Last name first, then first and middle names. Avoid initials if possible. End with a period.
"Are You My Mother?"
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. Place review title & subtitle in quotations.
Review of ,
Proceed title with the words Review of and follow rules of capitalization stated above. Italicize title. Separate from author with a comma.
by Vendela Vida.
Precede name with the word 'by,' then first name and last. End with a period.
Italicize. Follow rules of capitalization listed above and end with a comma.
31 Dec. 2016,
If weekly, day of month followed by abbreviation of month. Year is followed by a comma to separate it from the page numbers.
p. 10.
If page numbers of article run consecutively, separate beginning and ending page numbers with a hyphen. Precede with pp. if more than one page or p. if it is only one page. End the citation with a period. If the pages do not run consecutively, then indicate beginning page of the article followed by a + sign.
th edition.]
Book review without a title.
Review Author(s). Review of Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Name Last Name. Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Publication Date, pp. Page Numbers. Name of Database , https://doi.org/DOI [if any].
Khovanova, Tanya. Review of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality , by Edward Frenkel. The College Mathematics Journal , vol. 45, no. 3, May 2014, pp. 230-231. JSTOR , https://doi.org/10.4169/college.math.j.45.3.230.
Review Author(s). "Title of Review with Book Title Italicized." Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Publication Date, pp. Page Numbers. Name of Database , https://doi.org/DOI [if any].
Grosholz, Emily R. "Book Review: Realizing Reason: A Narrative of Truth and Knowledge by Danielle Macbeth." Journal of Humanistic Mathematics , vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 263-275. Academic Search Complete , https://doi.org/10.5642/jhummath.20170120.
Last Name, First Name or Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial (if provided in source)
Anzaldúa, Gloria Kendi, Ibram X. Wallace, David Foster
Anzaldúa, Gloria. Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza . 4th ed., Aunt Lute Books, 2012.
Last Name, First Name, and First Name Last Name
Wykes, Maggie, and Barrie Gunter. The Media and Body Image: If Looks Could Kill. Sage, 2005.
First Author's Last Name, First Name, et al.
Chan, Sabrina S., et al. Learning Our Names: Asian American Christians on Identity, Relationships, and Vocation. InterVarsity Press, 2022.
If the group author is different from publisher.
If the group author and the publisher are different entities, list the Group Name as the author.
Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation. Employability Skills: Creating My Future . Nelson, 1996.
If the group author and the publisher are the same, skip the author and list the title first. Then, list the group author only as the publisher.
Fair Housing—Fair Lending . Aspen Law & Business, 1985.
If a source has no author, skip the author and start with the title. Do not use "Anonymous" as the author name.
"How to Teach Yourself Guitar." eHow, Demand Media, www.ehow.com/how_5298173_teach-yourself-guitar.html. Accessed 24 June 2016.
(Last Name Page Number)
(Anzaldúa 30)
(First Author's Last Name and Second Author's Last Name Page Number)
(Wykes and Gunter 53)
(First Author's Last Name et al. Page Number)
(Chan et al. 97)
(Group Name Page Number)
(Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation 230)
If your full citation for a group author starts with the title rather than the group's name, follow the "No Author" in-text citation rules instead.
( Title of Longer Work or "Title of Shorter Work" Page Number)
( Fair Housing 15)
("How to Teach")
How do i format dates.
Dates in your Works Cited list should be formatted like this: Day Month Year. Month names should be abbreviated using the list below. Example: 17 Oct. 2021.
For publication dates, include as much information as the source provides. This may be a full date, only the month and year, a season (such as Spring 2019), or just a publication year.
In your Works Cited list, abbreviate months as follows:
January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.
Spell out months fully in the body of your paper.
Digital Object Identifiers, or DOIs, are unique numbers or hyperlinks assigned to some online resources, such as journal articles, to make them easier to find.
If a DOI is provided for a source, include it at the end of your citation after any page numbers. In your Works Cited list, you should always format a DOI as a URL beginning with "https://doi.org/" followed immediately by the DOI number.
Example: For DOI "10.5642/jhummath.20170120," the URL version would be: https://doi.org/10.5642/jhummath.20170120
If no DOI is provided but a permalink or stable link is present, you can use that instead.
If a source is missing information that you need for your Works Cited citation, you can skip that element and move on to the next element in the citation.
Examples: Some sources don't have an author; in this case, we skip the author and start our citation with the title. Most academic journals are published in volumes and issues, but some only have volumes; in this case, we list the volume number and skip the issue number.
If you're not sure what type of source you're working with, don't worry! This is a very common challenge. Check out our page on Identifying Source Types .
Works Cited List: To cite two or more works by the same author, give the name in the first entry only. For subsequent works by the same author, replace the author's name with three hyphens followed by a period (---.), which signifies that the name is the same as the preceding entry. Alphabetize works with the same author by title.
In-Text Citations: To distinguish multiple works by the same author, add a comma followed by a shortened version of the title (usually the first 2-4 words) between the author name and the page number. Example: (Anzaldúa, Borderlands / La Frontera 38). Alternately, you can mention the author and title in the sentence, and then only include the page number.
If you are citing a single page, use "p." If you are citing multiple pages, use "pp."
Example: If an article runs from page 10 to page 15, your citation should say "pp. 10-15" because it covers multiple pages. If it's a short article that only appears on page 11, your citation should say "p. 11".
Book review - no title.
Note : For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.
A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.
Author's Last Name, First Name. Review of Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Name Last Name. Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given.
Note : If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source after the name of the book's author.
Khovanova, Tanya. Review of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality , by Edward Frenkel. The College Mathematics Journal , vol. 45, no. 3, May 2014, pp. 230-231. JSTOR . doi: www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/college.math.j.45.3.230.
(Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Khovanova 230)
Learn more: See the MLA Handbook , pp. 28-29
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given.
Note : If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source.
Grosholz, Emily R. "Book Review: Realizing Reason: A Narrative of Truth and Knowledge by Danielle Macbeth." Journal of Humanistic Mathematics , vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 263-275, Academic Search Complete . doi: 10.5642/jhummath.20170120.
Example: (Grosholz 264)
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Review of Title of Book: Subtitle if Any by Book Author's First Name Last Name. Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given.
Rodriques, Elias. "Lonesome for our Home." Review of Barraccon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo", by Zora Neale Hurston. Nation , vol. 306, no. 18, 18 June 2018, pp. 35-39. MAS Ultra - School Edition .
Example: (Rodriques 35)
In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows:
January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.
Spell out months fully in the body of your paper.
Project guides, digital resources, reading lists, quick access.
Lower Canada College Libraries
514-482-9916 ext. 473
LCC is an English coeducational K-11 school leading to the MEES Secondary Leaving Diploma / LCC est une école anglophone mixte de la maternelle à la 5e secondaire menant au DES du MEES.
Book review - no title, book review - title refers to book being reviewed, book review - title doesn't refer to book being reviewed, abbreviating months.
In your Works Cited list, abbreviate months as follows:
January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.
Spell out months fully in the body of your paper.
Note : For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double-spaced and have a hanging indent.
A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.
Author's Last Name, First Name. Review of Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Name Last Name. Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given.
Note : If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section in the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source after the name of the book's author.
Works Cited List Example | Khovanova, Tanya. Review of , by Edward Frenkel. , vol. 45, no. 3, May 2014, pp. 230-231. . doi: www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/college.math.j.45.3.230. |
In-Text Citation Example | (Author's Last Name Page Number) Example: (Khovanova 230) |
Learn more: See the MLA Handbook , pp. 28-29
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given.
Note : If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source.
Works Cited List Example | Grosholz, Emily R. "Book Review: by Danielle Macbeth." , vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 263-275, . doi: 10.5642/jhummath.20170120. |
In-Text Citation Example | (Author's Last Name Page Number) Example: (Grosholz 264) |
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Review of Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, by Book Author's First Name Last Name . Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given.
Works Cited List Example | Rodriques, Elias. "Lonesome for our Home." Review of " by Zora Neale Hurston , vol. 306, no. 18, 18 June 2018, pp. 35-39. . |
In-Text Citation Example | (Author's Last Name Page Number) Example: (Rodriques 35) |
In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows:
January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.
Spell out months fully in the body of your paper.
Note : For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.
A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.
Author's Last Name, First Name. Review of Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Name Last Name. Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given.
Note : If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source after the name of the book's author.
Works Cited List Example | Khovanova, Tanya. Review of , by Edward Frenkel. , vol. 45, no. 3, May 2014, pp. 230-231. . doi: www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/college.math.j.45.3.230. |
In-Text Citation Example | (Author's Last Name Page Number) Example: (Khovanova 230) |
Learn more: See the MLA Handbook , pp. 28-29
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given.
Note : If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source.
Works Cited List Example | Grosholz, Emily R. "Book Review: by Danielle Macbeth." , vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 263-275, . doi: 10.5642/jhummath.20170120. |
In-Text Citation Example | (Author's Last Name Page Number) Example: (Grosholz 264) |
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Review of Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, by Book Author's First Name Last Name . Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given.
Works Cited List Example | Rodriques, Elias. "Lonesome for our Home." Review of " by Zora Neale Hurston , vol. 306, no. 18, 18 June 2018, pp. 35-39. . |
In-Text Citation Example | (Author's Last Name Page Number) Example: (Rodriques 35) |
In-Text:
(Powers 10)
Works Cited:
NOTE: If a review is untitled, include a title which incorporates the work that is being reviewed:
Note: This information is geared toward researchers in the arts and humanities. For a detailed guide on writing book reviews in the social sciences, please check the USC Libraries guide to Writing and Organizing Research in the Social Sciences , authored by Dr. Robert Labaree.
When writing an academic book review, start with a bibliographic citation of the book you are reviewing [e.g., author, title, publication information, length]. Adhere to a particular citation style, such as Chicago, MLA, or APA. Put your name at the very end of the book review text.
The basic purpose of a book review is to convey and evaluate the following:
a. what the book is about;
b. the expertise of the author(s);
c. how well the book covers its topic(s) and whether it breaks new ground;
d. the author’s viewpoint, methodology, or perspective;
e. the appropriateness of the evidence to the topical scope of the book;
f. the intended audience;
g. the arrangement of the book (chapters, illustrations) and the quality of the scholarly apparatus, such as notes and bibliographies.
Point "c. how well the book covers its topics and whether it breaks new ground" requires your engagement with the book, and can be approached in a variety of ways. The question of whether the book breaks new ground does not necessarily refer to some radical or overarching notion of originality in the author’s argument. A lot of contemporary scholarship in the arts or humanities is not about completely reorienting the discipline, nor is it usually about arguing a thesis that has never been argued before. If an author does that, that's wonderful, and you, as a book reviewer, must look at the validity of the methods that contextualize the author's new argument.
It is more likely that the author of a scholarly book will look at the existing evidence with a finer eye for detail, and use that detail to amplify and add to existing scholarship. The author may present new evidence or a new "reading" of the existing evidence, in order to refine scholarship and to contribute to current debate. Or the author may approach existing scholarship, events, and prevailing ideas from a more nuanced perspective, thus re-framing the debate within the discipline.
The task of the book reviewer is to “tease out” the book’s themes, explain them in the review, and apply a well-argued judgment on the appropriateness of the book’s argument(s) to the existing scholarship in the field.
For example, you are reviewing a book on the history of the development of public libraries in nineteenth century America. The book includes a chapter on the role of patronage by affluent women in endowing public libraries in the mid-to-late-1800s. In this chapter, the author argues that the role of women was overlooked in previous scholarship because most of them were widows who made their financial bequests to libraries in the names of their husbands. The author argues that the history of public library patronage, and moreover, of cultural patronage, should be re-read and possibly re-framed given the evidence presented in this chapter. As a book reviewer you will be expected to evaluate this argument and the underlying scholarship.
There are two common types of academic book reviews: short summary reviews, which are descriptive, and essay-length critical reviews. Both types are described further down.
[Parenthetically, writing an academic/scholarly book review may present an opportunity to get published.]
For a short, descriptive review, include at least the following elements:
a. the bibliographic citation for the book;
b. the purpose of the book;
c. a summary of main theme(s) or key points;
d. if there is space, a brief description of the book’s relationship to other books on the same topic or to pertinent scholarship in the field.
e. note the author's affiliation and authority, as well as the physical content of the book, such as visual materials (photographs, illustrations, graphs) and the presence of scholarly apparatus (table of contents, index, bibliography, footnotes, endnotes, credit for visual materials);
f. your name and affiliation.
For a critical, essay-length book review consider including the following elements, depending on their relevance to your assignment:
b. an opening statement that ought to peak the reader’s interest in the book under review
c. a section that points to the author’s main intentions;
d. a section that discusses the author’s ideas and the book’s thesis within a scholarly perspective. This should be a critical assessment of the book within the larger scholarly discourse;
e. if you found errors in the book, point the major ones and explain their significance. Explain whether they detract from the thesis and the arguments made in the book;
f. state the book's place within a strand of scholarship and summarize its importance to the discipline;
g. include information about the author's affiliation and authority, as well as the physical content of the book, such as visual materials (photographs, illustrations, graphs) and the presence of scholarly apparatus (table of contents, index, bibliography, footnotes, endnotes, credit for visual materials);
h. indicate the intended readership of the book and whether the author succeeds in engaging the audience on the appropriate level;
i. your name and affiliation.
Good examples of essay-length reviews may be found in the scholarly journals included in the JSTOR collection, in the New York Review of Books , and similar types of publications, and in cultural publications like the New Yorker magazine.
Remember to keep track of your sources, regardless of the stage of your research. The USC Libraries have an excellent guide to citation styles and to citation management software .
Review with a title.
Reviewer. Review of Title of Work , by Author. Title of Journal , vol. #, no. #, date, pp. #-#. Title of Database , DOI or URL.
Conn, David R. Review of The World as We Knew It: Dispatches from a Changing Climate , by Amy Brady and Tajja Isen. Library Journal , vol. 147, no. 4, Apr. 2022, p. 104. EBSCOhost , ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=155859448&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Reviewer. "Title of Review." Review of Title of Work , by Author. Title of Journal , vol. #, no. #, date, pp. ##-##. Title of Database , DOI or URL.
Grimes, William. "Beyond Mandalay, the Road to Isolation and Xenophobia." Review of The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma , by Thant Myint-U. New York Times , 13 Dec. 2006, pp. E8+. ProQuest , ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/433471566?accountid=14580.
Citation information, mla full citation preview, a better way to work.
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In-text citation rules, how to cite (practically) anything in mla.
Which style guide should i choose for my assignment, what’s the difference between bibliography, references, and works cited pages, what’s the difference between full citations, in-line citations, parenthetical citations, footnotes, and annotations - and when should i use each, what is plagiarism and how do i avoid it, what’s the fastest way to generate a citation, more resources for academic writing.
Thursday, February 23: The Clark Library is closed today.
Book in print, book with editor(s) but no author, translated book, chapters, short stories, essays, or articles from a book (anthology or collection), an introduction, preface, foreword, or afterword, article in a reference book (e.g. encyclopedias, dictionaries).
Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.
A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.
Authors/Editors
An author can be a person but can also be an organization, or company. These are called group or corporate authors.
If you are citing a chapter from a book that has an editor, the author of the chapter is listed first, and is the name listed in the in-text citation.
Capitalize the first letter of every important word in the title. You do not need to capitalize words such as: in, of, or an.
If there is a colon (:) in the title, include what comes after the colon (also known as the subtitle).
You have the option to use the shortened name of the publisher by abbreviating "University" and "Press" (e.g. Oxford UP, not Oxford University Press).
You also have the option to remove articles (A, An, The), business abbreviations (e.g. Co., Inc.) and descriptive words (e.g. Books, House, Press, Publishers).
The format of all dates is: Date Month (shortened) Year. e.g. 5 Sept. 2012.
Whether to give the year alone or include a month and day depends on your source: write the full date as you find it there.
If no date is listed, omit it unless you can find that information available in a reliable source. In that case the date is cited in square brackets. e.g. [2008]
Page Numbers
Page number on your Works Cited page (but not for in-text citations) are now proceeded by p. for a single page number and pp. for a range of page numbers. E.g. p. 156 or pp. 79-92.
Access Date
Date of access is optional in MLA 8th/9th edition; it is recommended for pages that may change frequently or that do not have a copyright/publication date.
Last Name, First Name. Title of Book . City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.
Note : The city of publication should only be used if the book was published before 1900, if the publisher has offices in more than one country, or if the publisher is unknown in North America.
Works Cited List Example:
Kurlansky, Mark. Salt: A World History . Walker, 2002.
In-Text Citation Example:
(Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Kurlansky 10)
Two Authors
Last Name, First Name of First Author, and First Name Last Name of Second Author. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication.
Note: Only the first author listed appears in "Last Name, First Name" format. Authors' names are separated by a comma. Before the last author to be listed, add the word "and."
Jacobson, Diane L., and Robert Kysar. A Beginner's Guide to the Books of the Bible, Augsburg, 1991.
(Author's Last Name and Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Jacobson and Kysar 25)
Three or More Authors
Last Name, First Name of First Author, et al. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication.
Note: If you have three or more authors list only the first author's name followed by et al. instead of listing all authors names. For example Smith, John, et al. The first author is the first name listed on the work you are citing, not the first name alphabetically.
Nickels, William, et al. Understanding Business. 9th ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2016.
(First Author's Last Name et al. Page Number)
Example: (Nickels et al. 5)
eBook from a Library Database
Last Name, First Name of First Author, et al. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Name of eBook Database, doi:DOI number/URL/Permalink.
Calhoun, Craig. Sociology in America: A History . U of Chicago P, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central , ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/up/detail.action?docID=408466&pq-origsite=primo.
(Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Calhoun 53)
eBook for Kindle or other eBook Reader
Note: The MLA uses the term "eBook" to refer to publications formatted specifically for reading with an eBook reader device (e.g., a Kindle) or a corresponding web application, which will not have URLs or DOIs. Citations will be very similar to physical book citations; just add the word "eBook" in the "version" slot of the MLA template (i.e., after the author, the title of the source, the title of the container, and the names of any other contributors).
Silva, Paul J. How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing , eBook, American Psychological Association, 2007.
Example: (Silva 30)
Note : When no page numbers are listed on an eBook, cite the chapter number instead in your in-text citation. Example: (Smith ch. 2).
Last Name of editor, First Name, editor(s). Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of Publication.
Wolfteich, Claire E., editor. Invitation to Practical Theology: Catholic Voices and Visions . Paulist, 2014.
(Last name page number)
Example: (Wolfteich 103)
Electronic Materials
(More than one editor)
Kidwell, Jeremy, and Sean Doherty, editors. Theology and Economics: A Christian Vision of the Common Good. eBook, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
(Last name page number)
Example: (Kidwell and Doherty 103)
If you want to emphasize the work rather than the translator, cite as you would any other book. Add “translated by” and follow with the name(s) of the translator(s).
Boitani, Piero. The Bible and Its Rewritings . Translated by Anita Weston, Oxford UP, 1999.
Example: (Boitani 89)
Augustine. The Confessions of St. Augustine . Translated by Edward Bouverie Pusey, eBook, Floating Press, 1921.
Example: (Augustine 65)
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Short Story, Essay, or Article." Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, edited by Editor's First Name and Last Name, Edition if given and is not first, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication, Page numbers of the essay, article, or short story.
Boys, Mary C. “Learning in the Presence of the Other: Feminisms and the Interreligious Encounter.” Faith and Feminism: Ecumenical Essays , edited by Diane B. Lipsett, Westminster John Knox Press, 2014, pp. 103-114.
Note: The first author's name listed is the author of the chapter/essay/short story.
Note: If there is no editor given you may leave out that part of the citation.
Example: (Boys 110)
When citing an introduction, a preface, a foreword, or an afterword, write the name of the author(s) of the piece you are citing. Then give the name of the part being cited, which should not be italicized or enclosed in quotation marks; in italics, provide the name of the work and the name of the author of the introduction/preface/foreword/afterword. Finish the citation with the details of publication and page range.
Farrell, Thomas B. Introduction. Norms of Rhetorical Culture , by Farrell, Yale UP, 1993, pp. 1-13.
(Farrell 5)
If the writer of the piece is different from the author of the complete work, then write the full name of the principal work's author after the word "By." For example, if you were to cite Hugh Dalziel Duncan’s introduction of Kenneth Burke’s book Permanence and Change, you would write the entry as follows:
Duncan, Hugh Dalziel. Introduction. Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose, by Kenneth Burke, 1935, 3rd ed., U of California P, 1984, pp. xiii-xliv.
(Duncan xiv)
For entries in encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference works, cite the entry name as you would any other work in a collection but do not include the publisher information. Also, if the reference book is organized alphabetically, as most are, do not list the volume or the page number of the article or item.
"Ideology." The American Heritage Dictionary , 3rd ed., Dell, 1997, p. 369.
("Ideology" 369)
Online Reference book
Isaacson, Joel. "Monet, Claude." Grove Art Online , Oxford Art Online , www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T059077.
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Written by Scribendi
Your instructor has asked you to format your term paper using Modern Language Association (MLA) style. You feel confident enough to produce the paper, but you have never heard of MLA style. Don't panic—we've got you covered.
This article will explain MLA style citation, give examples of MLA formatting for specific aspects of references, provide an MLA format example for each category of source material, and share essay formatting tips that our editors have learned over the years.
You'll even find a free, downloadable MLA Works Cited example page for easy reference. So, if you have a general understanding of what MLA style is and are just looking for examples of MLA citations, we can help with that too!
Free MLA Cheat Sheet
MLA style is an accepted way to document source material for many types of humanities documents. Some would say it is simpler than other style guides, such as the APA Style Guide or the Chicago Manual of Style .
An MLA citation has two basic requirements:
Brief parenthetical citations in the text
An alphabetical list of the works cited that corresponds to the in-text citations and appears at the end of the paper
In simple terms, you refer to your source material in parentheses throughout the main text—then, at the end of your paper, you list all the sources to which you have referred, in alphabetical order.
Of course, there is so much more to MLA style and MLA formatting than just that. Indeed, the current version of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th Edition) runs to 292 pages! But here are the essential style and formatting points.
To start, let's look at a basic example of how to format a citation in MLA.
Last Name, First Name. "Title of Webpage/Chapter/Article." Website/Book Title/Journal Title , edition used, vol. X, no. Y, Publisher,
Day Month Year of Publication, URL/location/page number.
This is MLA format at its simplest.
The main reason for carefully citing source material is to avoid allegations of plagiarism, which—derived from the Latin word for "kidnapping"—refers to stealing someone else's work. The MLA Handbook explains plagiarism in detail. You should feel free to use another person's words, facts, and thoughts in your research paper, but the material you borrow must not be presented as if it were your own creation.
When you write your research paper, remember that you must document everything that you borrow—not only direct quotations and paraphrases but also information and ideas. Our MLA citation guide will walk you through how to properly cite your sources using MLA style.
MLA-style citation is commonly used by writers and students who create content in the humanities.
You'll often see it used for the following subject areas:
Language and literature
Comparative literature
Literary criticism
Cultural studies
Foreign languages
Using MLA's citation guide in these fields of study gives readers an easier option for navigating through your paper. In addition to making you look credible by neatly organizing your sources, MLA citation lends consistency to your work. It provides readers with the opportunity to easily find sources in your paper that interest them.
The early stages of producing a paper involve copious amounts of reading, research, and note-taking. At this point, it's easy to get confused about who said what. The best way to avoid getting confused right from the start is to keep your ideas, your summary of others' ideas, and direct transcriptions of text clearly marked and separate. Throughout our guide, we'll provide examples of MLA citation to give you a hand.
Make notes on the following elements for ease of reference and proper MLA citation later on:
Author's name
Full title of each publication (from the title page, not the front cover)
City of publication (cite only the first city if there is more than one)
Date of publication
Volume and issue numbers, if available (for journals)
Page numbers you have referenced
Medium of publication or reception (print, web, radio, television, etc.)
Laying the groundwork during your research will make the citation process much easier later on.
Because we know there are many ways to cite a reference in MLA, depending on what source you're using, we've compiled an extensive list of MLA citation examples below.
You'll find MLA citation examples for articles, books, images, interviews, journals, movies, and more to ensure you are citing your sources correctly.
We've done our best to be as thorough as possible. Review how to use in-text citations in MLA below or skip to the ones you need most!
If you're citing a book in MLA format with two or three authors, use the examples below to format your citation:
Bringham, Darrin E., and Sally Knope. Resting Heartbeat Science . 12th ed., Wiley, 2001.
Christopherson, Charles, Ronald Swanson, and Roger Koltz. Fog Pirates: On Board the USS Hammerhead . Putters, 2001.
Only the first author is listed by their last name followed by their first name. Any subsequent authors are written normally (first name then last name).
When there are more than three authors to reference in MLA, format your citation using et al., as shown below:
Niderbacher, Leslie A., et al. Penne and the Jets: A Love Story . Partridge, 2003.
Note that only the first author is fully named, followed by et al.
Related: Learn more about How to Use Et Al. here.
An MLA in-text citation with no author begins with the title . If your in-text citation has no author in MLA, you can also use the title in addition to the page number.
( Encyclopedia of Football 54)
Correct MLA article citation starts with finding good, credible articles. Try looking for peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles in free research databases such as CORE and ScienceOpen.
When searching for the best journals for your topic, try to steer clear of regular search engines like Google or Yahoo. Academic databases like JSTOR and Google Scholar are the best sources for scholarly, peer-reviewed articles .
MLA journal citation elements include the title of the work, author(s), and publication date. While this information is usually found on the first page of an article, its placement can vary. It may be at the top or bottom of the first page or, in the case of database articles, on the results page or the description page.
Related: Check out our list of 17 Research Databases for Free Articles .
Lau, Frank. "Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe COVID-19." Journal of Health , vol. 2, no. 5, Aug. 2020, pp. 34–27.
https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.24.20075838.
Kuehn, Bridget. "Hospitals Turn to Housing to Help Homeless Patients." JAMA , Feb. 2019, pp. 5–9.
https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.21476.
Tomky, Naomi. "Explore the Oregon Coast—but don't touch the 'dragon toes.'" National Geographic , 23 Mar. 2022,
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/explore-oregon-coast-but-dont-touch-dragon-toe-barnacles.
Gateley, Cheyne. "Netflix's Password Crackdown Will Be Tougher Than It Seems." Variety , 21 Mar. 2022,
https://variety.com/vip/netflixs-password-crackdown-will-be-tougher-than-it-seems-1235208619/.
If you're citing passages from a book using MLA, look at the title page of the book to find the information you need to cite the source. The title page can usually be found a couple of pages into the book. This is where you'll find the author(s), date, edition, title, editors (if any), place of publication, and publisher.
Schucman, Helen. A Course in Miracles. Edited by Robert Perry, The Circle of Atonement, Inc., 2017.
Image citation in MLA requires you to first define what type of image you're sourcing. Is it an image you saw in person or an image from a website?
Asking yourself this question first will help you decide which format to use to cite your image. Let's look at a few examples below.
How to Cite an Image from a Website
To cite an image from a website in MLA, start with the image creator's last and first name, then add the image title, the website name , day, month, and year published, and the URL.
In the example below, there is no image title, so we're using a description of the image:
Yam, Marcus. Photograph of a man hurrying away from a building hit by Russian bombs. Los Angeles Times , 25 Mar. 2022,
www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-03-25/ukraine-russia-war-biden-heads-to-poland .
Here is an example with an image title:
Clancy, Pat. "Foggy Sunrise." Flickr , 10 Mar. 2022,
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128721907@N02/51958337614/in/explore-2022-03-24/.
When citing an interview in MLA, the information you need can vary depending on the type of interview.
For example, if you're citing an interview printed in a magazine, you can find relevant citation information in the title or subtitle of the interview page.
For online interviews, the relevant information can be found on the site where the interview was published. Typically, in the title or near the name of the person who published the interview, you'll find the names of the interviewer and interviewee, as well as the date the interview was published.
Here are a few elements you'll need if you're citing an interview in MLA:
Interviewee's first and last name
Interviewer's first and last name
Interview title
Periodical or journal title (if any)
Type of interview
Date the interview was conducted/published
URL of the interview (if online)
Page numbers of the interview (if in print)
In MLA, if you can't find the author of an interview you're trying to source, this information can be skipped. Instead, you can start your citation with the title of the interview in quotation marks. You can also skip the date of the interview if it is missing, but you should still include the access date if the interview is online.
If, for any reason, you also can't access the title of the interview, MLA allows you to replace the title with a short description. Let's look at a couple of examples below.
When citing a lecture in MLA, start with the speaker's last and first names, followed by the lecture title in quotes, then the course or event name, the day, month, and year, the institution, the location, and the word "Lecture." Below is an example of how to cite a lecture in MLA.
If you need to cite a movie in MLA style, you'll need the title of the film, the director, any relevant contributors, the company that produced/distributed the film, and the release year. Be sure to add the words "Directed by" before the director's name, as you'll see in the examples below.
To cite a poem in MLA, begin with listing the author's last name and first, then the poem's title in quotes, followed by the title of the book the poem was found in, and the publisher, year, and page number(s).
When you're using a quote, you're taking the exact words from an original source, so you need to make sure you're citing that source correctly.
In MLA format, quotes should be cited in the main text and on the Works Cited page. Your in-text citation will need the author's last name and the page number where you found the quote , while the Works Cited page will include the full citation. We've included examples of both MLA quote citation formats below.
In-text citation example:
It appears that creating "businesses that diminish the quality of life and well-being of our citizens" (Williamson 109) will only make things worse.
Works Cited example:
Williamson, Marianne. A Politics of Love . Harper One, 2019.
If you have to cite quotes longer than four lines in your paper, you'll want to use a block quote. The MLA format is the same on the Works Cited page for long and short quotes, but block quotes look different in the main text.
Block quotes are placed in a separate paragraph, indented 1 inch from the left margin. When using a block quote in text, include the last name of the author and page number(s) in parentheses after the closing punctuation at the end of the quote.
Note that block quotes are not enclosed in quotation marks.
When citing a song in MLA, pay close attention to the medium you used to access it. If you heard the song on a CD or on a streaming service like Spotify, you'll want to include this in your reference.
For in-text citations of songs, you'll include your citation at the end of your paraphrased portion with the last name of the performer and the specific time stamp of the song. Other elements needed for the citation on the Works Cited page include the album name, label, and release date.
An MLA citation for a YouTube video requires a few pieces of information, including the video creator's name, the title of the video, the website hosting the video, the name of the channel or uploader, the day, month , and year the video was published, and its URL.
Regardless of the platform from which you cite a video, MLA requires the same standard information, including the creator of the video, the title, where it was found, who uploaded it, the day, month, and year it was uploaded, and the URL.
How to Cite a Website in MLA
The MLA format for websites requires a few core elements, including the author, title of the source and container, relevant contributors, version, publisher, publication date in day-month-year format, and DOI or URL .
Some of this information can be omitted if it isn't available. See the examples below.
Mla heading format.
When you're writing a paper in MLA format, headings go on the first page . Your heading should include the following information:
Instructor's name
Course name or number
Submission date
Your MLA heading goes in the upper left corner of your paper, double-spaced. Try not to confuse an MLA heading with an MLA header, which is in the upper right corner of every page of your paper and includes your last name and the page number.
Here are two example headings in MLA format for reference. Keep in mind that these should be double-spaced in your paper.
Cody Anderson
Professor Lockhart
Astronomy 103
23 March 2022
Raquel Smith
Professor Snape
Humanities 605
25 February 2021
In the next few sections, we'll look at MLA formatting for sources cited within the main text of your paper, also called in-text citations. In-text citations give your reader a clue about where to find the source you referenced in the Works Cited section at the end of your paper.
MLA format for books requires that you briefly acknowledge your sources in the main body of the text by using the author's name and the page number in parentheses.
Note the following example:
(Clinton 440).
The reader knows to consult page 440 of Clinton's book.
If you refer to the title of a large published work in your paper, such as a novel or movie, it should appear as follows:
John Clinton's A Study of Life.
Please note the use of capital letters and italics.
Titles of smaller works, such as poems, short stories, chapters, and articles, should be written in the text as follows:
Raymond Carver's "Cathedral."
Please note that smaller works are put in quotation marks and are not italicized.
To obtain further information, the reader can refer to the alphabetical references section, called the Works Cited page, at the end of the paper. There, the reader can find the full details of each cited publication.
Note the following MLA Works Cited example:
Clinton, John. A Study of Life . London: Hodder, 1998. Print.
Our John Clinton example is MLA style referencing in its simplest form: one author and one book. MLA citation for multiple authors of a single book and MLA citation for multiple books by a single author tend to complicate matters. However, if you have the basics right and have made good notes for all your source material, these problems are manageable.
When citing two or more books by one author in your Works Cited section, MLA requires the author's name in the first entry only. In the next entry, replace the author's name with an em dash (—), a period, and the second book title. The em dash takes the place of the author's name. In terms of the order of the books by one author on your Works Cited page, alphabetize the list by title.
Brunson, Russell. DotCom Secrets . Morgan James Publishing, 2015.
—. Traffic Secrets . Hay House, Inc., 2020.
When citing three or more authors in MLA, you'll want to use "et al.," which means "and others."
Levine, Robert S., et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature . 9th ed., W.W. Norton & Company, 2022.
If you're trying to cite a source in MLA with missing information, you have a few options available to you depending on what information is missing.
If you're missing the author of a source, use the title of the work in its place for both in-text citations and citations in the Works Cited in MLA format. If your title is also missing, use the source instead.
If your source has no page numbers, you can omit these in your citations and use paragraph or line numbers if they are available.
If the date of the publication is missing, you don't have to include it. But if it's a resource you accessed online, include the access date at the end of the citation—for example, "Accessed 14 Sep. 2021."
You can also omit the publisher if this information is missing.
When formatting your Works Cited page in MLA format, be sure to pay close attention to all the guidelines. MLA requires all lines to be double-spaced with a hanging indent. A hanging indent is when the first line of your reference starts at the beginning of the line while the next lines are indented by an inch and a half from the left.
To keep all of these MLA examples in one sheet for easy reference, we've compiled a free download. This way, you can review MLA citation examples anytime you need them, either for your Works Cited page or in-text citations, for multiple types of work.
Once downloaded, you'll have all of the MLA citation examples you need in your back pocket. This guide will give you examples of MLA citations for the following types of sources:
Books (with one author, multiple authors, or no author)
Download our free MLA downloadable here.
Writing a paper in mla format.
When writing a paper in MLA format, you'll need to cover your bases when it comes to citing your sources. Not only do your sources need to be correct to account for wherever you're pulling information from, but they also need to follow MLA paper formatting basics .
So far, we've covered how to cite sources in your Works Cited list and in-text citations. Now, let's talk about how to use footnotes in an MLA paper with a couple of examples.
As a general rule, footnotes should be used sparingly in MLA. However, when they are used, there are two types: bibliographical footnotes and content footnotes.
Bibliographical footnotes allow you to add more relevant sources. Content footnotes allow you to add commentary or explanations about your topic. We'll look at examples of both of these below.
Bibliographical footnote:
1 See Clinton, John. A Study of Life . Hodder, 1998. Additional references are for this edition and appear within the text.
Content footnote:
1 In a lecture from 2013, Peters mentions his love of science and how science will shape our future.
The MLA format cover page is not an entirely separate page. It begins with a 1-inch margin, flush left with your name, your instructor's name, the course name or number, and the date typed on separate, double-spaced lines.
The title of your research paper should then be centered on the MLA format title page. There is no need for it to be presented in bold, italics, or capital letters.
When citing a source in your text in MLA, use a parenthetical citation.
Parenthetical citations in MLA should include the author's last name and the page number where you found the information.
For example: (Lars 86).
In MLA format, page numbers appear in the top right-hand corner with a 0.5-inch margin from the top and a flush right margin. It is good practice to include your last name before the page number in case pages go astray. Do not use the abbreviation p. before the page number or add any other mark or symbol. You may not need to include a page number on the front page—check with your instructor.
Sometimes, it is appropriate to draw attention to particular words in your paper, but using italics for emphasis ("He really ate a lot ") is inappropriate in research writing and inconsistent with MLA style. Generally, in MLA format, italics should be reserved for titles of longer works (e.g., books, films), non-English words, and words and letters referred to as words and letters.
Your instructor may issue particular instructions if you are to use MLA citation in an essay—if so, follow them. Otherwise, the following MLA essay formatting tips will help you set out your research paper in MLA style.
The MLA Style Guide recommends using a clear typeface (Arial or Times New Roman) in a readable size (at least 11 point).
Justify the text to the left margin, leaving the right margin ragged. Leave 1-inch margins on the top, bottom, left, and right of the page.
Indent the first word in each paragraph by 0.5 inches. Indent set-off block quotations by 1 inch.
Use double-spacing throughout. In accordance with the MLA guide, use single spaces after periods, commas , exclamation marks, etc.
Good grammar, punctuation , and spelling are essential parts of your research paper—not just when using MLA style citation. There is no room for typos at this level.
Our advice is to check and check again, and don't just rely on your word processor's spell-checker. Get a second pair of eyes to look over your paper. T ry our essay editors to ensure that the MLA formatting is consistent throughout your paper and there are no grammatical errors.
Related: Avoid These Common Mistakes in Academic and Scientific Writing
The importance of citing your references in your essay cannot be understated. Any time you include a piece of information in your essay that you didn't write yourself, MLA requires two forms of citation: one in the main text and one at the end of your paper in the Works Cited section.
To see how all these formatting elements come together to make an MLA paper, see the example below.
https://p113.p2.n0.cdn.getcloudapp.com/items/v1ugxp7E/9e3b21d9-758c-4e27-b6cb-caa1059c0547.jpeg?v=559e925043cbfee9fe816e0568ab3d3b
In this computerized age, electronic publications are widely used as source materials for essays. However, electronic texts are prone to frequent and rapid change—one minute you see them online, and the next they are gone. Therefore, it is important to provide more information when references to electronic works are made.
When accessing electronic information, note the following elements:
Name of the author, editor, etc.
Title of the work
Title of the website (if distinct from the title of the work)
Version/edition used, if applicable
Publisher or sponsor of the site (if not available, use n.p.)
Date of publication (day, month, and year, if available; if no date is available, use n.d.)
Medium of publication (web)
Date of access (day, month, and year)
Note the following example of MLA citation:
Smith, George. "Trees of the Southern Hemisphere." The International Leaf. Barker University, 2008. Web. 6 Feb. 2009.
Please note that the MLA formatting and style guide no longer recommends including the URL of a document. Nevertheless, the URL can be included if it is required by your instructor or if your readers will have difficulty locating the source without it.
Below, you'll find examples of how to apply the MLA letter format. Much of the formatting will be similar to that of MLA-style papers, including using double-spaced lines in your text.
Start your MLA-formatted letter with your two-line mailing address in the upper left-hand corner, an inch from the top of the page. Skip to the next line and add the date in day-month-year format.
On the next line, include the addressee's information, starting with the recipient's title, such as Mr., Ms., or Dr. You can also include their address and contact information.
On yet another line, include your salutation—for example, "Dear Ms. Smith"—followed by a colon. If you don't have a name for the person you're writing to, use the person's title—for example, "Dear Director of Operations."
When writing a letter in MLA format, be sure to use double-spacing throughout as you would in an MLA paper.
The formatting of citations varies among style guides like Chicago, MLA, and APA. While each style guide has its own way of formatting sources and cover pages, one of the biggest differences is in how they format in-text citations. Let's look at how they differ.
MLA stands for the Modern Language Association and is a style used for papers in the humanities. In-text citations in MLA use the author's last name and page number in parentheses: (Smith 15).
APA stands for the American Psychological Association and is a style used for scientific papers. In-text citations in APA style include a bit more information than those in MLA style. For example, APA uses the author's last name, year of publication, and page number: (Smith, 2021, p. 15).
Chicago style is used mainly for manuscripts by writers, designers, and publishers. In-text citations in this style include the last name of the source, the publication year, and the page number in parentheses, with slightly different formatting than APA: (Smith 2021, 15).
How do i cite a website in mla.
To cite a website in MLA, start with the author's last name and first name separated by a comma and punctuated with a period. Next, include the title of the article or page in headline case and in quotes with a period, followed by the title of the website in italics. After that, add a comma, the name of the publisher, the publication date in day-month-year format, and the URL.
Shields, Ronan. "'The Threat is Hollow': True Transparency is Some Way Off for Scaled Advertisers." Digiday , Digiday Media, 25
Mar. 2022, https://digiday.com/marketing/the-threat-is-hollow-true-transparency-is-some-way-off-for-scaled-advertisers/.
Basu, Tyler. "How to Build a Personal Brand (Complete Guide)." Thinkific , Thinkific, 7 Sep. 2021,
https://www.thinkific.com/blog/personal-branding-guide/.
For an MLA website in-text citation, simply put the last name of the author in parentheses: (Shields).
The MLA citation for a journal article begins with the author's last name and first name separated by a comma. Next, include the title of the article in quotes, punctuated by a period, then the journal title in title case and italics, and then a comma before the volume or issue number. This is followed by the date of publication, the page range, and the DOI or URL (without https://). Finally, add the access date if no publication date is listed.
In-text citations allow readers to identify which of the items on your Works Cited page you're referencing. MLA requires the source's last name to be set in parentheses, followed by the page number where you found the information. Below are a few examples of how to use in-text citations in MLA format.
(Smith and Jones 53)
(Smith et al. 33)
(Smith 56–58)
(Smith 56–58, 73)
For MLA YouTube citation, start with the video creator's last name and first name, separated by a comma and punctuated by a period. Next, include the title of the video in quotes, also punctuated by a period (inside the quotation marks).
Add the website hosting the video in italics (in this case, YouTube), the name of the channel or uploader, and the day, month, and year the video was published. Include the URL at the end of the MLA video citation.
Forleo, Marie. "Can You Age in Reverse? Tony Robbins Says Yes." YouTube , uploaded by Marie Forleo, 14 Feb. 2022,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAb5z7NbMYk.
Snipes, Doc. "15 Tips to Stop Ruminating and Get Out of Your Head." YouTube , uploaded by Doc Snipes, 23 Mar. 2022,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMZpMtM7TkI.
Put your MLA heading in the upper left-hand corner of the first page of your paper , double-spaced. It should have your name, your instructor's name, the course name or number, and the date. Here are two examples of how to format your headings in MLA:
To cite a movie in MLA style, start with the title of the film in italics, then the name of the director, followed by any relevant contributors. Next, include the company that produced or distributed the film and the release year.
Jaws . Directed by Steven Spielberg, performances by Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw, Universal Pictures, 1975.
To cite a movie from a streaming service such as Netflix, use the following format:
Jaws . Directed by Steven Spielberg, performances by Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw, Universal Pictures, 1975. Netflix app.
To recap the most important MLA formatting guidelines, be sure to use 1-inch margins all around your paper, set the font to 12-point Times New Roman (or another easy-to-read font), and double-space the lines in your text. Make sure each word at the start of your paragraphs is indented half an inch from the left margin, and do the same for any block quotations.
You must cite all your sources in MLA, both in the text and on the Works Cited page found at the end of your paper. Use the examples and guidelines above to make sure you're formatting your paper and citations according to MLA guidelines.
If you're citing an interview, use the last and first name of the person interviewed at the start of your MLA Works Cited citation. Then, add the interview title, periodical title, type of interview, date, and URL of the interview (if online).
If the person you're referencing was interviewed in print, include the page numbers.
For an in-text citation of an interview, use the last name of the person being interviewed—for example: (Smith).
Download our free MLA format PDF for more examples of how to cite a person in MLA for an interview, either one you've conducted yourself or one you found elsewhere.
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This the complete guide to everything there is to know about book review format.
Whether your teacher has asked you to prepare for a book review assignment or you’re already working on one, this post will help you to structure your paper more appropriately.
Using the right format to write a book review shows that you care about content organization. It also helps to improve your writing style and analytical skills.
It is important to note that not all books can be reviewed using the same format or template. While certain elements may be similar, there exist distinct review formats for different types of books reviews .
So here’s the approach that we use:
When writing a book review for historical works, it is essential to familiarize oneself with the author’s previous publications by reading various articles and books. In some cases, the author may have even offered critical reviews of other authors’ works, which can serve as valuable sources.
By gathering all relevant information, you can gain a deeper understanding of the author’s perspective.
A critical book review involves a more in-depth evaluation of all the ideas and information presented in the book.
While one may argue that historical book reviews also involve evaluating ideas and information, a critical book review requires a more thorough examination of each piece of information, and thus it requires more effort and time.
For a critical book review, a proper format would be to limit the review to three to four pages and focus on a comprehensive analysis.
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The citation formatting used for academic book reviews include APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian. Let’s look at a summary of each in the following section:
The writing style of the American Psychological Association (APA) format is well suited for academic work in fields such as Education, Psychology, and Sciences.
When applying the APA format to a book review, use the following formatting:
Adhering to these formatting standards in accordance with the APA style can enhance the readability and professionalism of your writing.
If you’ve decided to use the MLA format for your book review, observe the following rules:
You should follow these guidelines to ensure proper formatting of the paper according to MLA guidelines.
Ensure that there is a minimum 1-inch margin on all sides of the page, with the main text double-spaced. Maintain a ½-inch indent when starting new paragraphs, and avoid using “justified” alignment and opt for left alignment to create a ragged right edge.
You have the option to include the page number either at the top right corner or at the bottom center of the page, but do not place it in both locations.
Including the title at the top of the page, center-aligned and double-spaced, is sufficient. The font used for the title and text should be identical, and there should be a gap between the title and the page, with the title positioned approximately 1/3 down the page.
Additional instructions include:
If you’ve read this guide up to this far, then it should be clear that formatting a book review isn’t difficult at all.
However, if even after understanding the material in this guide you don’t have the time to work on the project, you can take advantage of our writing help and we’ll write the book review for you.
About the author
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For a complete list of style rules, consult the MLA Handbook at the Reference Desk:
The discipline of English, as well as many other disciplines in the humanities, use MLA citation format. Below are some examples for formatting the Works Cited page. Look in the drop-down menu for examples of in-text citations.
| Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. . New York: Vintage, 1988. Print.
|
| Casell, Kay Ann and Uma Hiremath. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2004. Print. (NOTE: Authors should be listed in the order they are listed on the title page.) |
| Robbins, Chandler S., et al. . New York: Golden, 1966. Print. (or you may list all the authors in the order they appear on the title page, like so: Robbins, Chandler S., Bertel Bruun, and Herbert S. Zim.) |
| Homer. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Viking, 1996. Print. |
| Kimball, Jean. "Growing Up Together: Joyce and Psychoanalysis, 1900-1922." Ed. Michael Patrick Gillespie. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 1999. 25-45. Print. |
| Hughes, Ted. Introduction. By Sylvia Plath. Ed. Hughes. New York: HarperPerennial, 1992. 13-17. Print. (where Hughes is the author of the Introduction, Plath is the author of the poems, and Hughes is also the editor. Page numbers are for the introduction) |
| Blamires, Harry. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 1996. Print. |
| Eliot, George. Ed. Bert G. Hornback. New York: Norton, 1977. Print. |
| Hannah, Daniel K. "The Private Life, the Public Stage: Henry James in Recent Fiction." 30.3 (2007): 70-94. Web. 21 July 2011. |
| Hannah, Daniel K. "The Private Life, the Public Stage: Henry James in Recent Fiction." 30.3 (2007): 70-94. Print. |
| Bulson, Eric. "Dead Slowly." Rev. of , by Fredric Jameson. 25 July 2008: 426. Print. (where Bulson is the reviewer) |
| Farkas, Meredith. "Tips for Being a Great Blogger (and a Good Person)." N.p., 19 July 2011. Web. 26 July 2011. Citation for web documents should include the following elements, in this order, if they can be found on the website (5.6.2): |
Published on July 9, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on March 5, 2024.
An MLA in-text citation provides the author’s last name and a page number in parentheses.
If a source has two authors, name both. If a source has more than two authors, name only the first author, followed by “ et al. ”
If the part you’re citing spans multiple pages, include the full page range. If you want to cite multiple non-consecutive pages at the same time, separate the page numbers with commas.
Number of authors | Example |
---|---|
1 author | (Moore 37) |
2 authors | (Moore and Patel 48–50) |
3+ authors | (Moore et al. 59, 34) |
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Where to include an mla in-text citation, citing sources with no author, citing sources with no page numbers, citing different sources with the same author name, citing sources indirectly, frequently asked questions about mla in-text citations.
Place the parenthetical citation directly after the relevant quote or paraphrase , and before the period or other punctuation mark (except with block quotes , where the citation comes after the period).
If you have already named the author in the sentence, add only the page number in parentheses. When mentioning a source with three or more authors outside of parentheses, use “and others” or “and colleagues” in place of “et al.”
If a sentence is supported by more than one source, you can combine the citations in a single set of parentheses. Separate the two sources with a semicolon .
Livestock farming is one of the biggest global contributors to climate change (Garcia 64; Davies 14) .
If you cite the same source repeatedly within a paragraph, you can include the full citation the first time you cite it, then just the page number for subsequent citations.
MLA is the second most popular citation style (Smith and Morrison 17–19) . It is more popular than Chicago style, but less popular than APA (21) .
You can do this as long as it remains clear what source you’re citing. If you cite something else in between or start a new paragraph, reintroduce the full citation again to avoid ambiguity.
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For sources with no named author , the in-text citation must match the first element of the Works Cited entry. This may be the name of an organization, or the title of the source.
If the source title or organization name is longer than four words, shorten it to the first word or phrase in the in-text citation, excluding any articles ( a, an, and the ). The shortened title or organization name should begin with the word the source is alphabetized by in the Works Cited.
Follow the general MLA rules for formatting titles : If the source is a self-contained work (e.g. a whole website or an entire book ), put the title in italics; if the source is contained within a larger whole (e.g. a page on a website or a chapter of a book), put the title in quotation marks.
Full source title or organization name | In-text citation |
---|---|
( 187) | |
“Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions” | (“Sources”) |
“A Quick Guide to Proofreading” | (“Quick Guide”) |
National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Academy | (National Academy 24) |
If a source does not have page numbers but is divided into numbered parts (e.g. chapters, sections, scenes, Bible books and verses, Articles of the Constitution , or timestamps), use these numbers to locate the relevant passage.
If the source does not use any numbering system, include only the author’s name in the in-text citation. Don’t include paragraph numbers unless they are explicitly numbered in the source.
Source type | What to do | Example |
---|---|---|
Source divided into numbered parts | Add a comma after the author and give a paragraph, section, or chapter number with a relevant abbreviation. | (Luxemburg, ch. 26) |
with numbered lines | Include the act, scene, and line numbers, separated by periods, instead of a page number. | ( 1.2.95) |
Audiovisual source | Include the time range as displayed in the media player. | (Wynn 10:23–45) |
Source with no numbered divisions | Include only the author’s name (or, if there is no author, the shortened title). | (Rajaram) |
Note that if there are no numbered divisions and you have already named the author in your sentence, then no parenthetical citation is necessary.
If your Works Cited page includes more than one entry under the same last name, you need to distinguish between these sources in your in-text citations.
If you cite more than one work by the same author, add a shortened title to signal which source you are referring to.
In this example, the first source is a whole book, so the title appears in italics; the second is an article published in a journal, so the title appears in quotation marks.
To distinguish between different authors with the same last name, use the authors’ initials (or, if the initials are the same, full first names) in your in-text citations:
Sometimes you might want to cite something that you found quoted in a secondary source . If possible, always seek out the original source and cite it directly.
If you can’t access the original source, make sure to name both the original author and the author of the source that you accessed . Use the abbreviation “qtd. in” (short for “quoted in”) to indicate where you found the quotation.
In these cases, only the source you accessed directly is included in the Works Cited list.
You must include an MLA in-text citation every time you quote or paraphrase from a source (e.g. a book , movie , website , or article ).
Some source types, such as books and journal articles , may contain footnotes (or endnotes) with additional information. The following rules apply when citing information from a note in an MLA in-text citation :
If a source has two authors, name both authors in your MLA in-text citation and Works Cited entry. If there are three or more authors, name only the first author, followed by et al.
Number of authors | In-text citation | Works Cited entry |
---|---|---|
1 author | (Moore 37) | Moore, Jason W. |
2 authors | (Moore and Patel 37) | Moore, Jason W., and Raj Patel. |
3+ authors | (Moore et al. 37) | Moore, Jason W., et al. |
If a source has no author, start the MLA Works Cited entry with the source title . Use a shortened version of the title in your MLA in-text citation .
If a source has no page numbers, you can use an alternative locator (e.g. a chapter number, or a timestamp for a video or audio source) to identify the relevant passage in your in-text citation. If the source has no numbered divisions, cite only the author’s name (or the title).
If you already named the author or title in your sentence, and there is no locator available, you don’t need a parenthetical citation:
Yes. MLA style uses title case, which means that all principal words (nouns, pronouns , verbs, adjectives , adverbs , and some conjunctions ) are capitalized.
This applies to titles of sources as well as the title of, and subheadings in, your paper. Use MLA capitalization style even when the original source title uses different capitalization .
If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.
McCombes, S. (2024, March 05). MLA In-text Citations | A Complete Guide (9th Edition). Scribbr. Retrieved September 3, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/mla/in-text-citations/
Other students also liked, how to format your mla works cited page, block quoting in mla style, how to cite a book in mla, get unlimited documents corrected.
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Select a resource type from the box below for an example of an MLA formatted resource for your Works Cited page.
MLA Style Reference for a Video:
Last name, First name of creator. "Title of Video." Website, Day Month Year of publication, URL.
Doe, John. "Exploring the Universe." YouTube, 15 Mar. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example.
MLA Style Reference for a Photograph:
Last name, First name of creator. "Title of Photograph." Website, Day Month Year of publication, URL.
Smith, Jane. "Sunset over the Mountains." Nature Photography, 20 May 2020, https://www.example.com.
MLA Style Reference for a Book with DOI:
Last name, First name of author. Title of Book . Publisher, Year. DOI.
Smith, John. Understanding Psychology . Psychology Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1000/xyz123.
MLA Style Reference for an Authored Book with DOI:
Jones, Robert. Advanced Mathematics . Academic Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1000/abc456.
MLA Style Reference for One Volume of a Multivolume Work:
Last name, First name of author. Title of Work . Vol. number, Publisher, Year.
Miller, Lucy. History of Ancient Civilizations . Vol. 2, History Press, 2018.
MLA Style Reference for a Work in an Anthology:
Last name, First name of author. "Title of Work." Title of Anthology , edited by Editor's Name, Publisher, Year, pages.
Davis, Paul. "Modern Poetry." Anthology of Contemporary Poetry , edited by Robert Carter, Poetry Press, 2019, pp. 34-56.
MLA Style Reference for a Paper Presentation or Poster Session:
Last name, First name of author. "Title of Paper or Poster." Title of Conference, Date, Location.
Lee, Mark. "Innovations in Education." Annual Education Conference, 15 Mar. 2022, Boston, MA.
MLA Style Reference for a Data Set:
Last name, First name of creator. "Title of Data Set." Name of Database, Publisher, Year. DOI or URL.
Johnson, Henry. "Global Temperature Data." Climate Research Institute, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1000/data123.
MLA Style Reference for a Dissertation:
Last name, First name of author. Title of Dissertation . Year. University, Publication Database, DOI or URL.
Martinez, Rosa. Social Dynamics in Urban Areas . 2020. Harvard University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, https://doi.org/10.1000/diss123.
MLA Style Reference for a Policy Brief:
Last name, First name of author. Title of Policy Brief . Organization, Year, DOI or URL.
Brown, Karen. Health Policy Recommendations . World Health Organization, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1000/policy789.
MLA Style Reference for a Journal Article with DOI:
Last name, First name of author. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical , vol. number, no. issue, Year, pages. DOI.
Doe, John. "Cognitive Development in Children." Journal of Psychology , vol. 25, no. 3, 2021, pp. 123-145, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsycho.2021.03.002.
MLA Style Reference for a Journal Article without DOI:
Last name, First name of author. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical , vol. number, no. issue, Year, pages.
Lee, Sarah. "Effects of Sleep on Memory." Health Journal , vol. 34, no. 2, 2020, pp. 78-89.
MLA Style Reference for a MOOC:
Instructor's Last name, First name. "Title of Course." Platform, Year, URL.
Anderson, Thomas. "Introduction to Sociology." Coursera, 2021, https://www.coursera.org/learn/sociology.
MLA Style Reference for an OER (Open Educational Resource):
Author's Last name, First name. Title of OER . Publisher, Year, DOI or URL.
Williams, James. Introduction to Economics . OpenStax, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1000/oer456.
MLA Style Reference for a Webpage (Individual Author, Dated):
Author's Last name, First name. "Title of Webpage." Website Name, Day Month Year, URL.
Thompson, Laura. "How to Learn Python." Programming Blog, 5 May 2020, https://www.example.com.
MLA Style Reference for a Webpage (Group Author, Dated):
Organization Name. "Title of Webpage." Website Name, Day Month Year, URL.
World Health Organization. "Global Health Initiatives." World Health Organization, 15 June 2021, https://www.who.int/initiatives.
MLA Style Reference for a Webpage (Group Author, Undated):
Organization Name. "Title of Webpage." Website Name, URL.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Preventing Chronic Diseases." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/preventing.
General Elements of a Cited Source
General Format for Works Cited Resources
Author. Title. Title of container, Other contributors, Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs, URL or DOI). 2 nd container’s title, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).
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Chapel audio.
General guidelines.
Please also visit the Academic Integrity LibGuide , which provides a Citation guide for your information.
A BOOK BY A SINGLE AUTHOR Sayers, Dorothy L. The Nine Tailors. San Diego: Harcourt, 1962. Print.
A BOOK BY MORE THAN ONE AUTHOR (OR EDITOR) Kerrigan, William, and Gordon Braden. The Idea of the Renaissance. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1989.Print.
Dyal, James A.,William C. Corning, and Dale M. Willows. Readings in Psychology: The Search for Alternatives. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw, 1975. Print.
WORKS BY MORE THAN THREE AUTHORS (OR EDITORS) Nielsen, Niels C., Jr., et al. Religions of the World. 3rd ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1992. Print.
A BOOK COMPILED BY AN EDITOR(S) Arp, Thomas R. and Greg Johnson, eds. Perrine's Story and Structure. 12th ed. Boston: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.
A WORK IN AN ANTHOLOGY OR A COLLECTION Fairbairn-Dunlop, Peggy. "Women and Agriculture in Western Samoa." Different Places, Different Voices. Ed.
Janet H. Momsen and Vivian Kinnaird. London: Routledge, 211-26. Print.
AN ARTICLE WITHOUT AN AUTHOR IN A REFERENCE BOOK "Hadadrimmon." Davis Dictionary of the Bible. John D. Davis, ed. 4th ed. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972. Print.
AN ARTICLE FROM A WEEKLY OR BIWEEKLY MAGAZINE Glastris, Paul. "The New Way to Get Rich." U.S. News & World Report 7 May 1990: 26-36. Print.
AN ARTICLE FROM A DAILY NEWSPAPER Wilford, John N. "Corn in the New World: A Relative Latecomer." New York Times 7 Mar. 1995, late ed.: C1+. Print.
AN ARTICLE IN A SCHOLARLY JOURNAL Rosen, Jonathan. "The Celestial Rolodex." The American Scholar 73 (Autumn 2004): 115-118. Print.
AN ANONYMOUS ARTICLE "Awash in Garbage." New York Times 15 Aug. 1987, sec. 1: 26. Print.
INTERNET SOURCE (without author) "Bertha Advances toward Bahamas." CNN WORLD News. 9 July 1996. Web. 21 March 2011.
ARTICLE FROM A SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ONLINE Brittain, Clark M. "The Architecture of Redemption: Spatiality in the Short Stories of Flannery O'Connor." The Journal of Southern Religion 4 (2001). 25 July 2005. Web. 25 March 2011.
MATERIAL FROM A DATABASE ON CD-ROM Grych, John H. "Patterns of Adjustment among Children of Battered Women." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 68 (2000): 84-94. Abstract. PsycLIT. CD-ROM. Silverplatter. 23 July 2003.
FILM, VIDEO, OR FILM CLIP ONLINE "The Glory Suffered: The Transfiguration of the Cross." The History of the Orthodox Christian Church. 2003. GoTelecom Online. 24 Oct. 2003. Web. 5 April 2011.
BIBLE Bible. Revised Standard Version. Cleveland: Word Publishing Company, 1962. Print.
LECTURE Mitten, David M. "Greek Art and Architecture in the West: Southern Italy, Sicily, and Campania." Class lecture. Harvard University. Cambridge, 15 May 1989.
MUSIC Sting, narr. Peter and the Wolf, op. 67. By Sergei Prokofiev. Chamber Orch. of Europe. Cond. Claudio Abbado. Deutsche Grammophon, 1990.
BASIC FORM (last name and page number) Dr. James is described as a "not-too-skeletal Ichabod Crane" (Johnson 68).
AUTHOR'S NAME IN TEXT Johnson describes Dr. James as a "not-too-skeletal Ichabod Crane" (68).
SOURCE BY TWO OR THREE AUTHORS The Authority-Rebel "tends to see himself as superior to other students in the class" (Dyal, Corning, and Willows 4).
A MULTIVOLUME WORK In the middle of several volumes of modern literary criticism, Rene Wellek admits, "An evolutionary history of criticism must fail. I have come to this resigned conclusion" (5: xxii).
ONE OF TWO (or more) WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR A friend of C. S. Lewis once said that Lewis "gave me not only love, but wisdom and understanding and, when necessary, severity" (Vanauken, Severe 21).
WORK LISTED ONLY BY THE TITLE (magazine article) An international pollution treaty would prohibit plastic garbage from being dumped at sea ("Awash" 26).
SECONDARY SOURCE THAT QUOTES THE ORIGINAL E. M. Forster says, "The collapse of all civilization, so realistic for us, sounded in Matthew Arnold's ears like a distant and harmonious cataract" (qtd. in Trilling 11).
INTERNET SOURCE Often there are no page numbers for the source, so indicate in the text who the author is. For example, Hershel Winthrop interprets Hawthorne's stories as the search for holiness in a corrupt Puritan society.
May 2012, compiled and updated by Karyn Hecht at Moody Bible Institute, Chicago
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Guidelines for referring to the works of others in your text using MLA style are covered throughout the MLA Handbook and in chapter 7 of the MLA Style Manual . Both books provide extensive examples, so it's a good idea to consult them if you want to become even more familiar with MLA guidelines or if you have a particular reference question.
In MLA Style, referring to the works of others in your text is done using parenthetical citations . This method involves providing relevant source information in parentheses whenever a sentence uses a quotation or paraphrase. Usually, the simplest way to do this is to put all of the source information in parentheses at the end of the sentence (i.e., just before the period). However, as the examples below will illustrate, there are situations where it makes sense to put the parenthetical elsewhere in the sentence, or even to leave information out.
General Guidelines
MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number(s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the sentence itself or in parentheses following the quotation or paraphrase, but the page number(s) should always appear in the parentheses, not in the text of your sentence. For example:
Both citations in the examples above, (263) and (Wordsworth 263), tell readers that the information in the sentence can be located on page 263 of a work by an author named Wordsworth. If readers want more information about this source, they can turn to the Works Cited page, where, under the name of Wordsworth, they would find the following information:
Wordsworth, William. Lyrical Ballads . Oxford UP, 1967.
For print sources like books, magazines, scholarly journal articles, and newspapers, provide a signal word or phrase (usually the author’s last name) and a page number. If you provide the signal word/phrase in the sentence, you do not need to include it in the parenthetical citation.
These examples must correspond to an entry that begins with Burke, which will be the first thing that appears on the left-hand margin of an entry on the Works Cited page:
Burke, Kenneth. Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method . University of California Press, 1966.
When a source has a corporate author, it is acceptable to use the name of the corporation followed by the page number for the in-text citation. You should also use abbreviations (e.g., nat'l for national) where appropriate, so as to avoid interrupting the flow of reading with overly long parenthetical citations.
If a source uses a labeling or numbering system other than page numbers, such as a script or poetry, precede the citation with said label. When citing a poem, for instance, the parenthetical would begin with the word “line”, and then the line number or range. For example, the examination of William Blake’s poem “The Tyger” would be cited as such:
The speaker makes an ardent call for the exploration of the connection between the violence of nature and the divinity of creation. “In what distant deeps or skies. / Burnt the fire of thine eyes," they ask in reference to the tiger as they attempt to reconcile their intimidation with their relationship to creationism (lines 5-6).
Longer labels, such as chapters (ch.) and scenes (sc.), should be abbreviated.
When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name, following these guidelines.
Place the title in quotation marks if it's a short work (such as an article) or italicize it if it's a longer work (e.g. plays, books, television shows, entire Web sites) and provide a page number if it is available.
Titles longer than a standard noun phrase should be shortened into a noun phrase by excluding articles. For example, To the Lighthouse would be shortened to Lighthouse .
If the title cannot be easily shortened into a noun phrase, the title should be cut after the first clause, phrase, or punctuation:
In this example, since the reader does not know the author of the article, an abbreviated title appears in the parenthetical citation, and the full title of the article appears first at the left-hand margin of its respective entry on the Works Cited page. Thus, the writer includes the title in quotation marks as the signal phrase in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader directly to the source on the Works Cited page. The Works Cited entry appears as follows:
"The Impact of Global Warming in North America." Global Warming: Early Signs . 1999. www.climatehotmap.org/. Accessed 23 Mar. 2009.
If the title of the work begins with a quotation mark, such as a title that refers to another work, that quote or quoted title can be used as the shortened title. The single quotation marks must be included in the parenthetical, rather than the double quotation.
Parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages, used in conjunction, allow readers to know which sources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can either verify your interpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.
Page numbers are always required, but additional citation information can help literary scholars, who may have a different edition of a classic work, like Marx and Engels's The Communist Manifesto . In such cases, give the page number of your edition (making sure the edition is listed in your Works Cited page, of course) followed by a semicolon, and then the appropriate abbreviations for volume (vol.), book (bk.), part (pt.), chapter (ch.), section (sec.), or paragraph (par.). For example:
When you cite a work that appears inside a larger source (for instance, an article in a periodical or an essay in a collection), cite the author of the internal source (i.e., the article or essay). For example, to cite Albert Einstein's article "A Brief Outline of the Theory of Relativity," which was published in Nature in 1921, you might write something like this:
See also our page on documenting periodicals in the Works Cited .
Sometimes more information is necessary to identify the source from which a quotation is taken. For instance, if two or more authors have the same last name, provide both authors' first initials (or even the authors' full name if different authors share initials) in your citation. For example:
For a source with two authors, list the authors’ last names in the text or in the parenthetical citation:
Corresponding Works Cited entry:
Best, David, and Sharon Marcus. “Surface Reading: An Introduction.” Representations , vol. 108, no. 1, Fall 2009, pp. 1-21. JSTOR, doi:10.1525/rep.2009.108.1.1
For a source with three or more authors, list only the first author’s last name, and replace the additional names with et al.
Franck, Caroline, et al. “Agricultural Subsidies and the American Obesity Epidemic.” American Journal of Preventative Medicine , vol. 45, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 327-333.
If you cite more than one work by an author, include a shortened title for the particular work from which you are quoting to distinguish it from the others. Put short titles of books in italics and short titles of articles in quotation marks.
Citing two articles by the same author :
Citing two books by the same author :
Additionally, if the author's name is not mentioned in the sentence, format your citation with the author's name followed by a comma, followed by a shortened title of the work, and, when appropriate, the page number(s):
If you cite from different volumes of a multivolume work, always include the volume number followed by a colon. Put a space after the colon, then provide the page number(s). (If you only cite from one volume, provide only the page number in parentheses.)
In your first parenthetical citation, you want to make clear which Bible you're using (and underline or italicize the title), as each version varies in its translation, followed by book (do not italicize or underline), chapter, and verse. For example:
If future references employ the same edition of the Bible you’re using, list only the book, chapter, and verse in the parenthetical citation:
John of Patmos echoes this passage when describing his vision (Rev. 4.6-8).
Sometimes you may have to use an indirect source. An indirect source is a source cited within another source. For such indirect quotations, use "qtd. in" to indicate the source you actually consulted. For example:
Note that, in most cases, a responsible researcher will attempt to find the original source, rather than citing an indirect source.
Sources that take the form of a dialogue involving two or more participants have special guidelines for their quotation and citation. Each line of dialogue should begin with the speaker's name written in all capitals and indented half an inch. A period follows the name (e.g., JAMES.) . After the period, write the dialogue. Each successive line after the first should receive an additional indentation. When another person begins speaking, start a new line with that person's name indented only half an inch. Repeat this pattern each time the speaker changes. You can include stage directions in the quote if they appear in the original source.
Conclude with a parenthetical that explains where to find the excerpt in the source. Usually, the author and title of the source can be given in a signal phrase before quoting the excerpt, so the concluding parenthetical will often just contain location information like page numbers or act/scene indicators.
Here is an example from O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh.
WILLIE. (Pleadingly) Give me a drink, Rocky. Harry said it was all right. God, I need a drink.
ROCKY. Den grab it. It's right under your nose.
WILLIE. (Avidly) Thanks. (He takes the bottle with both twitching hands and tilts it to his lips and gulps down the whiskey in big swallows.) (1.1)
With more and more scholarly work published on the Internet, you may have to cite sources you found in digital environments. While many sources on the Internet should not be used for scholarly work (reference the OWL's Evaluating Sources of Information resource), some Web sources are perfectly acceptable for research. When creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the source on your Works Cited page.
Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the absence of page numbers. However, these sorts of entries often do not require a page number in the parenthetical citation. For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:
Two types of non-print sources you may encounter are films and lectures/presentations:
In the two examples above “Herzog” (a film’s director) and “Yates” (a presentor) lead the reader to the first item in each citation’s respective entry on the Works Cited page:
Herzog, Werner, dir. Fitzcarraldo . Perf. Klaus Kinski. Filmverlag der Autoren, 1982.
Yates, Jane. "Invention in Rhetoric and Composition." Gaps Addressed: Future Work in Rhetoric and Composition, CCCC, Palmer House Hilton, 2002. Address.
Electronic sources may include web pages and online news or magazine articles:
In the first example (an online magazine article), the writer has chosen not to include the author name in-text; however, two entries from the same author appear in the Works Cited. Thus, the writer includes both the author’s last name and the article title in the parenthetical citation in order to lead the reader to the appropriate entry on the Works Cited page (see below).
In the second example (a web page), a parenthetical citation is not necessary because the page does not list an author, and the title of the article, “MLA Formatting and Style Guide,” is used as a signal phrase within the sentence. If the title of the article was not named in the sentence, an abbreviated version would appear in a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. Both corresponding Works Cited entries are as follows:
Taylor, Rumsey. "Fitzcarraldo." Slant , 13 Jun. 2003, www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/fitzcarraldo/. Accessed 29 Sep. 2009.
"MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL , 2 Aug. 2016, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/. Accessed 2 April 2018.
To cite multiple sources in the same parenthetical reference, separate the citations by a semi-colon:
When creating in-text citations for media that has a runtime, such as a movie or podcast, include the range of hours, minutes and seconds you plan to reference. For example: (00:02:15-00:02:35).
Common sense and ethics should determine your need for documenting sources. You do not need to give sources for familiar proverbs, well-known quotations, or common knowledge (For example, it is expected that U.S. citizens know that George Washington was the first President.). Remember that citing sources is a rhetorical task, and, as such, can vary based on your audience. If you’re writing for an expert audience of a scholarly journal, for example, you may need to deal with expectations of what constitutes “common knowledge” that differ from common norms.
The MLA Handbook describes how to cite many different kinds of authors and content creators. However, you may occasionally encounter a source or author category that the handbook does not describe, making the best way to proceed can be unclear.
In these cases, it's typically acceptable to apply the general principles of MLA citation to the new kind of source in a way that's consistent and sensible. A good way to do this is to simply use the standard MLA directions for a type of source that resembles the source you want to cite.
You may also want to investigate whether a third-party organization has provided directions for how to cite this kind of source. For example, Norquest College provides guidelines for citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers —an author category that does not appear in the MLA Handbook . In cases like this, however, it's a good idea to ask your instructor or supervisor whether using third-party citation guidelines might present problems.
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Formatting. Note: For your Works Cited list, ... Note: If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source after the name of the book's author. Works Cited List Example :
By contrast, book reviews are most often a college assignment, but they also appear in many professional works: magazines, newspapers, and academic journals. They typically range from 500-750 words, but may be longer or shorter. A book review gives readers a sneak peek at what a book is like, whether or not the reviewer enjoyed it, and details ...
Proceed title with the words Review of and follow rules of capitalization stated above. Italicize title. Separate from author with a comma. Author of book: by Vendela Vida. Precede name with the word 'by,' then first name and last. End with a period. Title & subtitle of the periodical the review appears in: The New York Times Book Review ...
How to Format Author Names. Works Cited List. In-Text Citation. One Author. Last Name, First Name Middle Name or Initial (if provided in source) Two Authors. Only the first author's name appears in the inverted "Last Name, First Name" format. The second author's name appears in "First Name Last Name" format.
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Name of Journal, vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp.First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database. doi: DOI Number if Given.. Note: If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source.
Author's Last Name, First Name. Review of Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, by Book Author's First Name Last Name.Name of Journal, vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp.First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database. doi: DOI Number if Given.. Note: If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section in ...
If the book cover or title page specifies an edition, add the edition number or name, followed by the abbreviation "ed.", after the title. Note that versions of the Bible are treated slightly differently. MLA format. Author last name, First name. Book Title. Edition ed., Publisher, Year. MLA Works Cited entry.
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Name of Journal, vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp.First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database. doi: DOI Number if Given.. Note: If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source.
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities. This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.
MLA Citation Style, 9th Edition; Book Review; Search this Guide Search. MLA Citation Style, 9th Edition. Help Guides Home; Home; General Guidelines Toggle Dropdown. In-Text References ... Powers, Thomas. "The Road to West Egg." Review of Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and the Invention of The Great Gatsby, by Sarah Churchwell, London Review of ...
Adhere to a particular citation style, such as Chicago, MLA, or APA. Put your name at the very end of the book review text. The basic purpose of a book review is to convey and evaluate the following: a. what the book is about; b. the expertise of the author(s); c. how well the book covers its topic(s) and whether it breaks new ground; d.
Elements: Reviewer. Review of Title of Work, by Author.; Title of Journal,; Volume number, issue number, Publication Date, Page number(s). Title of Database,; DOI or ...
Cite a book automatically in MLA. The 8 th edition of the MLA handbook highlights principles over prescriptive practices. Essentially, a writer will need to take note of primary elements in every source, such as author, title, etc. and then assort them in a general format. Thus, by using this methodology, a writer will be able to cite any ...
A review in MLA has a simple citation format for in-text citations. The following information appears in parentheses after the text that cites the source, in what is known as a parenthetical citation: ... For example, MLA format refers to a paper's bibliography as its Works Cited page. APA refers to it as the References page. Chicago Manual ...
In-Text Citation Example: (Author's Last Name and Author's Last Name Page Number) Example: (Jacobson and Kysar 25) Three or More Authors. Last Name, First Name of First Author, et al. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication.
If you're citing a book in MLA format with two or three authors, use the examples below to format your citation: Bringham, Darrin E., and Sally Knope. Resting Heartbeat Science. 12th ed., Wiley, 2001. Christopherson, Charles, Ronald Swanson, and Roger Koltz. Fog Pirates: On Board the USS Hammerhead.
2. MLA. If you've decided to use the MLA format for your book review, observe the following rules: Paper format: standard, white paper. Paper dimensions: 8.5 x 11 inches. Text spacing: double-spaced, following MLA format. Font and typeface: no strict rule, but italics should be distinct from regular type style.
To create a basic works-cited-list entry for a book, list the author, the title, the publisher, and the publication date. You may need to include other elements depending on the type of book you are citing (e.g., an edited book, a translation) and how it is published (e.g., in print, as an e-book, online). Below are sample entries for books ...
To cite a review of a product, such as a toaster, follow the examples for citing reviews provided in appendix 2 of the MLA Handbook. How you cite the review will depend on whether it is signed (i.e., whether it lists the author's name or was published anonymously) and on whether it has a unique title.
The discipline of English, as well as many other disciplines in the humanities, use MLA citation format. Below are some examples for formatting the Works Cited page. Look in the drop-down menu for examples of in-text citations. Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. Love in the Time of Cholera.
Revised on March 5, 2024. An MLA in-text citation provides the author's last name and a page number in parentheses. If a source has two authors, name both. If a source has more than two authors, name only the first author, followed by " et al. ". If the part you're citing spans multiple pages, include the full page range.
Periodicals include magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals. Works cited entries for periodical sources include three main elements—the author of the article, the title of the article, and information about the magazine, newspaper, or journal. MLA uses the generic term "container" to refer to any print or digital venue (a website or ...
MLA Style Reference for a Journal Article with DOI: Last name, First name of author. "Title of Article." Title of Periodical, vol. number, no. issue, Year, pages.DOI ...
MLA Style Sheet General Guidelines. Please also visit the Academic Integrity LibGuide, which provides a Citation guide for your information.. Everything in the paper is double-spaced: works cited, indented quotes, etc.; Pagination: student's last name and the page number are placed on each page's upper right-hand corner. Quotes that are more than four lines long are indented one inch from the ...
In-text citations: Author-page style. MLA format follows the author-page method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the page number (s) from which the quotation or paraphrase is taken must appear in the text, and a complete reference should appear on your Works Cited page. The author's name may appear either in the ...