e.g. (Smith 105n2)
- To cite information from multiple numbered notes, write “nn” and include a range, e.g. (Smith 77nn1–2)
- To cite information from an unnumbered note, write “un” after the page number, with a space in between, e.g. (Jones 250 un)
You must include an MLA in-text citation every time you quote or paraphrase from a source (e.g. a book , movie , website , or article ).
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McCombes, S. (2024, March 05). How to Cite a Book in MLA | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved October 10, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/mla/book-citation/
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Book/Ebook References
Use the same formats for both print books and ebooks. For ebooks, the format, platform, or device (e.g., Kindle) is not included in the reference.
This page contains reference examples for books, including the following:
- Whole authored book
- Whole edited book
- Republished book, with editor
- Book published with new foreword by another author
- Several volumes of a multivolume work
1. Whole authored book
Jackson, L. M. (2019). The psychology of prejudice: From attitudes to social action (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000168-000
Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The biology of humans at our best and worst . Penguin Books.
Svendsen, S., & Løber, L. (2020). The big picture/Academic writing: The one-hour guide (3rd digital ed.). Hans Reitzel Forlag. https://thebigpicture-academicwriting.digi.hansreitzel.dk/
- Parenthetical citations : (Jackson, 2019; Sapolsky, 2017; Svendsen & Løber, 2020)
- Narrative citations : Jackson (2019), Sapolsky (2017), and Svendsen and Løber (2020)
- Provide the author, year of publication, title, and publisher of the book. Use the same format for both print books and ebooks.
- Use the copyright date shown on the book’s copyright page as the year of publication in the reference, even if the copyright date is different than the release date.
- Include any edition information in parentheses after the title, without italics.
- If the book includes a DOI, include the DOI in the reference after the publisher name.
- Do not include the publisher location.
- If the ebook without a DOI has a stable URL that will resolve for readers, include the URL of the book in the reference (as in the Svendsen and Løber example, which is from the iBog database, where ebooks are referred to as “internetbooks”). Do not include the name of the database in the reference.
- If the ebook is from an academic research database and has no DOI or stable URL, end the book reference after the publisher name. Do not include the name of the database in the reference. The reference in this case is the same as for a print book.
2. Whole edited book
Hygum, E., & Pedersen, P. M. (Eds.). (2010). Early childhood education: Values and practices in Denmark . Hans Reitzels Forlag. https://earlychildhoodeducation.digi.hansreitzel.dk/
Kesharwani, P. (Ed.). (2020). Nanotechnology based approaches for tuberculosis treatment . Academic Press.
Torino, G. C., Rivera, D. P., Capodilupo, C. M., Nadal, K. L., & Sue, D. W. (Eds.). (2019). Microaggression theory: Influence and implications . John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119466642
- Parenthetical citations : (Hygum & Pedersen, 2010; Kesharwani, 2020; Torino et al., 2019)
- Narrative citations : Hygum and Pedersen (2010), Kesharwani (2020), and Torino et al. (2019)
- Use the abbreviation “(Ed.)” for one editor and the abbreviation “(Eds.)” for multiple editors after the editor names, followed by a period. In the case of multiple editors, include the role once, after all the names.
- If the ebook without a DOI has a stable URL that will resolve for readers, include the URL of the book in the reference (as in the Hygum and Pedersen example, which is from the iBog database). Do not include the name of the database in the reference.
3. Republished book, with editor
Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (2013). Conditioned emotional reactions: The case of Little Albert (D. Webb, Ed.). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. http://a.co/06Se6Na (Original work published 1920)
- Parenthetical citation : (Watson & Rayner, 1920/2013)
- Narrative citation : Watson and Rayner (1920/2013)
- The book by Watson and Rayner was originally published in 1920. It was edited by Webb and republished in 2013.
- Sometimes an authored book also credits an editor on the cover. In this case, include the editor in parentheses without italics after the book title.
- Provide the year of the republication in the main date element of the reference. Provide the year of original publication at the end of the reference in parentheses after the words “Original work published.”
- Both publication years appear in the in-text citation, separated with a slash, with the earlier year first.
4. Book published with new foreword by another author
Kübler-Ross, E. (with Byock, I.). (2014). On death & dying: What the dying have to teach doctors, nurses, clergy & their own families (50th anniversary ed.). Scribner. (Original work published 1969)
- Parenthetical citation : (Kübler-Ross, 1969/2014)
- Narrative citation : Kübler-Ross (1969/2014)
- Use this format when a person other than the original author has added a new part to the work, such as a foreword or introduction.
- Provide the author of the whole book in the main author element of the reference. Then provide the name of the person who wrote the foreword, introduction, or other new part, in parentheses, after the word “with.” In the example, Byock wrote a new foreword to the book by Kübler-Ross.
- When citing the main book, include only the name of the book author in the in-text citation.
- Parenthetical citation of foreword : Workers in the medical community should “listen to the people who need our help and respond with all the knowledge and skill we can bring to bear” (Kübler-Ross, 1969/2014, foreword by Byock, p. xv).
- Narrative citation of foreword : Byock stated that Kübler-Ross’s (1969/2014) work “challenged the authoritarian decorum and puritanism of the day” (p. xii).
5. Several volumes of a multivolume work
Harris, K. R., Graham, S., & Urdan T. (Eds.). (2012). APA educational psychology handbook (Vols. 1–3). American Psychological Association.
- Parenthetical citation : (Harris et al., 2012)
- Narrative citation : Harris et al. (2012)
- Provide the name(s) of the editor(s)-in-chief as the editors of the work, even if the volume editors are different.
Book/ebook references are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 10.2 and the Concise Guide Section 10.2