MLA Citation Guide (MLA 9th Edition): Books, eBooks & Pamphlets

Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Access Date

In the 9th edition of the MLA Manual, accessed dates are no longer used for most entries.  The exception is if you have a web source without a publication date or which has been altered or removed.  This date will be added to the end of the entry. E.g. Accessed 23 July 2022.

Authors/Editors

An author can be a person but can also be an organization, or company. These are called group or corporate authors.

If you are citing a chapter from a book that has an editor, the author of the chapter is listed first, and is the name listed in the in-text citation.

Dates

The format of all dates is: Date Month (shortened) Year. E.g. 5 Sept. 2012.

Whether to give the year alone or include a month and day depends on your source: write the full date as you find it there.

If no date is listed, omit it unless you can find that information available in a reliable source. In that case the date is cited in square brackets. E.g. [2008]

Page Numbers

Page number on your Works Cited page (but not for in-text citations) are now proceeded by p. for a single page number and pp. for a range of page numbers. E.g. p. 156 or pp. 79-92.

Publishers

You have the option to use the shortened name of the publisher by using UP instead of University Press (e.g. Oxford UP, not Oxford University Press).

You also have the option to remove articles (A, An, The), business abbreviations (e.g. Co., Inc.) and descriptive words (e.g. Books, House, Press, Publishers).

Titles

Capitalize the first letter of every important word in the title. You do not need to capitalize words such as: in, of, or an.

If there is a colon (:) in the title, include what comes after the colon (also known as the subtitle).

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Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name, Year of publication. 

Works Cited List Example	Kirsh, Steven J. Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence: A Critical Look at the Research. 2nd ed., Sage, 2006.
In-Text Citation Example	(Author's Last Name Page Number)  Example: (Kirsh 70)

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name, Year of publication. Name of Library Database, Permalink, stable URL or URL. 

Works Cited List Example	Twain, Mark A. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Icon Group International, 2005. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), www.northeaststate.edu:3443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=149216&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
In-Text Citation Example	(Author's Last Name Page Number)  Example: (Twain 132)

Last Name, First Name of First Author, and First Name Last Name of Second Author. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name, Year of publication. 

  Note: Only the first author listed appears in "Last Name, First Name" format. Authors' names are separated by a comma. Before the last author to be listed, add the word "and."

Works Cited List Example	Wykes, Maggie, and Barrie Gunter. The Media and Body Image: If Looks Could Kill. Sage, 2005.
In-Text Citation Example	(Author's Last Name and Author's Last Name Page Number)  Example: (Wykes and Gunter 53)

Last Name, First Name of First Author, et al. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name, Year of publication. 

  Note: If you have three or more authors list only the first author's name followed by et al. instead of listing all authors names. For example Smith, John, et al. The first author is the first name listed on the work you are citing, not the first name alphabetically.

Works Cited List Example	Nickels, William, et al. Understanding Canadian Business. 9th ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2016.
In-Text Citation Example	(First Author's Last Name et al. Page Number) Example: (Nickels et al. 5)

Last Name of First Author, First Name, and First Name Last Name of Second Author. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name, Year of publication. Name of Library Database, Permalink, stable URL or URL. 

  Note: Only the first author listed appears in "Last Name, First Name" format. Authors' names are separated by a comma. Before the last author to be listed, add the word "and."

Works Cited List Example	Hamblen, Charles P., and Walter Louis Powell. Connecticut Yankees at Gettysburg. Kent State UP, 1993. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), www.northeaststate.edu:3443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=28003&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
In-Text Citation Example	(Author's Last Name and Author's Last Name Page Number)  Example: (Hamblen and Powell 22)

Last Name of First Author, First Name, and First Name Last Name of Second Author. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name, Year of publication. Name of Library Database. Permalink, stable URL or URL. 

  Note: If you have three or more authors you may choose to list only the first author's name followed by et al. instead of listing all authors names. For example Smith, John, et al. The first author is the first name listed on the work you are citing, not the first name alphabetically.

Works Cited List Example	Neuville, Daniel R., et al. From Glass to Crystal: Nucleation, Growth, and Phase Separation: From Research to Applications. EDP Sciences, 2017. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). www.northeaststate.edu:3443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1605223&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
In-Text Citation Example	(First Author's Last Name et al. Page Number) Example: (Ziarek et al. 75)

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name, Year of publication, Website Name, URL. 

Works Cited List Example	Henty, George Alfred. The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt. Blackie and Son, 1889. HathiTrust Digital Library, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073478847.
In-Text Citation Example	(Author's Last Name Page Number)  Example: (Henty 132)

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Short Story, Essay, Chapter, or Article." Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, edited by Editor's First Name and Last Name, Edition if given and is not first, Publisher Name, Year of publication, Page numbers of the essay, article, or short story. 

Works Cited List Example	Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "My Lost Youth." The Norton Anthology of Literature, edited by Nina Baym, 5th ed., vol. 1, W. W. Norton, 1998, pp. 1457-59.    Note: The first author's name listed is the author of the chapter/essay/short story.   Note: If there is no editor given you may leave out that part of the citation.   Note: If the selection is the title of a book, it will appear in italics.
In-Text Citation Example	(Author's Last Name Page Number)   Example: (Longfellow 1458 )

Name of Corporate Author. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name, Year of Publication.

 Note: When a work is published by an organization that is also its author, begin the entry with the title, skipping the author element, and list the organization only as publisher.

Works Cited List Example	Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation. Employability Skills: Creating My Future. Nelson, 1996.
In-Text Citation Example	(Name of Corporate Author Page Number)   Example: (Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation 14)

Name of Corporate Author. Title of Pamphlet: Subtitle if Any. Publisher Name, Year of Publication. Pamphlet.

 Note: When a work is published by an organization that is also its author, begin the entry with the title, skipping the author element, and list the organization only as publisher.

 

Works Cited List Example	Bait and Switch Selling. Competition Bureau of Canada, 2014. Pamphlet.
In-Text Citation Example	(Title)  Example: (Bait and Switch Selling)

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Name of Journal, vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Year, pp. Page Number. Title of Course Package, compiled by Instructor's First Name Last Name, Name of School, pp. page numbers in course package. Course Package.

Works Cited List Example	Marlow, Susan. "Gender and Entrepreneurship." International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, vol.19, no.1, 2013, pp. 114-124. BUS101: Cultural Entrepreneurship: A Reader, compiled by Estelle Williams, Seneca College, 2015, pp. 32-42. Course Package.
In-Text Citation Example	(Author's Last Name Page Number)  Example: (Marlow 34)

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Short Story." Title of Course Package, compiled by Instructor's First Name Last Name, Name of School, Year of Publication, pp. page numbers in course package. Course Package.

Works Cited List Example	Enberg, Susan. "Wednesday Rain." 2014. EAC150: College English, compiled by Walter Dey, Seneca College, 2015, pp. 5-32. Course Package.
In-Text Citation Example	(Author's Last Name Page Number)  Example: (Enberg 7)