MLA & APA Citation Guide 

All book citations should include the following elements:

1. Name of Author

2. Title of Book (italicized)

3. City of Publication

4. Name of Publisher

5. Year of Publication

6. Medium of Publication

 

Note: E-books require additional information. See the example to the right and the Online Databases section for more details.

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Book by a Single Author or Editor

Example - Single Author:

Schaller, Barry R. Understanding Bioethics and the Law: The Promises and Perils of the Brave New World of Biotechnology.

         Westport, CT: Praeger, 2008. Print.

Example - Single Editor:

If you are citing an entire edited book, place the editor's name in the author position followed by "ed." If you are citing a specific chapter, entry, or article in an edited book or in a reference book, see instructions below.

Magill, Frank N., ed. Masterpieces of African-American Literature. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Print.

 

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Book by Multiple Authors or Editors

Two authors

List the authors in the order they appear on the title page. List the first author with the last name first; additional authors' names are listed with the first name followed by the last name.

Example:

Reed, Thomas C., and Danny B. Stillman. The Nuclear Express: A Political History of the Bomb and Its Proliferation.

         Minneapolis: Zenith Press, 2009. Print.

 

Three authors

List the authors in the order they appear on the title page. List the first author with the last name first; additional authors' names are listed with the first name followed by the last name.

Example:

Hopkins, Nigel J., John W. Mayne, and John R. Hudson. The Numbers You Need. Detroit: Gale, 1992. Print.

 

Four or more authors

You may list each author as in the examples above, or list the first author followed by "et al." (meaning "and others").

Example:

Darling-Hammond, Linda, et al. Powerful Learning: What We Know About Teaching For Understanding. San Fransisco:

         Jossey-Bass, 2008. Print.

 

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Book by a Corporate Author or Organization

List the name of the responsible organization in place of the author.

Example:

Modern Language Association of America. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: The Modern

         Language Association of America, 2009. Print. 

 

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Chapter or Section in an Edited Book

Begin the citation with the author of the article, not the editor of the book.

Example:

Buntline, Ned. "Magdalena, the Beautiful Mexican Maid." Empire and the Literature of Sensation: An Anthology of Nineteenth

         Century Popular Fiction. Ed. Jesse Aleman and Shelley Streeby. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 2007. 21-106. Print.

 

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Entry or Article in a Reference Book

Begin the citation with the author of the article, not the author or editor of the book. Page numbers are not necessary if the entries are arranged alphabetically.

Example - Signed Entry:

Butterworth, Susan. "Zora Neale Hurston." The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Ed. Jay Parini. Vol. 2. New York:

          Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

Example - Unsigned Entry:

If no author is attached to an entry, begin with the title of the entry.

"Giuseppe Verdi." The New Penguin Opera Guide. Ed. Amanda Holden. New York: Penguin, 2001. Print.

 

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E-Book

Cite the work as you would a print book, followed by:

•  the database in which you accessed the e-book
•  the medium of publication
•  the date of access

Example:

Mauzé, Marie, Michael Eugene Harkin, and Sergei Kan, eds. Coming to Shore: Northwest Coast Ethnology, Traditions, and

         Visions. Lincoln, NE: U of Nebraska P, 2004. NetLibrary. Web. 28 Aug. 2009.