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MLA9 Guide: Books

A guide to citation using the MLA8 standards

Book / eBook Format

Print Book

  1. Author(s). Note: Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author's name.
  2. Title of the Book. Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use headline-style capitalization.
  3. Edition Note: If there are multiple editions, use the format 1st/2nd/3rd ed.,
  4. Publisher,
  5. Publication date.

 

Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. 1st ed., J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1960.

eBook

  1. Author(s). Note: Use the format Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial. If there are multiple authors, use and before the last author's name.
  2. Title of the Book, Note: Use italics for the title of a longer work like a book and use headline-style capitalization.
  3. Editors Note: If there is one editor, use the format edited by Last Name, First Name. If there are multiple editors, use and before the last author's name.
  4. Publisher,
  5. Publication date.
  6. Database, Note: Use italics for names of databases.
  7. URL or permalink.

 

Hughes, Langston. Letters from Langston: From the Harlem Renaissance to the Red Scare and Beyond, edited by Evelyn Louise Crawford and Mary Louise Patterson. University of California Press, 2016. EBSCOhost Academic eBook Collectionhttp://libproxy.csudh.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1105577&site=ehost-live&scope=site&ebv=EB&.

Examples to use as Models

BOOKS AND EBOOKS

FORM: Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.

One or Two Authors: Example to Follow:

Picoult, Jodi. The Storyteller: A Novel. UP of Kentucky, 2013.

Gikandi, Simon, and Naomi Jacobs. Slavery and the Culture of Taste. U of California P, 2011. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.utica.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=380270&site=ehost-live.

3 or More Authors (or Editors): Example

Posamentier, Alfred S., et al. Exemplary Practices for Secondary Math Teachers. Assn. for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2007.

Entry in a Reference Book

Kolb, Charles C. "Turkmen." Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. Vol. 3, Routledge, 2005, pp. 1223-24.

NOTE: Periods ONLY after title, author, and date; use commas otherwise; end with a period. 

Press (P), University (U) are abbreviated.  Omit publication city, include year published.

Colorful Example