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Writing and Citing: MLA 9th Edition: Books

MLA 9th Edition

Citing Books and eBooks

General Format:

Book citations need the following elements:

  • Last name of author(s), first name.
  • Title of Book
  • Other contributors (translators or editors)
  • Version (Edition), Number(vol./no.)
  • City of Publication
    • City of Publication is no longer used with the following exceptions:  Books published before 1900, not well know in the United States, or if the publisher has offices in more than one country.
  • Publisher
  • Publication year
  • Page numbers or ranges that were used.

Ebook Citations:

Cite eBooks the same way that you would print books and add the URL or DOI (if available) of the eBook, publication year.

Books and eBooks with Authors

Single Author:

Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title: Subtitle if present. Publisher,

year of publication.

Example: 

Paarlberg, Robert. Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know. 2nd ed., Oxford

University Press, 2013.

Note: City of Publication is no longer used with the following exceptions:  Books published before 1900, if the publisher has offices in more than one country, or if the publisher is unknown in North America.

 

Two Authors:

Author's Last Name, First and Author's First Name and Last. Book Title:

         Subtitle. Edition, Publisher, ​Publication date.

Example: 

Clark, Mary Higgins and Alafair Burke. The Cinderella Murder. 1st. ed., 

           Simon & Schuster, 2014.

Note: Only the first author's name appears in "Last Name, First Name" format. The second author's name appears in "First Name Last Name" format.

 

Three or More Authors:

Note: If there are three or more authors, list only the first author followed by the phrase et al. (Latin for "and others") in place of the other authors' names.

Author's Last Name, First, et al. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if it is not a first

edition, Publisher, Publication date.

Example: 

Clare, Cassandra, et al. Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy. Margaret K.

McElderry Books, 2016.

eBook:

Note: Citations for ebooks closely resemble those for physical books. Simply indicate that the book in question is an ebook by putting the term "ebook" in the "version" slot of the MLA template (i.e., after the author, the title of the source, the title of the container, and the names of any other contributors).

Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title: Subtitle if present. ebook, Publisher,

year of publication.

Or if formatted for a specific reader device:

Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title: Subtitle if present. Type of

            device, Publisher, year of publication.

Example: 

Silva, Paul J. How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic

           Writing. E-book, American Psychological  Association, 2007.

Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince, translated by W. K. Marriott, Kindle ed., Library

            of Alexandria, 2018.

eBook from a Library Database:

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and

          is not first edition, Publisher Name, Year of publication. Name of

          Library Database.

Example: 

Waldau, Paul. Animal Rights: What Everyone Needs To Know. 

               Oxford University Press, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).

Single Author: 

(Author Last Name Page Number(s))

Example:

“Writing activities increase students’ learning and engagement” (Huskin15). 

Two Authors:

(Author Last Name & Author Last Name Page number(s))

Example:

"The best is yet to come" (D'Amico and Barbarito 352).

D'Amico and Barbarito  state that "the best is yet to come" (352).

Three and More Authors:

(Author Last Name et al. Page Number(s))

Example:

(Landon et al. 47).

Landon et al., write... "Perfection is perfection" (47).

Books and eBooks Without Authors

Note: Books will usually have one to several authors. They can also be written by an organization or government entity as authors, or an anthology of multiple authors, with an editor or multiple editors. Below are some examples of citing books without authors.

Unknown Author: 

Book title: Subtitle. Publisher, Publication date. 

Example: 

Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2006.

Organization as Author:

Name of Organization. Title of eBook or Source. Publisher, Publication Date. 

Example:

Code Consultants Association. Fire Flow Water Consumption in Sprinklered and

Unsprinklered Buildings: An Assessment of Community Impacts. Springer, 2012. 

Note: When the author and publisher are the same, skip the author, and list the title first. Then, list the corporate author only as the publisher. Organization names are considered proper nouns, make sure they are capitalized in the title. 

Example:

Fair Housing—Fair Lending. Aspen Law & Business, 1985.

Edited Book, No Author:

Last name of editor, First Name, editor(s). Title of Book: Subtitle. Publisher Name, Publication year. 

Example:

Bradshaw, Michael, editor. Disabling Romanticism: Body, Mind, and Text. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. 

Selection or Chapter from an Anthology

Chapter from Anthology: 

Note: Applies to essays written by different authors in a book compiled by an editor, or short stories/plays/poems inside a book or anthology such as a textbook.

Last name, First name. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection, edited by Editor's Name(s),

Publisher, Year, Page range of entry.

Example:

Harris, Muriel. "Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers." A Tutor's Guide: Helping Writers One to

One, edited by Ben Rafoth, Heinemann, 2000, pp. 24-34.

Note: Include DOI if available for eBooks.