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To cite a textbook in text in MLA 9, put the author’s last name and the page number in parentheses after the quoted or paraphrased passage, with no comma and no “p.”: (Rivera 214). The edition and year do not appear in the parenthetical. They belong only in the Works Cited entry, which the in-text citation points to. This page covers the textbook-specific cases: editions, textbooks without page numbers, and open or e-textbooks.
How do you cite a textbook in-text in MLA?
MLA’s own guidance says the in-text citation starts with whatever comes first in the Works Cited entry, “the author’s name or the title (or description) of the work,” followed by a location marker such as a page number (MLA Style Center, in-text citations overview). For a textbook the first element is almost always the author, so the citation is the author’s last name plus the page.
The format
An in-text citation has two parts, and a textbook entry in the Works Cited list has a fixed order that the first part must match.
- Author: last name only, exactly as the Works Cited entry begins.
- Location: the page number, with no “p.” or “pp.” and no comma between author and number.
Template: (Last Name Page)
The matching Works Cited entry for a textbook, as shown in the Columbia Basin College and John Cabot University guides, follows this order: Last Name, First Name. Title: Subtitle. Edition if not the first, Publisher, Year. The edition is given only when it is not the first edition, and publisher names are often shortened (for example “Oxford UP”).
Examples
All sources below are fictitious and are labelled as examples.
One author (example)
Works Cited: Rivera, Maya. Principles of Soil Chemistry. 3rd ed., Harbor UP, 2022.
In text: Soil organic matter buffers pH change (Rivera 214).
Author named in your sentence (example)
In text: Rivera argues that buffering depends on organic matter (214).
When the sentence names the author, only the page goes in the parentheses. This also avoids what MLA tells writers to avoid: giving the author’s name in both your prose and the parentheses.
Two authors (example)
In text: (Okafor and Lindqvist 58). Join both last names with “and”.
Three or more authors (example)
In text: (Haddad et al. 112). Use the first author’s last name and “et al.” For running prose, see when “et al.” is and is not used.
Two textbooks by the same author (example)
In text: (Rivera, Soil Chemistry 88). Add a shortened title, in italics because a book title is italicised in the Works Cited entry, so readers know which entry you mean. If two authors share a surname, add an initial: (P. Harris 75).
In-text citation version: what changes for a textbook
The edition does not go in the parentheses
Because the in-text citation points to the first element of the Works Cited entry, the edition and year never appear in it. The edition is stated in the Works Cited entry (3rd ed.), and page numbers in your parentheses refer to that edition.
No page numbers: use the chapter
Many open and e-textbooks have no stable pages. The Columbia Basin College guide says to use the chapter number when there are no page numbers: (Illowsky et al. ch. 5) or (Anderson ch. 2). The Otis College guide advises “when available, use stable page, chapter, or section numbers” and shows a chapter form written as (Scalzi Chap. 7). The two guides abbreviate the chapter differently (“ch.” and “Chap.”), so pick one form and use it consistently, or follow your instructor’s or journal’s preference.
Do not cite e-reader locations such as “Loc. 1690 of 3014”; the Otis guide advises against them because they vary by device. If a source has no page, chapter or section numbers at all, the John Cabot University and Otis guides agree: give no number, and cite the author alone.
Online or OER textbook
An open textbook posted on a website is cited with the author or authors, title, publisher, year and web address in the Works Cited list (the Columbia Basin guide shows an OpenStax example), and its in-text citation follows the same author plus page, or author plus chapter, rule.
Common errors
- Adding the year or edition to the parentheses. (Rivera 2022, 214) is not MLA; see above.
- Writing “p.” or “pp.” before the number. Otis: “Do not add p. or pp. to the page number(s).”
- Adding a comma between author and page: (Rivera, 214) is wrong; use (Rivera 214).
- Repeating the author in the sentence and the parentheses.
- Using “et al.” for two authors. Two authors are joined with “and”; “et al.” starts at three.
- Citing a device location instead of a chapter for an e-textbook.
- Leaving out the shortened title when you cite two works by the same author.
Style-guide edition
This page follows the MLA Handbook, 9th edition (2021), the current edition as of October 2026. Author-page rules were checked against the MLA Style Center and the library guides listed under Sources on 2026-10-29. For the equivalent in other styles see how to cite a textbook in APA, Harvard, IEEE and AMA.
For manuscripts and theses
In a thesis or manuscript, cite a textbook exactly as above and keep every in-text citation traceable to one Works Cited entry. Your department or journal may add rules of its own, and those override general library guidance. For the full entry, read MLA citation for a book, MLA Works Cited format and MLA 9 formatting; for general in-text patterns see in-text citation examples in MLA. A bibliography or Works Cited list is what each parenthetical points to.
FAQ
How do I cite a textbook in MLA in-text?
Put the author’s last name and the page number in parentheses after the borrowed passage, with no comma and no “p.”: (Rivera 214). If your sentence already names the author, give only the page.
Does the edition go in the in-text citation?
No. Name the edition in the Works Cited entry, for example “3rd ed.”, and only when it is not the first.
What if the textbook has no page numbers?
Use the chapter number if there is one, such as (Illowsky et al. ch. 5). If the source has no page, chapter or section numbers, give the author alone.
Sources
- MLA Style Center, “In-text citations: an overview”: https://style.mla.org/in-text-citations-overview/ (checked 2026-10-29).
- Columbia Basin College Library, MLA Citation Guide (MLA 9th Edition), “Books, eBooks and Course Packs”, updated 2025-10-16: https://columbiabasin.libguides.com/MLA/books (checked 2026-10-29).
- John Cabot University Library, MLA Style 9th edition, “In-Text Citations”, updated 2026-10-12: https://johncabot.libguides.com/MLA/intext (checked 2026-10-29).
- Otis College Library, Citations (MLA 9th Edition), “In-Text Citations”, updated 2026-10-14: https://otis.libguides.com/mla_citations/in-text (checked 2026-10-29).
