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MLA Style (8th/9th Ed.)

Core Elements Format

The MLA 8th ed. does not provide rules for citing specific types of resources.  They provide a universal set of guidelines for any type of material based based on the core elements.  Ask your instructor which information should be included in your citations.

Book, Online

FORMAT

​Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date. Name of Website or Database, URL or doi number.

EXAMPLE

Shaw, Bernard. Pygmalion. Brentano, 1916. Bartleby.com, www.bartleby.com/138/.

In Text:  (Shaw)  

Library eBook

FORMAT

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date. Name of Website or Database, URL or doi number. 

EXAMPLE

Boudarbat, Brahim and Marie Connolly. Brain Drain: why do some post-secondary graduates choose to work in the United States? CIRANO, 2013. Camosun College Library Catalogue, libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat00727a&AN=camo.541020&site=eds-live.

In Text: (Boudarbat189)

Library eBook (ebrary)

FORMAT

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date. Name of Website or Database, URL or doi number.

EXAMPLE

Perepa, Prithvi. Understanding Autism in the Early Years. McGraw-Hill Education, 2013. EBSCOhost, libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=524887&site=eds-live.

In Text: (Fraihat 76)

NOTE: date accessed is optional; check with your Instructor!

Book, One Author

FORMAT

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

EXAMPLE

Alexis, Andre. Fifteen Dogs: An Apologue. Coach House Books, 2015.

In-Text:  (Alexis 58)

Book, Editions of a Book

FORMAT

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Edition, Publisher, Publication Date.

EXAMPLE

Lutgens, Frederick K., and Edward J. Tarbuck. The Atmosphere: An Introduction to Meteorology. 13th ed., Pearson, 2016.

In Text:  (Lutgens and Tarbuck 219-220)

Book, Edited

FORMAT

Editor's Last Name, First Name, and Second Editor's First Name Last Name, editors. Title of Book. Edition, Publisher, Publication Date.

EXAMPLE

Bartol, Curt R., and Anne M. Bartol, editors. Current Perspectives in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Behavior. 4th ed., Sage, 2016.

In Text: (Bartol and Bartol 78)

Book, Corporate Author

FORMAT

Name of Corporate Author. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

EXAMPLE

Canadian Health Information Management Association. Fundamentals of Health Information Management. Canadian Healthcare Association, 2013.

In Text:  (Canadian Health Information Management Association 87)

"When a work's author and publisher are separate organizations, give both names, starting the entry with the one that is the author.  When an organization is both author and publisher, begin the entry with the work's title, skipping the author element, and list the organization only as publisher." (MLA Handbook, 8th ed, p. 104)

Book, No Author

FORMAT

Title of Book. Other Contributors, Edition if given and not the first, Publisher, Publication Date.

EXAMPLE

American Heritage Dictionary for Learners of English. Houghton, 2002.

In Text: (American Heritage 49)

"When a work is published without an author's name, skip the author element and begin the entry with the work's title." (MLA Handbook, 8th ed., p. 24).  If there are other contributor's such as translators, they would come after the title of the book. Place of publication is now optional, check with your instructor!

WORKS CITED LIST

"When an entry in the works-cited list begins with the title...your in text citation contains the title.  The title may appear in the text itself or abbreviated, before the page number in parenthesis." (MLA Handbook, 8th ed. 55-56).

Book, Book in Translation

Format - Book (with other contributors e.g. translators)

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Other contributors, edition statement, Publisher, Publication Date.

EXAMPLE

Paz, Octavio. In Light of India. Translated by Eliot Weinberger, Harcourt, 1997.

In Text:(Paz 37)

​This example shows a citation highlighting other contributors (the translator).  This format could also be used for illustrators, adapted screenplay author, performer, director, etc. (MLA Handbook, 8th ed., p. 37)

Book Chapters, Poems and other works in Anthologies with an Author

FORMAT

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Short Story, Essay, or Article." Title of Book, edited by Editor's First Name Editor's Last Name,  Edition if given and not the first, Publisher, Publication Date, pp. xx-xx.

EXAMPLE

Brant, Beth. “Coyote Learns a New Trick.” An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English, edited by Daniel David Moses and Terry Goldie, Oxford UP, 1992, pp. 148-150.

In Text:  (Brant 153) 

Book, Chapters and Works in Anthologies without an Author

FORMAT

"Title of Short Story, Essay, or Article." Title of Book, edited by Editor's First Name Editor's Last Name, Edition if given and not the first, Publisher, Publication Date, pp. xx-xx.

EXAMPLE

"Is Abortion Immoral?" Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Bioethical Issues, edited by Carol Levine, 14th ed., McGraw Hill, 2012, pp.136-137.

In Text: (Is Abortion Immoral? 138)

Graphic Novel

FORMAT

Author Last Name, First Name or Initial. Title of Book. Other Contributors (such as Adaptation or Translator if applicable). Series Number (if applicable), Publisher, Date of Publication.

EXAMPLE

Tamaki, Mariko, and Jillian Tamaki. This One Summer. Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press, 2015.

In-Text: (Tamaki)

Sacred Text Online

FORMAT

Title of sacred text,  First name last name of editor or translator, (if applicable) Version or edition, Publisher, Publication Date, Location.

EXAMPLE

Kojiki or Tales of Ancient Matters, Ō, Yasumaro, and Basil H. Chamberlain, translator. www.sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj000.htm

In-Text. [Sect. XXI.—The White Hare of Inaba.)

NOTE follow your first quote from a sacred text with the edition and location information (New Oxford Annotated Bible, Rom. 12.2) for all other in-text citation of this book that follow only the location information is needed. (Rom. 12.2)  The location information you include to help your reader depends on the text: for the Ramayana you might include volume, canto and verse; for the Quran you might include surah and verse; for Guru Granth Sahib you might use pauris, raags or hymns; for the Bible you might use chapter and verse or psalms or hymns; for the Kojiki or Nihongi you might use section or paragraph numbers.
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