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An MLA citation for a book has two halves that must match: a Works Cited entry and a short in-text citation. The entry names the author, the book title in italics, any edition, the publisher and the year, in that order. In the text you give the author’s last name and the page number, for example (Huskin 15). This guide uses the MLA 9th edition (2021), the current edition as of October 2026, and shows both halves side by side so a manuscript or thesis stays consistent.
The format: MLA citation for a book, element by element
The basic pattern published in the Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) MLA 9 guide is:
Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title: Subtitle if present. Publisher, year of publication.
- Author. Last name first, then first name, ending with a period.
- Title. The book title in italics, with the subtitle after a colon, ending with a period.
- Edition (only if it is not the first). Written as “2nd ed.” and placed before the publisher, separated by a comma.
- Publisher. Followed by a comma.
- Year of publication. Ending with a period.
There is no city of publication. MLA dropped it as a routine element in the 8th edition (see the MLA Style Center’s “What’s new” page); the exception below is a book published before 1900.
Examples: what is on your title page decides the entry
The patterns below come from the FSCJ and Concordia University St. Paul (CSP) library guides. The table rows are the books those guides use; the labelled sample below the table shows the same pattern with a made-up source.
| If the book has | Works Cited entry |
|---|---|
| One author and an edition | Paarlberg, Robert. Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know. 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 2013. |
| Two authors (only the first is inverted) | Miller, Casey, and Kate Swift. Words and Women. Updated ed., HarperCollins Publishers, 1991. |
| Three or more authors | Clare, Cassandra, et al. Tales from the Shadowhunters Academy. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2016. |
| An editor and no single author | Sanchez Prado, Ignacio M., editor. Mexican Literature in Theory. Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. |
| A translator | Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince, translated by W. K. Marriott, Kindle ed., Library of Alexandria, 2018. |
| An e-book (file or device) | Silva, Paul J. How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing. E-book ed., American Psychological Association, 2007. |
| An e-book from a library database | Waldau, Paul. Animal Rights: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford UP, 2010. eBook Collection. |
| No author (published before 1900) | Begin with the title: Lazarillo de Tormes. Medina del Campo, 1554. For a book before 1900 the city takes the place of the publisher. |
| An organization as author | Name of Organization. Title of Book. Publisher, Date. If the organization is also the publisher, omit the author and start with the title; the organization then appears as publisher. |
Illustrative sample (fictitious book, not a real source): Marlowe, Ines, and Dev Anand. Reading Lab Notebooks: A Sample Title. 3rd ed., Example UP, 2022.
A chapter in an edited book
The chapter title goes in quotation marks, the book title in italics, then “edited by”, the editor’s name, publisher, year and page range. FSCJ’s example: Sabau, Anna. “The Perils of Ownership: …” Mexican Literature in Theory, edited by Ignacio M. Sanchez Prado, Bloomsbury Academic, 2018, pp. 33-54.
In-text citation version
Each Works Cited entry has a matching in-text citation that points the reader to the entry: the author’s last name and the page number, in parentheses after the quotation or paraphrase. The FSCJ guide and the MLA Style Center agree on the shape.
- One author: (Huskin 15)
- Two authors, joined by “and”: (D’Amico and Barbarito 352)
- Three or more authors: first author plus “et al.”: (Landon et al. 47)
- No page marker in the work: give the author, or a short title, alone.
In a thesis or manuscript, write the entry and its in-text form in the same sitting: if the entry begins “Clare, Cassandra, et al.”, every in-text reference to that book begins “Clare et al.” The first word of the in-text citation should be the first word of the entry.
Common errors
- Copying the city of publication from an older sample. Some guides still show “City of Publication, Publisher” in the basic template. Current MLA practice omits the city for modern books.
- Listing every author of a three-author book. With three or more authors, the entry gives the first author followed by “et al.”, and so does the in-text citation.
- Inverting both names for two authors. Only the first author is inverted: “Miller, Casey, and Kate Swift.”
- Naming an organization twice. When the author and publisher are the same organization, the author is omitted and the entry starts with the title.
- Forgetting the e-book marker. An e-book carries “E-book ed.” (or the device edition, such as “Kindle ed.”) before the publisher.
Style-guide edition
This page follows the MLA Handbook, 9th edition (2021). The query names no edition, so the current one is used. The Works Cited page layout is covered in MLA Works Cited format; for the same book in other styles see how to cite from a book and the overview of citation styles. For direct quotations, see quoting and citing sources correctly.
FAQ
What is the MLA citation for a book?
Author (last name first), italicised title, publisher, year: “Paarlberg, Robert. Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know. 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 2013.” The same pattern answers searches phrased as MLA citation of a book, MLA citation for books, book citation MLA or citation book MLA.
Do I italicize the book title?
Yes. In every entry above, the book title is italicised and the chapter title in quotation marks.
What if the book has no author?
Begin the entry with the title, as in the Lazarillo de Tormes pattern above, and use the title in the in-text citation.
How do I cite an e-book?
Add “E-book ed.” before the publisher. For a book read through a library database, end the entry with the database name, for example “eBook Collection.”
How do I cite a book in a thesis?
Use the same entry and in-text patterns, and keep the two aligned: the first word of each in-text citation matches the first word of its Works Cited entry.
Sources
- Florida State College at Jacksonville Library, “MLA 9: Books” (last updated Feb 11, 2026): guides.fscj.edu/MLA9/books. Accessed 2026-10-28.
- Concordia University St. Paul Library, “MLA: Books” (last updated Sep 24, 2026): library.csp.edu/mla/books. Accessed 2026-10-28.
- MLA Style Center, “What’s new” (8th-edition changes, including omission of the city of publication) and “In-text citations: an overview”: style.mla.org. Accessed 2026-10-28.
