Making a Citation for a Book

VIRGIL 3.0: Online Research Tutorial

Creating a Citation for a Book

Citation is the systematic process of giving credit to the sources of ideas and information that are used in your paper. Its purpose is to identify the works you consulted and to distinguish these works from your own ideas, facts, and opinions.

Failure to cite your sourcesappropriately is plagiarism, which is the presentation of another's words, ideas or research as your own. This is a form of theft, and it applies to the use of material found on the Internet as well as books, articles or any form of print or non-print resources.

A more detailed explanation of source documentation can be found in the MLA Handbook, available on Reserve at the Circulation desk and in Reference LB2369 .G53.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers.

6th ed. New York, Modern Language Association of America, 2003.

The template below shows an example of the standard MLA format for a book citation.

Last name of author, First name of author. Title: subtitle.

Place of Publication: Publisher, Date Of Publication.

NOTE THAT:

The author's name is listed, last name first, Comma, first name.
The book title is underlined (or in italic font).
The lines are double-spaced.
All lines, after the first, are indented.

(If a book has no author or has one listed as ‘Anonymous’, begin the citation with the first word of the title.)

Here are some examples of proper citation formats for various situations, including books with multiple authors, edited books, books with a corporate authors,or electronic books:

You can download a copy of the MLA Citation Format Guide in PDF file format.

BOOKS

Book by one author

Citation Format

Last name of author, First name of author. Title: subtitle.

City of publication: Publisher's name, year of publication.

Example

Morrison, Toni. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination.

New York: Vintage Books, 1993.

Book by two or more authors

Citation Format

Last name of author, First name of author and name of other author(s).

Title: subtitle. City of publication: Publisher's name, year of publication.

Example

Dean, Marjorie, and Robert Pringle. Central Banks.

New York: Viking, 1995.

Anthology or Edited book (no author given)

Citation Format

Last name of editor, First name editor, ed. Title of Book.

City of publication: Publisher's name, year of publication.

Example

Huston, Althea C., ed. Children in Poverty: Child Development and Public Policy.

Cambridge, MA: Cambridge UP, 1991.

Book with corporate author

Citation Format

Name of corporate author (omit any initial article, ie. A, An, The).

Title: subtitle. City of publication: Publisher's name, year of publication.

Example

National Research Council. Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect.

Washington: National Academy Press, 1993.

Work in an Anthology

Citation Format

Last name of author, First name author. "Title of the part of book being cited."

(Note: underline the title of autobiographies, plays and novels) Title of anthology.

Ed. Name. City of publication: Publisher's name, year of publication.

Inclusive page numbers of piece being cited.

Example

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." The Norton Anthology of Literature

by Women. 2nd edition. Ed. Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar. New York:

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