MLA Style Guide: Books

.In-Text-Citation:

• (First author Last name and last author Last name Page no)
• (Page no)

Example:

• Others highlight a different factor (McLean and Elkind 122)....
• McLean and Elkind (122) highlight....

Reference:

First author Last name, First name, and next author First name Last name. Title. Publisher, Year of Publication. 

Example:

McLean, Bethany, and Peter Elkind. The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. Portfolio, 2004

In-Text-Citation:

• (First Author Last name et al. Page no)
• (Page no)

Example:

• It is suggested that Boston would have been a very different city had there been no fire (Rawson ch.2 ). 
• Michael Rawson suggests that Boston was a city that could have had a very different form, if the fire had not occurred (ch.2).

Reference:

First Author Last name, First name, et al. Title. Publisher, Year of Publication.

Example:

McGeady, Thomas, et al. Veterinary Embryology. Blackwell, 2006.

In-Text-Citation:

• (Organisation name Page no)
• (Page no)

Example:

       •    The report maps out the issue of exclusion in adult education (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning 1) …. 
       •    Figures from the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning show deep divides in access to adult education (1) …. 

Reference: 

Organisation name. Title. Publisher, Year of Publication.

Example: 

UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. Adult Education and the Challenge of Exclusion. UNESCO, 2020.

If no author of the work exists, begin with the next available piece of the reference, such as Title.

In-Text-Citation:

• (Title of work Page no)
• (Page no)

Example:

• Seals are mixed up in many ancient Irish mythos (Myths and Legends of Irish Seals 87) .…
• In the title Myths and Legends of Irish Seals we see many stories around these creatures (87) .…

Reference: 

Title. Publisher, Year of Publication.

Example: 

Myths and Legends of Irish Seals. Oaktree Press, 2021. 

In-Text-Citation:

• (Editor Last name Page no)
• (Page no)

Example:

• Another approach (Booth 55) shows.…
• Booth (55) argues.…

Reference:

Last name, First name of editor, editor. Title. Publisher, Year of Publication. 

Example:

Booth, David, editor. Rethinking Social Development: Theory, Research and Practice. Longman, 1994. 

Note: MLA 9th edition advises that when the organization author and publisher are the same, the author can be skipped from the reference and just start with the Title. The in-text citations would then be the Title and page number, rather than author. If the author is a division of an organisation, list division as author and organization as publisher.

In-Text-Citation:

• (First editor Last name and second editor Last name Page no)
• (Page no)

Example:

• Another approach (Kelly and Walsh 55) shows.…
• Kelly and Walsh (55) argue.…

Reference:

Last name, First name of first editor, and First name Last name of second editor, editors. Title. Publisher, Year of Publication. 

Example:

Kelly, Marie, and Gemma Walsh, editors. Places, Faces, and Memory in Nineteenth Century Irish Literature. Oak Tree Press, 2016.  

In-Text-Citation:

• (Editor Last name et al. Page no)
• (Page no)

Example:

• Another approach (Mildrum et al. 55) shows.…
• Mildrum et al. (55) argue.…

Reference:

Last name, First name of first editor, et al. editors. Title. Publisher, Year of Publication. 

Example:

Mildrum, Sheila, et al. editors. Understanding Close Reading Methods. Oxford UP, 2016. 

In-Text-Citation:

• (Author(s) Last name Page no)
• (Page no)

Example:

• Another approach (Jonson 239)....
• Jonson (239) writes....

Reference:

Author’s Last name, First name. "Title of Chapter.” Title of Collection, edited by Editor(s) First name, Last name, Edition, Publisher, Year of Publication, page range. 

Example:

Jonson, Ben. "To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author Mr. William Shakespeare." The Norton Anthology of Poetry, edited by Alexander Allison et al., 3rd ed., New York Norton, 1983, pp. 239-40.

As a general rule an eBook should be cited as you would a print source but additional information such as the platform or "container" should be included along with the location. The format will differ depending on the file used. EBooks include electronic versions of books available through library databases, eBook readers and online sources such as Google Books. The bibliographic information should be used for the relevant entry (e.g. a chapter from a book). 

In-Text-Citation:

• (Author Last name Page no. or location in ebook )
• (ch.)

Example: 

• It is suggested that Boston would have been a very different city had there been no fire (Rawson).
• Michael Rawson suggests that Boston was a city that could have had a very different form, if the fire had not occurred (ch.2).

Reference: 

Author’s Last name, First name. Title of eBook. Publisher, Year of Publication. Name of container/access platform, location/link.  

Example:

Rawson, Michael. Eden on the Charles: the Making of Boston. Massachusetts, Harvard UP, 2010. ACLS Humanities E-book, hdl.handle/net/2027/heb.30498.0001.001. 

Note on URLs: To get a shorter URL, such as the one above, go to the eBook itself and see if a shortened URL is provided. This is sometimes called a citable link or something similar. In the MLA Style, the https/http is not included in the reference.

Note: “Ch.” is short for Chapter and “para.” is short for paragraph. These can be used when no page numbers are available.

If page numbers are not available, avoid markers such as Kindle/eReader page numbers/ file location as these may not be consistent on all devices. Instead, use stable numbered sections such as chapters. If the eBook does not have sections   of any kind, then the work must be cited as a whole within the text.

In-Text-Citation:

• (Author Last name, ch.)
• (ch.)

Example:

• The Roosevelts enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle but they were not ostentatious (Rowley, ch. 6).
• Hazel Rowley notes that although the Roosevelts enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle, they were not ostentatious (ch.6).  

Reference: 

Author Last name, First name. Title . eBook Format, Publisher, Year of publication.

Example: 

Rowley, Hazel. Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage. Kindle ed., Farrar, 2010.