Skip to Main Content

MLA Citation Style

Books & eBooks - Generic

Print Generic

Author. Title of Source. Title of the Container. Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.

Print Example

Kirby, David. What Is a Book? U of Georgia P, 2002.

E-book Generic

Author. Title of Source. Title of the Container. Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location. Name of web site or database, URL.

E-books Examples

Sunderland, Jane. Language, Gender and Children's Fiction. EPUB file, Continuum, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=347298&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Kirby, David. What Is a Book? EPUB file, U of Georgia P, 2002.

Comments

  • For the URL, omit http:// or https:// from the citation.

Single and Multiple Authors or Editors

Multiple Authors

One Author

Kirby, David. What Is a Book? U of Georgia P, 2002.

Two Authors

Eiland, Howard, and Michael William Jennings. Walter Benjamin: A Critical Life. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2014.

Three or More Authors

Booth, Wayne C., et al. The Craft of Research. 2nd ed. U of Chicago P, 2003.

Quirk, Randolph, et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman, 1985.

Comments

  • List authors in the order they appear on the source.

  • Second author's name is list with the proper name first.

  • When there are three or more authors, list the first author and the phrase "et al."

    • Note there is no period after et and there is a period after al.

No Author or Editor

New York Public Library American History Desk Reference. New York: Macmillan, 1997.

MLA Handbook. 8th ed., Kindle ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2016.

Contributors - Editors, Translators, etc.

Reference List

Generic

Author. Title of Source. Title of the Container. Other Contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location.

Editors

Austen, Jane, Juvenilia. Edited by Peter Sabor, Cambridge University Press, 2006. The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austin.

Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. Edited by Claudia Johnson. Norton, 2001.

Translators

Calvino, Italo. “Cybernetics and Ghosts.”The Uses of Literature: Essays. Translated by Patrick Creagh. Harcourt, 1982, pp. 3-27.

Editions and Multivolume Works

Book – Specific edition

Reference List

Austen, Jane, Juvenilia. Edited by Peter Sabor, Cambridge University Press, 2006. The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austin.

Comments

  • The series information is considered under the optional element Other Facts about the Source.

  • Other Facts about the Source is added after a period at the end of the citation made up of the applicable core elements.

Book – Multivolume Series

Reference List

Austen, Jane, Juvenilia, edited by Peter Sabor, Cambridge University Press, 2006. The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austin.

Section of a Book - Chapter, Essay, Note, Dictionary Entry, etc.

Section of a Book – chapter, essay, notes, etc.

In-Text Citation

Reference List

Chapter in a book or ebook

Calvino, Italo. “Cybernetics and Ghosts.”The Uses of Literature: Essays. Trans. Patrick Creagh. Harcourt, 1982, pp. 3-27.

Translated letters in a collection

Chiavaroli, Neville  and Constant J. Mews, translators. "Ex epistolis duorum amantium (From the letters of two lovers)." The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard: Perceptions of Dialogue in Twelfth-Century France, Constant J. Mews, Palgrave, 2001, pp. 181-289.

Book Review

Reference List

Updike, John. “No Breaks.” Rev. of Sinclair Lewis: Rebel from Main Street, by Richard Lingeman. New Yorker 4 Feb. 2002, pp. 77-80.

Need More Help?

For additional assistance with citation styles, consult your professor or the research help service at the Mount Library. 

You can reach the Library by email: library@msvu.ca.  Please note: The Library will help you as much as possible but they may also refer you back to your professor.

How do I cite an e-book in MLA style? According to style.mla.org

An e-book—that is, a book that lacks a URL and that you use software to read on a personal device or computer—is considered a version according to the MLA Handbook’s template of core elements:

MLA Handbook. 8th ed., e-book, Modern Language Association of America, 2016.

If you know the type of e-book you consulted (e.g., Kindle, EPUB), specify it instead of “e-book”:

MLA Handbook. 8th ed., Kindle ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2016.

When citing an e-book in your text, avoid using device-specific numbering systems. See section 3.3.3 for suggestions on alternative ways to identify the parts of a work.

From: https://style.mla.org/2016/06/23/citing-an-e-book/