To cite a book in MLA format, you need two things: a Works Cited entry at the end of your paper and an in-text citation wherever you reference the book. The basic Works Cited format for a single-author print book follows this template:
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.
For example: Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall. Picador, 2010.
That covers the simplest case. Below you’ll find how to handle multiple authors, editors, translators, e-books, and the in-text citations that go alongside every Works Cited entry.
Works Cited Entry for One Author
Start with the author’s last name, followed by a comma and their first name. Then add a period. Next comes the book title in italics, followed by a period. After that, list the publisher name, a comma, and the publication year. End with a period. Every element is separated by periods except the publisher and year, which are separated by a comma.
Here’s the structure laid out piece by piece:
- Author. Last Name, First Name.
- Title. Italicized Book Title.
- Publisher, Year.
Example: Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Knopf, 1987.
Use the publisher name as it appears on the title page. You can drop business abbreviations like “Inc.” or “Co.” but keep the core name intact.
Books With Multiple Authors
When a book has two authors, list the first author in last-name-first order and the second author in regular (first name, last name) order. Join them with “and.”
Example: Strunk, William, and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. Pearson, 2019.
For books with three or more authors, list only the first author followed by “et al.” (Latin for “and others”).
Example: Franks, David, et al. Introduction to Climate Science. Oxford UP, 2021.
Edited and Translated Books
If you are citing a book for its author’s content but the edition you used has an editor or translator, place the editor or translator after the title using “edited by” or “translated by.” MLA style spells out these terms rather than abbreviating them.
Example: Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, Vintage Classics, 1993.
If the editor’s or translator’s contribution is actually the focus of your paper (for instance, you’re discussing their introduction or commentary), flip the positions. Put the editor or translator in the author slot and move the original author after the title with “by” before their name.
Example: Pevear, Richard, and Larissa Volokhonsky, translators. Crime and Punishment. By Fyodor Dostoevsky, Vintage Classics, 1993.
When one person served as both editor and translator, write “editor and translator” after their name in the appropriate slot.
Citing an E-Book
E-books follow the same basic template as print books, with one addition: use the Version element to note that the work is an e-book. Place “e-book ed.” after the title (or after any editor/translator information).
Example: Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall. E-book ed., Picador, 2010.
If the e-book was published in a specific file format that affects how the content displays (such as EPUB), you can add the format as a supplemental element at the very end of the entry. This is optional and only matters if you know the formatting varies between versions.
One important rule for e-books: avoid using device-specific numbering systems (like Kindle “location” numbers) in your in-text citations. If the e-book doesn’t have stable page numbers, omit the page number from your in-text citation or use another identifier like a chapter number.
In-Text Citations
MLA uses the author-page method for in-text citations. Every time you quote or paraphrase from a book, include the author’s last name and the page number. You have two options for how to do this.
Option one: name the author in your sentence and put just the page number in parentheses at the end.
Wordsworth stated that Romantic poetry was marked by a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (263).
Option two: put both the author’s last name and the page number in the parentheses. No comma between them.
Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 263).
The parenthetical citation goes before the period that ends the sentence. The page number always goes inside the parentheses, never in the body of your sentence.
Special In-Text Situations
If you cite two or more books by the same author, add a shortened version of the title so your reader knows which book you mean. Italicize the shortened title since it’s a book.
Example: (Mantel, Wolf Hall 47)
If the book has no known author, use a shortened version of the title in place of the author’s name. Italicize it for a book-length work.
Example: (Encyclopedia of Marine Life 203)
For books published by an organization rather than a person (a corporate author), use the organization’s name in place of the author name, followed by the page number.
Example: (American Medical Association 112)
Putting It All Together
Here’s a quick-reference summary of the most common book citation formats for your Works Cited page:
- One author: Last Name, First Name. Title. Publisher, Year.
- Two authors: Last Name, First Name, and First Name Last Name. Title. Publisher, Year.
- Three or more authors: Last Name, First Name, et al. Title. Publisher, Year.
- Translated book: Author Last, First. Title. Translated by First Last, Publisher, Year.
- E-book: Last Name, First Name. Title. E-book ed., Publisher, Year.
Every Works Cited entry needs a matching in-text citation in the body of your paper, and every in-text citation needs a matching Works Cited entry. If the two don’t match, your reader can’t find the source, and your citation isn’t complete.