MLA Style

Follow these examples of MLA Style by type of source:

• Book - One Author
• Editor and NO Author
• Author and Editor
• Chapter or Section of a Book - With an Author
• Dictionary Entry
• Encyclopedia Entry
• Essay/Poem/Short Story in an Anthology (with Editor)
• Play of Novel in an Anthology (with Editor)
• Electronic Book (eBook)
• Translation

Parts of a book citation:

Thomas, Ronald R. Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science. Cambridge UP, 1999. 

Author(s). Title of Book. Publisher, Date. 

*Include city of publication only for clarification.
*Format (i.e "Print" or "Web") no longer required.

Works cited page:

Thomas, Ronald R. Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science. Cambridge UP, 1999.

In-text:

Thomas’s findings indicate . . . (156).     OR    . . . (Thomas 156).

Works cited page:

Price, Richard T., ed. The Spirit of the Alberta Indian Treaties. 3rd ed., University of Alberta P, 1999.

In-text:

• Since the information was edited, do not use the editor's name as if he or she wrote it.

 . . (Price 186).

Works cited page:

Lewis, Barbara A. What Do You Stand For? A Kid’s Guide to Building Character, edited by Pamela Espeland, Free Spirit, 1998.

In-text:

Lewis supports the argument by . . . (145).   OR    . . . (Lewis 145).

Works cited page:

Pache, Walter. "Urban Writing." Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada, edited by William H. New, University of Toronto P, 2002, pp. 1148-1156.

In-text:

Pache determines that . . . (1154).    OR    . . . (Pache 1154).

• If you use a specific definition for a word, document the specific designation after the citation’s title – use Def. (not italicized) and its appropriate designation (e.g., number, letter). 

Works cited page:

"Revival." Def. 4a. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, edited by R. E. Allen, 8th ed., Oxford UP, 1990.

In-text:

In a religious context, revival can be defined as . . . (“Revival,” def. 4a).

Works cited page:

Kershaw, G. Peter and Roderick C. Macleod. “Alberta.” The World Book Encyclopedia, 2007 ed., Vol. 1, World Book, pp. 323-325. 

In-text:

Kershaw and Macleod suggest that . . . (324).     OR    . . . (Kershaw and Macleod 324).

Works cited page:

Frost, Robert. "Wind and Window Flower." Anthology of American Poetry, edited by George Gesner, Avenal, 1983, pp. 577-578.

In-text:

• Use line numbers instead of page numbers for poetry.

In Frost's poem . . . (5).    OR    . . . (Frost 5).

• Titles of plays and novels in an anthology are typically italicized.

Works cited page:

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Norton Introduction to Literature, edited by Carl E. Bain, et al., 5th ed., Norton, 1991, pp. 1197-1295.

In-text:

• For plays, cite by division (act, scene, line) instead of page numbers.
• Separate each number with a period. Also use the title instead of the author.

In Hamlet . . . (1.3.25).     OR    . . . (Hamlet 1.3.25).

• When citing a digital book/eBook from a database, cite it as you would the print version, but include the title of database/digital project (italicized) and location (URL or doi), if stable.
• Date of access is no longer required.

Works cited page:

Leacock, Stephen B. Adventures of the Far North: A Chronicle of the Arctic Seas. U of Toronto P, 1914, Google Books.

In-text:

Leacock describes the event . . . (17).    OR    . . . (Leacock 17).

Works cited page:

Vanier, Jean. Made for Happiness: Discovering Life with Aristotle. Translated by Kathryn Spink, House of Anansi, 2001.

In-text:

Vanier’s interpretation reveals . . . (45).    OR    . . . (Vanier 45).

(See p. 21 of the MLA Handbook)