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How to Cite - MLA

Print Books

Author's last name, Author's first name. Title of the Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, year of publication.

• If known, include the author's full first name(s).
• Nouns and names in book titles are capitalized.
• Book titles are underlined.
• Pay attention to commas and periods!

Examples

Rudd, Gillian. The Complete Critical Guide to Geoffrey Chaucer. New York: Routledge, 2001.

Brown, John Russell. Shakespeare: The Tragedies. New York: Palgrave, 2001.

Print Book with Multiple Authors

Author's last name, Author's first name, and Author's first name Author's last name. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, year of publication.

• Pay attention to the order of names in citing books with more than one author!

Examples

Richards, Philip, and Neil Schlager. Best Literature by and about Blacks. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000.

Horngren, Charles T., Harrison Walter T., and Linda S. Bamber. Accounting. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1999.

Print Book with an Editor

Editor's last name, Editor's first name, ed. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, year of publication.

• Pay attention to the order of names in citing books with more than one editor!
• The editor's name is followed by the abbreviation ed.

Examples

Elliott, Anthony, ed. The Blackwell Reader in Contemporary Social Theory. Malden: Blackwell, 1999.

Harrison, Paul Carter, Victor Leo Walker, and Gus Edwards eds. Black Theatre: Ritual Performance in the African Diaspora. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002.

An Edition of a Literary Work

Authors's last name, Author's first name. Title of Book. Ed. First name Last name of the editor. Place of Publication: Publisher, year of publication.

Examples

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square-Pocket, 1992.

Twain, Mark. Roughing It. Ed. Harriet E. Smith and Edgar M. Branch. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

Reference Book: Article in an Encyclopedia

"Title of the Article." edition year of publication. Title of the Encyclopedia. Year of publication ed.

• Nouns and names in article titles are capitalized.
• Articles titles are in quotation marks.
• The title of the Encyclopedia is capitalized.

Examples

"Witchcraft." Collier's Encyclopedia. 1994 ed.

"Venezuela." The New Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropaedia. 15th ed. 1998.