MLA Citation Resources

Print Book Citation Guide – MLA format

Some basic examples for citing books are listed below.  *Note that MLA no longer requires the place of publication or the medium of publication (print).*  If you have any questions, ask a friendly librarian :)

This section of the guide is for printed books. Click on the links below for e-Book citations:

E-Books from Readers and Apps (Kindle, Nook, OverDrive, etc.)

E-books on the Web 

E-books in GBS Databases (Redirects to GBS Subject Area & Reference Databases & eBooks)

Basic citation format for a book:

Book by a single author

Boatswain, Tim. A Traveller’s History of Cyprus. Interlink Books, 2005.

Book by two authors

Chang, Jung, and John Halliday. Mao: the Unknown Story. Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.

Book by three authors (and a 6^th edition). Use this author format for three or more authors.

Saphier, Jon, et al. The Skillful Teacher: Building Your Teaching Skills. 6^th ed., Research for Better Teaching, 2008.

Book with an editor (if you are citing the entire book. If you are citing one of more chapters, see the Work in an Anthology section below)

Nardo, Don, editor. Ancient Greece. Greenhaven Press, 2001.

Book with two editors

Lamb, Brian, and Susan Swain, editors. Abraham Lincoln: Great American Historians on our Sixteenth President.

         PublicAffairs, 2008. 

Book with a corporate author (and a 3rd edition)

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Care for Your Kitten. 3rd ed., Harper Collins, 2004.

Book with translator(s)

Murakami, Haruki. IQ84. Translated by Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel, Vintage International, 2012.

Book in a series (Series information is optional in MLA 8; ask your instructor for guidance.)

Fleming, Thomas. Socialism. Marshall Cavendish, 2008. Political Systems of the World. 

Work in an anthology (selection from a book - short story, essay, poem, etc…)

Mohr, Nicholasa. “Mr. Mendelsohn.” Growing Up Latino: Memoirs and Stories, edited by Harold Augenbraum

        and Ilan Stavans, Houghton Mifflin, 1993, pp. 131-46.

Republished work of historical significance (the original date is optional, but useful for historical works).

DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. 1903. Oxford UP, 2007. 

 

Citing E-books from Readers/Apps (Kindle, Nook, OverDrive, etc.)

When citing an E-book from a reader (Kindle, Nook, etc.) or an app (Kindle, Nook, OverDrive, etc.), list the name of the device/app after the title of the book if there is no other publication information (contributors, multiple editions) and after the additional publication information if applicable.

Basic citation format for an E-book from a reader/app:

Author’s last name, first name.  Title of book.  Other contributors (if applicable), 

        Version/Edition (if applicable), Device/App ed., Publisher, Publication date.

Stewart, David O. American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America. Kindle ed., Simon and Schuster, 2012.  

Saphier, Jon, et al. The Skillful Teacher: Building Your Teaching Skills. 6th ed., Nook ed., Research for Better Teaching, 2008.

​