Q. How do I cite a book in MLA citation format?

General Citation Format for Books

In general, this is the format for citing books and pamphlets: name of the author, editor, compiler, or translator; title of the work (italicized); edition; city of publication; name of publisher; year of publication and medium of publication.

Author lastname, Author firstname. Title. City of Publication: Name of Publisher, Year of

           Publication. Medium of Publication.

 

Book by a Single Author

Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind. New York: Macmillan, 1961. Print. 

 

Book by Two Authors

Jakobson, Roman, and Linda R. Waugh. The Sound Shape of Language. Bloomington:
           Indiana UP, 1979. Print.

 

 Book by Three or More Authors

 Bailyn, Bernard, et al. The Great Republic. Lexington: Heath, 1977. Print.

 

Book by a Corporate Author

American Medical Association. The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of
          Medicine.  New York: Random, 1989. Print.

 

Book by an Editor

McRae, Murdo William, ed. The Literature of Science: Perspectives on Popular Science
          Writing. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1993. Print.

 

 Book with an Author and Editor or Translator

 Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. 1847. Ed. David Daiches. London: Penguin, 1985. Print.

 Camus, Albert. The Rebel. Trans. Anthony Bower. London: Penguin, 1962. Print.

 

 Book with no Author

New York Public Library Student's Desk Reference. New York: Prentice. 1993. Print.

 

 Book in a Series

 Neruda, Pablo. Canto General. Trans. Jack Schmitt. Berkeley: U of California P, 1991.
           Print.  Latin Amer. Lit. and Culture 7. Print.

 Stewart, Joan Hinde. Colette. Twayne's World Authors Series. 679. Boston: Twayne,
           1993. Print.

 

Anthology

Shell, Marc, ed. American Babel: Literatures of the United States from Abnaki to Zuni. Cambridge:

           Harvard UP, 2002. Print.

Spafford, Peter, comp. and ed. Interference: The Story of Czechoslovakia in the Words of its Writers.

           Cheltenham: New Clarion, 1992. Print.

 

For more about citing sources in MLA format, see the MLA Citation Guide.