MLA - Modern Language Association

Select an example to view from the following menu:

1. Book with One Author 2. Book with Two or Three Authors 3. Book with Four or More Authors 4. Edited Book 5. Book Editions 6. Republished Book 7. Multivolume Book 8. Reference Book 9. An Isolated Source Taken from an Anthology or Collection 10. Cross-Referenced Sources from an Anthology or Collection

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1. Book with One Author

Format:
Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. Title. Place of Publication: Name of Publisher [with words like "university" and "press" reduced to initials], Year of Publication.

Example:

Creel, Margaret Washington. A Peculiar People: Slave Religion and Community-Culture Among the Gullahs. New York and London: New York U P, 1988.

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2. Book with Two or Three Authors

Format:
Last Name of First Author Listed, First Name of First Author Listed, First Name of Second Author Listed (Space) Second Name of Second Author Listed, and First Name of Third Author Listed (Space) Second Name of Third Author Listed. Title. Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication.

Example:

Gross, Seymour L. and John Edward Hardy. Images of the Negro in American Literature. Chicago and London: U of Chicago P, 1966.

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3. Book with Four or More Authors

Format:
Last Name of First Author Listed, First Name of First Author Listed, et al. Title. Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication.

Example:

Roark, James L., et al. The American Promise. Boston: Bedford, 1998.

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4. Edited Book

Format:
Last Name of Editor, First Name of Editor, ed. Title. Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication.

Example:

Anderson, Mary Crow, ed. Two Scholarly Friends: Yates Snowden--John Bennett Correspondence, 1902-1932. Columbia, S.C.: U of South Carolina P, 1993.

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5. Book Editions

Format:
Last Name of Author, First Name of Author. Title. Number of Edition (e.g. 2nd ed.). Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication.

Example:

Reid, Stephen. The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1998.

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6. Republished Book

Format:
Last Name of Author, First Name of Author. Title. Date of First Publication. Place of New Publication: Publisher, Date of New Publication.

Example:

Clark, Emily. Innocence Abroad. 1931. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1975.

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7. Multivolume Book

Format:
Last Name of Author, First Name of Author. Title of Multivolume Work. Editor's Name [if there is an editor]. Number of Volumes. Place of Publication: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication.

Example:

Out of Many: A History of the American People. 2 vols. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice, 1994.

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8. Reference Book

Format:
Last Name of Author, First Name of Author (if author's name is given). "Title of Entry or Article." Title of Dictionary or Encyclopedia. Edition. Place of Publication: Publisher (if given), Year of Publication.

Example:

Binder, Raymond C., et al. "Mathematical Aspects of Physical Theories." Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropaedia. 15th ed. 1993.

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9. An Isolated Source Taken from an Anthology or Collection

Format:
Last Name of Author of Work Within the Collection, First Name of Author of Work Within the Collection. "Title of Work Within the Collection." Title of Collection. Ed. Name of Editor(s) of the Collection. Edition number (if applicable). Place of Publication of Collection: Publisher of Collection, Year of Publication of Collection. Page Numbers Within the Collection Where the Work Can Be Found.

Example:

Ortiz, Simon. "The Language We Know." Living Languages: Contexts for Reading and Writing. Ed. Nancy Buffington, Marvin Diogenes, and Clyde Moneyhun. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1997. 40-47.

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10. Cross-Referenced Sources from an Anthology or Collection

When you are using several sources from the same anthology or collection, you may use a shorthand method of citing these sources. Simply create a full entry for the anthology or collection, and cross-reference the individual pieces to that entry.

Format:
Last Name of Author of Work Within the Collection, First Name of Author of Work Within the Collection. "Title of Work Within the Collection." Last Names of Editors of the Collection (space) Page Numbers Within the Collection Where the Work Can Be Found.

Example: (along with full entry for the collection itself)

Buffington, Nancy, Marvin Diogenes, and Clyde Moneyhun, eds. Living Languages: Contexts for Reading and Writing. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1997. Ortiz, Simon. "The Language We Speak." Buffington, Diogenes, and Moneyhun 40-47. Witherspoon, Abigail. "This Pen for Hire." Buffington, Diogenes, and Moneyhun 173-82.

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