MLA BOOK CITATION GENERATOR

THE SIMPLE GUIDE TO MLA BOOK CITATIONS 

• Tomas Elliott (Ph.D.)
• Published on 04/17/2021
• Updated on07/12/2024

This page details everything you need to know about how to construct an MLA citation for a book. It has been compiled by experts, and the information comes from the most up-to-date version of the MLA Handbook (9th Edition).

WHY USE AN MLA BOOK CITATION GENERATOR

One key reason to use an MLA book citation generator is to ensure accuracy. MLA formatting rules are intricate and specific, encompassing details like the author’s name, book title, publication date, publisher, and page numbers. Manually formatting citations can result in errors, particularly for those not well-versed in the latest MLA Handbook.

• A citation generator ensures every citation adheres to the latest MLA guidelines, maintaining uniformity throughout the document.
• Proper citation helps avoid accidental plagiarism, maintaining the integrity of the research.

TIME EFFICIENCY

Time management is crucial in the academic environment, and manually formatting citations can be very time-consuming.

• Citation generators produce works cited and in-text citations in seconds, allowing more focus on content and analysis.
• They manage multiple sources effortlessly, reducing the workload and helping keep track of references.

EASE OF USE

Modern citation generators are user-friendly and accessible, catering to users with varying technical skills.

• They guide users through the citation process with straightforward input fields for required information.
• Available online, often for free, these tools are easily accessible to students and researchers.

EDUCATIONAL VALUE

Using an MLA book citation generator can also be an educational tool, teaching users the intricacies of citation styles.

• Seeing correctly formatted sources helps users understand the structure and elements of an MLA citation.
• These tools emphasize the role of citations in giving credit to original authors and supporting academic integrity.

ENHANCED RESEARCH AND WRITING EXPERIENCE

Ultimately, using an MLA book citation generator enhances the overall research and writing experience.

• With citation formatting managed, researchers can concentrate on producing high-quality content.
• Well-formatted works cited and accurate in-text citations contribute to the professional presentation of academic work.

THE TWO PARTS OF A CITATION

There are two parts to any citation. The first part appears in the main body of your text, and the second part appears in a “Works Cited” list at the end of your document.

IN-TEXT CITATIONS

There are two ways of citing a source in the main body of your text. You can include the name of the author in your text, followed by a page number in round brackets if necessary. Alternatively, you can group both the author and the page number in brackets together. For example:

Samuel Beckett begins Murphy on a characteristically nihilistic note: “The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new” (3).

Alternatively:

The irony of the novel’s opening line is that it provides a new twist on the old cliché that there is “nothing new” under the sun (Beckett 3).

WORKS CITED LIST

At the end of your paper, you should include a list of Works Cited. This should contain all the information necessary for your reader to locate your sources. The basic layout is as follows:

Author Surname, Author First Name and/or Initial(s). Title. Version if not the first, Publisher, Publication Date.

So, the entry in the Works Cited list for the above novel by Beckett would be:

Beckett, Samuel. Murphy. Faber and Faber, 2009.

Note that, since this is the first edition of this publication of the novel, it does not include a version number or edition.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF SOURCES

The layout above is the basic example for a single-author work. However, there are many different kinds of sources that you may need to cite. The following is a list of all the major types of book that you might come across.

WORKS WITH TWO AUTHORS

Some books, particularly textbooks, have co-authors. To generate an MLA citation for a textbook with two authors, include both their surnames in your text and in your Works Cited list. In the Works Cited list, only the names of the first author are inverted. The second author’s names should appear in their natural order. For example:

Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer trace the “intersection between the history of natural philosophy and the history of political thought” (21).

Shapin, Steven, and Simon Schaffer. Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life. Princeton UP, 2011.

WORKS WITH THREE OR MORE AUTHORS

If a work has three or more authors, include the first author’s name followed by “and colleagues” in your prose. In the Works Cited list, use the phrase “et al.” (which means “and the rest”).

Henry Jenkins and colleagues propose the term “spreadable media” to describe media circulation (3).

Jenkins, Henry, et al. Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture. New York UP, 2013.

WORKS WITH NO AUTHOR

Works that don’t have an author can be cited using their title, like so:

The eponymous knight in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight carries a “dreadful axe” (line 202).  

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Translated by Keith Harrison, Oxford UP, 1998.

WORKS WITH EDITORS INSTEAD OF AUTHORS

If a book has editors rather than authors, simply use the editors’ names in your text and include a note in your Works Cited list that highlights the fact that it was compiled by editors. 

Scholars have argued that loss and mourning can be positive and creative, rather than simply negative (Eng and Kazanjian).

Eng, David L., and David Kazanjian, editors. Loss: The Politics of Mourning. U of California P, 2003.

CHAPTER IN AN EDITED COLLECTION

When citing a specific chapter in an edited collection, cite the chapter author’s name in your text. Your Works Cited list should then include the chapter title and the title of the collection, followed by page numbers for the chapter.

Poststructuralist theory demanded a “rethinking of time” in relation to language (Maclachlan 136). 

Maclachlan, Ian. “Temporalities of Writing: Time and Difference after Structuralism.” Time and Literature, edited by Thomas W. Allen, Cambridge UP, 2018, pp. 134-49.

OTHER LANGUAGES

When citing texts in other languages, follow the style preferences for capitalization that are used in the original language. You don’t typically need to include a translation of the title, unless you think your audience will be composed primarily of people who don’t know the language. If that is the case, include a translation in round brackets in the text and square brackets in your Works Cited list.

The world of Combray is first introduced in Du côté de chez Swann (The Way by Swann’s).

Proust, Marcel. Du côté de chez Swann [The Way by Swann’s]. Gallimard, 1988.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATION DATES

If an older work has been republished many times, you may wish to include the original publication date in your Works Cited list. This is not required but it may be useful to writers with specialist knowledge. In this case, the original publication date comes after the title, like so:

Baudry, Leo, and Marshall Cohen, editors. Film Theory and Criticism. 1974. 8th ed., Oxford UP, 2016.

MULTIPLE VOLUMES

Citing books in multiple volumes can be slightly complicated. If you cite material from one volume, then you only need to specify that particular volume in your Works Cited list. There’s no need to include the volume number in your text:

Marx notes that the value of a commodity depends on the “socially necessary labour time” required to produce it (129).

Marx, Karl. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Translated by Ben Fowkes, vol. 1, Penguin, 1976.

If you cite more than one volume in your paper, include the volume and the page number in your text, separated by a colon. Don’t include the words “volume,” or “page,” or any abbreviations. You should then include the total number of volumes in your Works Cited list, like so:

Beckett corresponded several times with the British director Peter Hall, sending him some “depressingly inadequate” notes for a production of Waiting for Godot in 1955 and some advice on reviving Krapp’s Last Tape in 1964 (2: 575; 3: 632).

The Letters of Samuel Beckett. Edited by George Craig et al., Cambridge UP, 2009-2016. 4 vols.

ELECTRONIC COPIES OF BOOKS, DIGITAL BOOKS, AND E-BOOKS 

Citing a digital book is very similar to citing a print book. In your bibliographic citation, you just have to note that the source is an “E-book” edition. Note, though, that e-books are less likely to have set page numbers, so you may wish to use another designator to refer your reader to a specific part of the text, as in the example below. For more on this, see our guide to in-text citations.

Modern technologies are currently revolutionizing global espionage (Lucas, ch. 1).

Lucas, Edward. Spycraft Rebooted: How Technology is Changing Espionage. E-book ed., Amazon Publishing, 2018.

Note that the MLA uses the term “e-book” to refer to publications that are specifically formatted for reading on an e-reader (such as a Kindle). These e-books will not have URLs or DOIs. If you are citing book content from an ordinary webpage with a URL, please see our guide on citing websites.

WORKS CITED

Baudry, Leo, and Marshall Cohen, editors. Film Theory and Criticism. 1974. 8th ed., Oxford UP, 2016.

Beckett, Samuel. Murphy. Faber and Faber, 2009.

–––. The Letters of Samuel Beckett, edited by George Craig et al. Cambridge UP, 2009-2016. 4 vols.

Eng, David L., and David Kazanjian, editors. Loss: The Politics of Mourning. U of California P, 2003.

Jenkins, Henry, et al. Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture. New York UP, 2013.

Lucas, Edward. Spycraft Rebooted: How Technology is Changing Espionage. E-book ed., Amazon Publishing, 2018. 

Maclachlan, Ian. “Temporalities of Writing: Time and Difference after Structuralism.” Time and Literature, edited by Thomas W. Allen, Cambridge UP, 2018, pp. 134-49.

Marx, Karl. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Translated by Ben Fowkes, vol. 1, Penguin, 1976.

MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

Proust, Marcel. Du côté de chez Swann [The Way by Swann’s]. Paris, Gallimard, 1988.

Shapin, Steven, and Simon Schaffer. Leviathan and the Air-Pump: Hobbes, Boyle, and the Experimental Life. Princeton UP, 2011. 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Translated by Keith Harrison, Oxford UP, 1998.