Home |  Contact Us |  Banner Web |  A-Z Index |  Search
MLA Citation for a Book
Homepage > Academics > Library > Find Research Tools > Help for Citations > MLA Formats > Book MLA


Example
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin,
2006.

The following are the individual fields of information needed for a complete citation. Some books may not require all of the fields listed below.

Author
Last name, then first and middle. Avoid initials, if possible. Does your book have multiple authors? Does your book have authors or editors? End with a period - Pollan, Michael.

Title & subtitle of the book
The title & subtitle are separated by a colon. Capitalize the first and last words of the title and subtitle, and all proper nouns and important words. Underline title & subtitle and end with a period. - The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.

Edition
If the book is a 2nd edition, 3rd, etc. Edition number followed by ed. The sample citation above is a first edition, so this field is not needed. Here is a hypothetical example - 2nd ed.

Place of publication & publisher
If the city is so well known that the name can stand alone, i.e. New York or Los Angeles, do not include the state. Use standard postal abbreviations for states if the city is not well known, i.e. Duluth, MN. Shorten publisher's name to most concise form (see p. 150-153 of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers). Separate place of publication from publisher with a colon. Place a comma after the publisher's name to separate it from the year of publication - New York: Penguin,

Date of publication
Year the book was published, end the citation with a period. - 2006.

[The above information is based on p. 151-152 of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th edition].