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MLA Style: Basics

This guide is intended to help you cite sources in MLA style, avoid plagiarism, learn what MLA style is and includes, find examples of MLA style, lead you to campus resources that can help you cite sources in MLA, and more.

Books


Books by Number of Authors

Book by a Single Author

General Format

Author's Last name, Author's first name. Title. Contributors (if any), Publisher, Publication year.

For Example

Allende, Isabel. The House of the Spirits: A Novel. Translated by Magda Bogin, Atria Paperback, 2015.

In-Text Citation

(Allende 42).

Book by Two Authors

General Format

First Author's Last name, First Author's first name, and second Author's first name, second author's last name. Title. Contributors (if any), Publisher, Publication year.

For Example

Bowker, Geoffrey C., and Susan Leigh Star. Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences. MIT Press, 2000.

In-Text Citation

(Bowker and Star 175).

Books by Three or More Authors

General Format

First Author's Last name, First Author's First name, et al. Title. Contributors (if any), Publisher, Publication year.

For Example

Hand, Cynthia, et al. My Lady Jane. HarperTeen, 2016.

In-Text Citation

(Hand et al. 97).

Book Chapter in an Edited Book

General Format

Author's Last name, Author's First name. "Chapter Title." Book Title, edited by Editor's Name(s), Publisher, Publication year, pp. pages of chapter.

For Example

Cong-Huyen, Anne, and Kush Patel. "Precarious Labor and Radical Care in Libraries and Digital Humanities." Knowledge Justice: Disrupting Library and Information Studies Through Critical Race Theory, edited by Sofia Y. Leung and Jorge R. López-McNight, MIT Press, 2021, pp. 263-282.

In-Text Citation

(Cong-Huyen and Patel 265).

 

Books in Various Formats

eBook

If you can point your reader to the location of the electronic book by including information about where you found it, like a website or a database, do so. If you access an electronic book using an eReader and this type of information is not available, add e-book ed. as the version you're citing.

eReader eBook

Hand, Cynthia, et al. My Lady Jane. e-book ed., HarperTeen, 2016.

eBook Available in a Database

Powers, Madison, and Ruth Faden. Social Justice: The Moral Foundations of Public Health and Health Policy. Oxford UP, 2006. eBook Collection, ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=315058&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Audiobook

General Format

Author's last name, author's first name. Title. Narrated by Narrator's first and last names, audiobook ed., unabridged or abridged ed., publisher, publication date.

For Example

Harari, Yuval N. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Narrated by Derek Perkins, audiobook ed., unabridged ed., HarperCollins, 2017.

If you accessed the audiobook through an app, your citation might look like this:

Harari, Yuval N. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Audible, Narrated by Derek Perkins, audiobook ed., unabridged ed., HarperCollins, 2017. App.

In-Text Citation

(Harari 00:15:45-00:18:15).

 

Books in Multivolume Sets

Multivolume Work

General Format

Author Surname, Author First Name. Multivolume Title. Edited by Editor, Publisher, Publication Year, total number of volumes vols.

For Example

Austen, Jane. The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen. Edited by R. W. Chapman, Oxford UP, 1988. 6 vols.

In-Text Citation

(Austen 73).

One Volume from a Multivolume Work

General Format

Author's last name, author's first name. Volume Title. Edited by Editor's first and last names, publisher, publication date, Vol. number of Title of Multivolume Work.

For Example

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Edited by R. W. Chapman, Oxford UP, 1988. Vol. 2 of The Oxford Illustrated Jane Austen.

In-Text Citation

(Austen 42).

 

Reference Entries in Encyclopedias or Dictionaries

Article in a Print Reference Book with an Author

General Format

Author Surname, Author First Name. "Article or Entry Title."Encyclopedia or Dictionary Title, edited by Editor, edition, Publisher, Publication Year, pp. page range where entry appears.

For Example

Martin, Brian. "Activism, Social and Political." Encyclopedia of activism and social justice, edited by Gary L. Anderson, Sage Publications, 2007, pp. 817.

In-Text Citation

(Martin 817).

Author in a Reference eBook without an Author

General Format

"Article or Entry Title."Encyclopedia or Dictionary Title, edited by Editor, edition, Publisher, Publication Year. Name of Database or other container, DOI or URL.

For Example

"Civil Disobedience." The MacMillan encyclopedia, 2nd ed., Market House Books, 2003. Credo Reference, ezproxy.snhu.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/move/civil_disobedience/0?institutionId=943

In-Text Citation

("Civil Disobedience.").