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MLA Citation Style Guide - 9th ed.

Print Book


 

Last Name, First Name Title of Work: Capital letter for Main Words of Full Title. edition # (if available), Publisher, Date.

 

One Author Example:
Herr, John. Creative Resources for the Early Childhood Classroom. Wadsworth & Cengage Learning, 2013.

 

Two Author Example:

List authors in order as they appear in book. List first author name with Last name, first name format; subsequent author names appear in normal order, first name last name format.

Reese, Nancy Berryman, and  William Bandy. Creative Resources for the Early Childhood Classroom. Wadsworth & Cengage Learning, 2013.

 

eBook (from library catalog or database)


Example:
Use eBook permalink provided by catalog or database in citation.
Quayle, Moura. Designed Leadership. Columbia Buisness School Publishing, 2017. EBSCOhost,   https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=e020mna&AN=1628779&site=eds-live&custid=s8879186

 

eBook [read with e-book reader device (e.g. Kindle or Nook)]


Example:
Park, Myung K., and Mehrdad Salamat. Parks Pediatric Cardiology for Practitioners. 7th ed., Kindle ed., Mosby, 2020.

 

eBook (from general website)


Example:

MLA considers the "e-book" identifier specifically for eBooks read with an eBook reader device. If you are citing from an eBook found on a general website with a URL, use web site citation format. 

Taylor, Robert. Work Out: Spanish 'O' Level and GCSE. 1986. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-1-349-07805-9

 

Formatting with more than one author
  • Books with 2 authors 
    • List as they appear in book. 
    • First author listed as Last name, First name
    • Second author's name appears in normal order (First name Last name)
  • 3 or more authors
    • First author listed as Last name, First name
    • In place of subsequent authors list first author followed by the phrase "et al."

Example:

Reese, Nancy Berryman, and William Bandy. Creative Resources for the Early Childhood Classroom. Wadsworth & Cengage Learning, 2013.
Farley, O. William, et al. Introduction to Social Work. Allyn & Bacon, 2009.

 

No Author

Citations for books without an author begin with the book Title. The references are included alphabetically with other resources on your Works Cited page.

Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary.  Merriam-Webster, 1990.
Encyclopedia of Foods: A Guide to Healthy Nutrition. Rittenhouse, 2001.
Edited Books

Subsequent Edition

Note: Publisher names should be shortened. As in the examples below Oxford UP is short for Oxford University Press.

Fong, Rowena, et al., editors. Grand Challenges for Social Work and Society. Oxford UP, 2018.
White, Roger, et al., editors. C.S. Lewis and His Circle: Essays and Memoirs From the Oxford C.S. Lewis Society.  Oxford UP, 2015.

 

Work Prepared by an Editor

Austen, Jane. The Annotated Emma, edited by D. M. Shapard, Anchor, 2012.

Book Chapter/Article from a Book


 

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Chapter or Article in Quotation Marks: with Main Words Capitalized." Title of Work: Capital letter for Main Words of Full Title, edited by First Name Last Name, Publisher, Date, pp. (page range).

Note: When listing page number(s) of chapters or section of a edited book, use "p." for single page references and "pp." for entire chapter/section page range.

Example:
O'Neil, James M. and Jean Egan. "Men's and Women's Gender Role Journeys: A Metaphor for Healing, Transition, and Transformation." Gender Issues Across the Life Cycle, edited by B. R. Wainrib, Springer, 1992, pp. 107-23.

 

Encyclopedia/Reference Book


Note: When citing a single volume of a multi-volume work, include "vol." with the volume number after the book title or editor name.

Eisenberg, Theodore. "Bankruptcy Reform Act." Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, edited by Leonard W. Levy, et al., vol. 1, Macmillan, 1986, pp. 100.
Stern, Ephraim, et al., editors. The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, Israel Exploration Society & Carta, 1993. 4 vols.

 

Book Introduction, Preface, Foreward or Afterword


Note: Write the name of the author of selection your are citing at beginning of citation. Place name of selection in normal font followed by a period (".") before book title in  italics  followed with word, "by" and author of the work before publisher.

Casagram, Michael. Foreward. Cistercian Fathers and Forefathers: Essays and Conferences, by Thomas Merton. Edited by Patrick F. O'Connell, New City Press, 2018.
Trout, Steven. Foreward. American Women Report World War I: An Anthology of Their Journalism, edited by Chris Dubbs, U of North Texas P, 2021.

 

Poem or Short Story


Collins, Billy. "Velocity." Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems, Random House, 2013. pp. 5-6.
Irving, Washington. "The Adventure of the German Student." Major American Short Stories, 3rd edition, edited by A. Walton Litz, Oxford UP, 1994. pp. 38-41.

Bible


The Holy Bible. Douay-Rheims Version, Saint Benedict Press, 2009.

 

Government Publication


United States, Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration.Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) 63: Medications for Opioid Use Disorder. Government Printing Office, 2018. July 2021,   https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/SAMHSA_Digital_Download/PEP21-02-01-002.pdf. Accessed 30 Sept. 2021.

Dissertation/Thesis


 

Print
Joy, Dawn C. Exploring the Relationships Among Leader Personality, Leader Social Intelligence, and Follower Distress. 2017. Gannon University, PhD dissertation.
Online
Hall, Joshua D. and Joshua D. Lovenduski. Ketamine Usage Decreasing Opioid Usage in Bariatric Surgery. 2021. Gannon University, Masters Thesis. Gannon University Digital Collections.   https://cdm15946.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/GU_Theses/id/20/rec/14