How to Cite a Book in an Essay

Citing a Book in MLA Style

• 1

  Begin your citation with the name of the author. In MLA style, the author's last name appears first, followed by the first name. Follow the author's name with a period. for example:

  King, Stephen.

• 2

  List the title of the book in italics, followed by a period.

• 3

  List the name of the translator or editor. For example:

  Trans. Stan Smith.

  Ed. Stan Smith.

  If the book is not translated or edited, skip this step.

• 4

  List the city of publication, followed by a colon.

• 5

  List the name of the publisher, followed by a comma.

• 6

  List the year of publication, followed by a period.

• 7

  List the medium of publication, followed by a period. For a book, this should appear as follows:

  Print.

  The full citation should be arranged as follows:

  King, Stephen. Bag of Bones. Ed. Stan Smith. New York: Scribner, 1998. Print.

• 8

  Cite your book parenthetically within the text if you quote or paraphrase from it directly. In MLA style, you must include the name of the author and the page number when you cite within the text. For example:

  The boat people are described as "eating lobster rolls and drinking big mixed drinks" (King 109).

Citing a Book in APA Style

• 9

  Begin your citation with the name of the author. In APA style, the author's last name appears first, followed by the first initial. Follow the author's name with a period. for example:

  King, S.

• 10

  List the year of publication in parentheses and followed by a period. For example:

  (1998).

• 11

  List the title in italics, followed by a period. Capitalize only the first letter of the title. If any proper nouns appear in the title you should capitalize them also. For example:

  Bag of bones.

  If a book is edited, list the name of the editor after the title. The proper format is as follows:

  Bag of bones S. Smith, (Ed.).

  If a book is translated, list the name of the translator in parentheses after the title. The proper format is as follows:

  Bag of bones. (S. Smith, Trans.).

• 12

  List the city and state of publication, followed by a colon. For example:

  New York, NY:

• 13

  List the name of the publisher, followed by a period. For example:

  Scribner.

  The full citation should be arranged as follows:

  King, S. (1998). Bag of Bones S. Smith, (Ed.). New York, NY: Scribner.

• 14

  Cite your book parenthetically within the text if you quote or paraphrase from it directly. In APA style, you must include the name of the author, year of publication and the page number when you cite within the text. For example:

  The boat people are described as "eating lobster rolls and drinking big mixed drinks" (King, 1998, p. 109).