Citation Examples for “Works Cited” List: Books

Books

Elements:

Author's Last Name, Author's First Name. Full Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, Date. Medium of Publication [Print]. Series.

The full title is found on the title page of a book.
Authors, editors and series statements usually appear on the title page.
Date of publication, publisher and place are usually on the back of the title page.
When publication date is not given, use the copyright date.

Book by a single author (MLA Handbook, 5.5.2)

Wyss, O'Neill. Fundamentals of the Stock Market. New York: McGraw, 2001. Print.

Book by two or three authors (MLA Handbook, 5.5.4)

Hamilton, John Maxwell, Jr., and George A. Krimsky. Hold the Press: The Inside Story on Newspapers. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1996. Print.

Book by more than three authors (MLA Handbook, 5.5.4)

Quirk, Randolph, et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman, 1985. Print.

Book by a corporate author (MLA Handbook, 5.5.5)

American Medical Association. Essential Guide to Asthma. New York: Pocket, 1998. Print.

Book by an editor (ed.) or compiler (comp.) (MLA Handbook, 5.5.3)

Allison, Nancy, ed. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Body-Mind Disciplines. New York: Rosen, 1999. Print.

Spafford, Peter R., and Millicent Monroe, comps. The Protocol of Heaven. New York: Ballantine, 2002. Print.

NOTE: Use "ed." for editor, "comp." for compiler. If there are two, add an "s" (e.g., eds.) list the second with first name first.

Book with author and editor (MLA Handbook, 5.5.10)

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Harold Jenkins. London: Methuen, 1982. Print.

Two or more works by the same author (MLA Handbook, 5.3.5)

Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. New York: Putnam's, 1989. Print.

---. The Kitchen God's Wife. New York: Putnam's, 1991. Print.

Translation (MLA Handbook, 5.5.11)

Allende, Isabel. Eva Luna. Trans. Margaret Sayers Penden. New York: Bantam, 1989. Print.

Edition (MLA Handbook, 5.5.13)

SarDesai, D. R. Vietnam: Past and Present. 3rd ed. Boulder: Westview, 1998. Print.

Book in a series (MLA Handbook, 5.5.15)

Heisler, Martin O., and Barbara S. Heisler. From Foreign Workers to Settlers? Transnational Migration and the Emergence of New Minorities. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1986. Print. Annals of the Amer. Acad. of Political and Social Science 485.

Book with no author (MLA Handbook, 5.3.9)

Collins Quotation Finder. Rev. ed. Glasgow: HarperCollins, 2001. Print.

Pamphlet (MLA Handbook, 5.5.19) (Treat a pamphlet as you would a book.)

LaGuardia Community College. Students Services Cluster. LaGuardia Health Services Center. Long Island City: LaGuardia Community Coll., 2002. Print.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. A Pocket Guide for Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention. Rockville, MD: NIAAA Publications Distribution Center, 2005. Print.

Parts of a book

Elements:

Author (of essay, chapter or story being cited), Last Name, First Name. "Title of Chapter or Section Being Cited." Translator of the part of the book being cited (if relevant). Full Title of Book. Name of editor(s), translator(s) or compiler(s) of the entire book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Date. Page number(s) of the cited piece. Medium of Publication [Print]. Series.

Chapter in an edited book or work in an anthology (MLA Handbook, 5.5.6)

Allende, Isabel. "Toad's Mouth." Trans. Margaret Sayers Peden. A Hammock beneath the Mangoes: Stories from Latin America. Ed. Thomas Colchie. New York: Plume, 1992. 83-88. Print.

Chopin, Kate. "The Awakening." The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: The Traditions in English. 2nd ed. Comp. Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar. New York: Norton, 1996. 1011-101. Print.

Hatt, Beth. "Growing Up as Poor, White Trash: Stories of Where I Come From." Late to Class: Social Class and Schooling in the New Economy. Ed. Jane A. Van Galen and George W. Noblit. Albany: State U of New York P, 2007. 19-28. Print.

Excerpt from a book, reprinted in an anthology (MLA Handbook, 5.5.6)

West, Ray B. "Atmosphere and Theme in Faulkner's 'A Rose for Emily'." William Faulkner: Four Decades of Criticism. Ed. Linda Welshimer Wagner. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 1973. 192-98. Excerpt in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Laurie Lanzen Harris and Sheila Fitzgerald. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 148-51. Print.

Excerpt from an article, reprinted in an anthology (MLA Handbook, 5.5.6)

Doody, Terrence, "Hemingway's Style and Jake's Narration." Journal of Narrative Technique 4.3 (1974): 212-25. Excerpt in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz. Vol. 61. Detroit: Gale, 1990. 204-208. Print.

Signed article in an encyclopedia or reference book (MLA Handbook, 5.5.7)

Cleland, Hugh G. "Child Labor." The Encyclopedia Americana. 1998 ed. Print.

Unsigned article in an encyclopedia or reference book (MLA Handbook, 5.5.7)

"Highway Speed Limits, by State." The World Almanac and Book of Facts. 2008 ed. Print.

Don't see an example you are looking for? Check out OWL: Purdue University's Online Writing Lab