Citation Guides

General guidance:

• In a print book, the information you need to cite is usually found on the "title page" 2 or 3 pages inside the front of the book, and on the back side of that same title page.
• For an eBook, the first part of the citation will usually be the same as for the print book, then the title of the "container" (in this case the database or other electronic platform) where you found or retrieved it, and the URL. See examples below.
• For an eBook accessed through an app or e-reader (such as a Nook or Kindle), see the MLA Handbook, page 316.

Single Author (p. 26*)

Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Shortened Publisher Name, Year.

Lampe, Gregory P. Frederick Douglass: Freedom’s Voice. Brown, 2015.

Two Authors (p. 21)

Andrews, Kevin, and Michelle Curtis. A Changing Australia: The Social, Cultural and Economic Trends. Crown, 2014.

Three or More Authors: (p. 22)

Brown, Frank, et al. On the Edge of the World. Harcourt, 2013.

Book with edition information (2nd or later edition, revised or updated edition, etc. (pp. 38-39)

Lerner, Gerda. The Grimke Sisters from South Carolina. 2nd ed., Little, 2013.

Book with editors instead of authors (pp. 22-23)

Smith, John, and Margaret Jolly, editors. Colonial Experience. Macmillan, 2017.

Chapter in an Anthology or a Compilation (p. 30)

Author(s) of Chapter. “Chapter Title.” Title of Book, edited by followed by the editor’s name, Shortened Publisher Name, Copyright Year, Pages of Chapter.

Deeb, Robert, and Charles D. Brower. “Law and Justice.” American Decades: 1950-1959, edited by Richard Layman, Gale, 1995, pp. 225-256.

Encyclopedias (MLA Style Dictionary Entry, Columbia College of Vancouver, Canada)

Reid, Donald J. “Alfalfa.” World Book Encyclopedia, vol. 1, World Book, 2015, pp. 345-348.

Dictionaries (MLA Style FAQ)

“Literally.” Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 5th ed., Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, p.726.

eBook (p. 34) 

Author Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher Name, Year. Website or Database Name, URL or doi.

Forbes, Scott. A Natural History of Families. Princeton UP, 2007. Project Muse, muse.jhu.edu/book/31159. 

Bull, Alvin F. and Sylvan T. Runkel. Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands. 2nd ed., University of Iowa P, 2009. EBSCOhost eBook Collection, resources.kirkwood.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=325293&site=ehost-live&scope=site. 

* Page numbers refer to the print MLA Handbook, available at Kirkwood libraries.