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Citation Help: Books

MLA Citation Examples: Books

The 8th edition of the MLA Handbook recommends using the following core elements in every citation. If elements are missing from the source, they should be omitted from the citation.

Important Elements:

  • Author.
  • Title of source.
  • Title of container,
  • Other contributors,
  • Version,
  • Number,
  • Publisher,
  • Publication date
  • Location.

For online sources:

  • Include the URL (without http:// or https://). Angle brackets are not used around it.
  • Use DOIs (digital object identifiers) when possible.
  • Citing the date when an online work was consulted is optional.
  • Placeholders for unknown information like n.d. (“no date”) are no longer used.

Print book

Author Last, First. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.

Rollin, Bernard E. Science and Ethics. Cambridge UP, 2006.


Book with multiple authors

Author Last, First and Author First Last. Title of Book. Location: Publisher, Year. Medium.

Hepokoski, James and Warren Darcy. Elements of Sonata Theory: norms, types, and deformations
     in the late eighteenth-century sonata
. New York:Oxford University Press, 2006. Print.


Book by a group author

Group Name. Title of book, x edition (if applicable), Publisher, Year.

American Medical Association. American Medical Association Family Medical Guide, 4th edition, Wiley, 2004.


Book with editor or translator as author

Editor Last, First, Editor First Last and Editor First Last, eds. Title of book. Location: Publisher, Year. Medium.

Wierzbicki, James, Nathan Platte and Colin Rost, eds. The Routledge Film Music
     Sourcebook.
 New York: Routledge, 2012. Print.


Article or chapter within an edited book

Author Last, First. "Title of Chapter or Article." Title of Book, edited by Editor First Last, Publisher, Year, pp. xx-xx.

Winne, Philip H. “Self-regulated Learning Viewed from Models of Information Processing.” Self-regulated Learning and Academic Achievement, edited by Barry J. Zimmerman and Dale H. Schunk, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001, pp. 153-190.


Translation, with both translator and author

Author Last, First. Title of Book. Translated by Translator First Last, Publisher, Year.

Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. Translated by Anthony Briggs, Viking, 2006.


E-Reader book (such as Kindle)

Author Last, First. Title of Book. E-Reader edition, Publisher, Year.

Tetlock, Phillip E., and Dan Gardner. Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction. Kindle edition, Crown, 2015.


Note: For more information on citing e-books see the MLA Style Center.

Some examples courtesy of Penn State University Libraries

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Useful Resources for MLA Citation
https://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/citationhelp/mla/books
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