How to Cite a Book in MLA Style: A Complete Guide with Examples

Knowing how to cite a book in MLA style is one of the most useful skills for any student or researcher in the humanities. Books are a core source in literature, history, philosophy, and language studies. MLA style has clear rules for citing them. This guide covers the Works Cited entry and the in-text citation. It walks through single-author books, multiple authors, editions, translations, edited collections, chapters, and e-books, each with a worked example.


Quick Answer: How Do You Cite a Book in MLA?

Works Cited format.
Author Last, First. Title of the Book. Publisher, Year.

In-text format.
(Author Last Page). Example: (Woolf 42).

Core elements you need.
Author, title of the book (italicized), publisher, and year of publication. Add the edition, translator, or editor when the book has one.


The Basic MLA Book Citation Format

MLA 9 uses a container system. A book is a self-contained work, so the citation is simpler than it looks. The general structure for a single-author book in the Works Cited list is this.


Author Last, First. Title of the Book. Publisher, Year.


Here's a worked example.


Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Harcourt, 1927.


Breaking this example down:


  • Woolf, Virginia. The author's name, last name first, followed by a period.
  • To the Lighthouse. The book title in italics and title case, followed by a period.
  • Harcourt, the publisher's name, followed by a comma. MLA 9 drops business words like "Company," "Inc.," and "Press" in most cases. It keeps "Press" only for university presses, such as Oxford UP.
  • 1927. The year of publication, followed by a period.

Notice the punctuation. Each of the four elements ends with a period. The author's name and the title are the two elements you'll always have. For a deeper look at the full system, read our guide to the MLA Works Cited page.


MLA In-Text Citation for a Book

Every Works Cited entry pairs with an in-text citation in the body of your paper. For a book, the in-text citation gives the author's last name and the page number. There's no comma between them.


  • Parenthetical. Put both the name and page in parentheses at the end of the sentence. Example: The lighthouse works as a shifting symbol across the novel (Woolf 42).
  • Narrative. Name the author in your sentence and put only the page in parentheses. Example: Woolf uses the lighthouse as a shifting symbol (42).

For the full set of rules on parenthetical and narrative form, see our guide to MLA in-text citations.


How to Cite a Book with Two or More Authors

The author element changes when a book has more than one author. The rules depend on how many authors there are.


Two Authors

List both authors. The first author is last name first. The second author is first name first. Join them with "and."


Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic. Yale UP, 1979.


The matching in-text citation names both authors: (Gilbert and Gubar 27).


Three or More Authors

List the first author, last name first. Then add "et al." (which means "and others"). Don't list the remaining authors.


Booth, Wayne C., et al. The Craft of Research. 4th ed., U of Chicago P, 2016.


The matching in-text citation uses the same short form: (Booth et al. 15).


How to Cite a Specific Edition

Many books appear in more than one edition. When you use anything other than the first edition, name the edition after the title. Use the abbreviated form, such as "2nd ed." or "Rev. ed."


Strunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed., Longman, 2000.


The edition sits between the title and the publisher. It's an easy element to forget, and using the wrong edition can send a reader to the wrong page numbers.


How to Cite a Translated Book

For a translated book, add the translator after the title. Use the label "Translated by" followed by the translator's name in normal order.


Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, Vintage, 2008.


If your paper focuses on the translation itself rather than the original work, you can start the entry with the translator instead. In most cases, though, the author leads.


How to Cite an Edited Book or an Anthology

Some books are collections gathered by an editor rather than written by a single author. When you cite the whole collection, start with the editor's name and add the label "editor."


Greenblatt, Stephen, editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 10th ed., Norton, 2018.


For two or more editors, use "editors" instead of "editor" and list the names the same way you would list authors.


How to Cite a Chapter or Essay in an Edited Book

This is where the container system matters. When you cite one chapter or essay from a collection, the book becomes the container. The chapter is the source, and the book title is the larger work that holds it.


Chapter Author Last, First. "Title of the Chapter." Title of the Book, edited by Editor Name, Publisher, Year, pp. page range.


Here's a worked example.


Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. "Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading." Touching Feeling, edited by Michèle Aina Barale et al., Duke UP, 2003, pp. 123–151.


Notice the two key differences from a whole-book citation. The chapter title sits in quotation marks. The page range for the chapter appears at the end, with the "pp." prefix.


How to Cite an E-book or an Online Book

E-books and online books need one or two extra details. The core author, title, publisher, and year stay the same. What you add depends on where you read the book.


  • E-book edition. If the book is a standalone e-book, note it after the title with "E-book ed." Example: Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. E-book ed., Harcourt, 1927.
  • Book read on a platform. If you read the book through a service like Google Books or a library database, that platform is a second container. Add the platform name and the URL or DOI at the end.
  • Page numbers. Many e-books don't have stable page numbers. If yours doesn't, use another locator in your in-text citation, such as a chapter number. Example: (Woolf, ch. 3).

MLA Book Citation Examples at a Glance

Book Type Works Cited Format In-Text Example
One author Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Harcourt, 1927. (Woolf 42)
Two authors Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic. Yale UP, 1979. (Gilbert and Gubar 27)
Three or more authors Booth, Wayne C., et al. The Craft of Research. 4th ed., U of Chicago P, 2016. (Booth et al. 15)
Specific edition Strunk, William, Jr., and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed., Longman, 2000. (Strunk and White 12)
Translated book Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, Vintage, 2008. (Tolstoy 512)
Edited collection Greenblatt, Stephen, editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 10th ed., Norton, 2018. (Greenblatt 88)
Chapter in a book Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. "Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading." Touching Feeling, edited by Michèle Aina Barale et al., Duke UP, 2003, pp. 123–151. (Sedgwick 130)

Common MLA Book Citation Mistakes to Avoid

  • Putting the book title in quotation marks. A whole book title is italicized. Quotation marks are only for a chapter or essay inside a larger book.
  • Adding a comma before the page in the in-text citation. MLA uses (Woolf 42), not (Woolf, 42). The comma is an APA habit that slips in.
  • Keeping business words in the publisher name. MLA 9 drops "Inc.," "Company," and "LLC." It shortens "University Press" to "UP."
  • Forgetting the edition. If you used the 3rd edition, say so. The wrong edition points readers to the wrong pages.
  • Listing every author for a three-author book. MLA uses the first author plus "et al." once a book has three or more authors.
  • Using "p." instead of "pp." for a page range. A chapter spanning several pages uses "pp." A single page uses "p."

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you cite a book in MLA style?

Use this Works Cited structure: Author Last, First. Title of the Book. Publisher, Year. The book title is italicized and uses title case. Each element ends with a period. For example: Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse. Harcourt, 1927. The matching in-text citation gives the author last name and page number with no comma between them, like (Woolf 42).


How do you cite a book with two authors in MLA?

List both authors and join them with the word "and." The first author is written last name first. The second author is written first name first. For example: Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic. Yale UP, 1979. The matching in-text citation names both authors, like (Gilbert and Gubar 27).


How do you cite a book with three or more authors in MLA?

List only the first author, written last name first, then add "et al." (which means "and others"). Don't list the remaining authors. For example: Booth, Wayne C., et al. The Craft of Research. 4th ed., U of Chicago P, 2016. The matching in-text citation uses the same short form, like (Booth et al. 15).


How do you cite a chapter in an edited book in MLA?

Treat the book as the container. Start with the chapter author, then put the chapter title in quotation marks. Next give the book title in italics, the editor, the publisher, and the year. End with the page range and the "pp." prefix. For example: Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. "Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading." Touching Feeling, edited by Michèle Aina Barale et al., Duke UP, 2003, pp. 123–151.


How do you cite an e-book in MLA?

Keep the author, title, publisher, and year the same as a print book. For a standalone e-book, add "E-book ed." after the title. If you read the book on a platform like Google Books, add the platform name and the URL or DOI as a second container at the end. When the e-book has no stable page numbers, use another locator in the in-text citation, such as a chapter number.


Do you italicize book titles in MLA?

Yes. The title of a whole book is italicized in both the Works Cited entry and in the body of the paper. Quotation marks are only for the title of a chapter, essay, or other short work inside a larger book. Putting a whole book title in quotation marks is a common error.


How do you cite a translated book in MLA?

Start with the original author, then add the translator after the title using the label "Translated by," followed by the translator's name in normal order. For example: Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, Vintage, 2008. If your paper focuses on the translation itself, the entry can begin with the translator instead.


Related MLA and Citation Guides

This article is part of our MLA citation cluster. For more depth, read the complete guide to MLA style, our breakdown of MLA in-text citations, and our guide to the MLA Works Cited page. To cite a different source type, see how to cite a journal article in APA and MLA. Writing in the social sciences instead? See how to cite a book in APA style. For a broader overview of all the major styles, read our guide to citation styles.


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