Created by Kathryn Reilly

MLA Bibliography: Book Sources

Basic MLA Book Formatting

• The basic MLA book bibliographic citation:

Last name, First name. Title of Book in italics. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

Changes to this basic format will be added in red.

• This format will change slightly based on book type.

Book with a Single Author

• Format:Last name, First name. Title of Book in italics. Place

of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

• Example:Silverstein, Shell. Where the Sidewalk Ends. New

York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1974. Print.

Book with Multiple Authors

• Format:Last name, First name of first listed author and first name

last name of second and subsequent authors. Title of Book in italics. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

• Example:Gaiman, Neil and Dave McKean. MirrorMask: The Illustrated

Film Script of the Motion Picture from The Jim Henson Company. New York: William Morrow, 2005. Print.

Anthology or Collection (Books with Editor(s))

• Format:– Last name, First name, ed. Title of Book in italics. Place of

Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

• If several editors exist, the same format is followed for a book with multiple authors.

• Example:Hartman, Virginia and Barbara Esstman, eds. A More Perfect

Union: Poems and Stories about the Modern Wedding. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Print.

A Work within an Anthology

• Format:Last name, First name.“Title of Essay”. Title of Book in

italics. Ed. Editor(s) name(s). Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication.

• Example:Epping, Myra. “Conrad and the Carnivore”. A More

Perfect Union: Poems and Stories about the Modern Wedding. Eds. Virginia Hartman and Barbara Esstman. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. 13-26. Print.

An Introduction, Foreword, Preface, or Afterword in a Book

• Format if the writer of the cited piece is different than the author of the book:

Last name, First name. Title of cited piece. Title of Book in italics. By Book Author. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Pages of cited piece. Medium of Publication.

• Example:Kennedy II, Joseph P. Preface. The Irish in America. By

Michael Coffey, Ed. New York: Hyperion, 1997. ix-x. Print.