How to Cite Book Sources in MLA

The MLA, or Modern Language Association, style is one of the most widely adopted and commonly used styles of academic writing. The difference with this style of writing which sets it apart from others lies in its simplicity and conciseness. If you are writing an academic paper or other works in MLA style and want to include a book source in your Works Cited list, you can with the proper MLA formatting techniques.

Instructions

  1. In-Text Citations

    • 1

      Write the last name of the author, followed by a space and the page number the quote or paraphrase was taken from for books with one author. Finished entry should appear as follows: (Doe 1). If you list the author's name somewhere in the sentence, you only need to include the page number in the parenthetical citation.

    • 2

      Write the authors' last names separated by commas, followed by a space and the page number for books with two or three authors. The finished entry should appear as follows: (Doe, Smith 1).

    • 3

      Write the first author's last name, followed by et al., followed by a space and the page number for books with four or more authors. The finished entry should appear as follows: (Doe, John et al. 1).

    • 4

      Write the title of the book in place of the author's name for books with no known author. The finished entry should appear as follows: ("My Book" 1).

    Works Cited-Books with One Author

    • 5

      Write the name of the author with the surname first, followed by a comma, space and the author's first name, followed by a period.

    • 6

      Write the book title, using italics, followed by a period.

    • 7

      Write the publication information for the book with the place of publication first, followed by a colon, space, the publisher's name, space and the year of publication, followed by a period.

    • 8

      Write the medium of publication; for a book you write "Print" as the medium, followed by a period. The finished entry should appear as follows: Doe, John. My Book (italic). New York: Harper, 2011. Print.

    Works Cited-Books with More Than One Author

    • 9

      Write the name of the first given author with the surname first, followed by a comma, space and the author's first name.

    • 10

      Add a comma after the first name of the first author, space and write "and" to separate the first author name from the second.

    • 11

      Write the name of the second given author in first-name, last-name format, followed by a period if there are only two authors, or with a comma and the word "and" followed by subsequent author names in the first-name, last-name format. If there are three or more authors, you can choose to list the first given author's name only, followed by "et al." (Latin for "and others"), rather than writing out each author's name separately.

    • 12

      Write the book title using italic font, followed by a period.

    • 13

      Write the publication information for the book with the place of publication first, followed by a colon, space, and the publisher's name, space, and the year of publication, followed by a period.

    • 14

      Write the medium of publication; for a book you write "Print" as the medium, followed by a period. The finished entry should appear as follows: Doe, John and Jane Doe. Our Book (italic). New York: Harper, 2011. Print.

      Doe, John et al. Our Book (italic). New York: Harper, 2011. Print.

    Works Cited-Books with No Author

    • 15

      Write the title of the book using italic font, followed by a period.

    • 16

      Write the publication information for the book with the place of publication first, followed by a colon, space, and the publisher's name, space, and the year of publication, followed by a period.

    • 17

      Write the medium of publication; for a book you write "Print" as the medium, followed by a period. Finished entry should appear as follows: My Book (italic). New York: Harper, 2011. Print.

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