How to Cite Book Pages in MLA Format

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the liberal arts and humanities.

Checkout this video:

How to cite a book in MLA format

To cite a book in MLA format, you will need the following pieces of information:

-The author’s name
-The title of the book
-The name of the publisher
-The date of publication

You will also need to determine how you want to cite the book. There are two common ways to do this: by using a signal phrase or by creating a parenthetical citation.

Here is an example of how you would cite a book using a signal phrase:

According to Smith, “ MLA format is easy to use” (42).

And here is an example of how you would create a parenthetical citation:

MLA format is easy to use (Smith 42).

How to format book citations in MLA

To cite pages from a book in MLA format, you will need the following pieces of information:

-The author’s last name
-The book’s title (in italics)
-The page number(s) you are citing

For example:

Smith, John. The History of the World. New York: Penguin, 2010. Print.

If you are citing a specific page or range of pages, you will add this information after the publication date, preceded by a comma. For example:

Smith, John. The History of the World. New York: Penguin, 2010. Print. 32-33.

How to reference a book in MLA

When you are gathering book sources, be sure to make note of the following bibliographic items:
-Author name(s), -The book’s title, -The date of publication, -The publisher, and – The page number(s) of the chapter or section you want to cite.

To cite a specific portion of a book, include the chapter or section number after the book’s title in your Works Cited list entry:
Gioia, Dana. “Concerning Literature.” The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women. Ed. Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar. 2nd ed., vol. 1, W.W. Norton & Co., 1995, pp. 945-52.

How to in-text cite a book in MLA

To in-text cite a book in MLA, you will need the author’s last name and the page number. For example, if you are quoting from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, you would write (Austen 78).

How to cite a book in MLA Works Cited

To cite a book in MLA Works Cited, start with the author’s last name and first name, followed by the title of the book in italics. Then, include the name of the book’s editor (if there is one), the edition of the book (if there is more than one), and the year the book was published. Finally, include the location where you found the book, such as a URL or page range.

How to cite a book with multiple authors in MLA

In MLA format, when citing a book with multiple authors, you will want to include all of the authors in your Works Cited entry. If there are three or more authors, you can choose to list all of the authors in your Works Cited entry, or you can list only the first author followed by “et al.”

Here are some examples:

3 or more authors:
Lastname, Firstname, Firstname Lastname, and Firstname Lastname. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Print.

First author followed by “et al.”:
Lastname, Firstname, et al. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Print.

How to cite an edited book in MLA

An edited book is one that is divided into chapters, each of which is written by a different author or group of authors. To cite a specific chapter, you will need the chapter title, the editors of the book, the name of the book, the publisher, the publication date, and the page range on which the chapter appears.

Here is an example:

Smith, John. “Chapter Title.” In Book Title, edited by Jane Doe and John Doe, 145-62. City: Publisher, Year.

How to cite a translated book in MLA

To cite a translated book in MLA format, you will need to include the following information:

-The author of the original work
-The title of the original work
-The name of the translator
-The title of the translated work
-The publication information for the translated work

For example:

Borges, Jorge Luis. Ficciones. Translated by Andrew Hurley. New York: Penguin, 1998.

How to cite an e-book in MLA

When you are gathering book sources, be sure to make note of the following bibliographic items:
-Author name(s)
-Book title
-Publication date
-Publisher
-Place of publication
-URL (if available)
You will need this information for your citation. In MLA format, e-books are cited similarly to printed books, but with the addition of a DOI or URL. If a DOI is not provided, use a URL.

How to cite a book in MLA style

To cite a book in MLA style, you need the author’s last name and the book’s publication year. If you’re quoting from the book, you also need the page number.

Here’s an example:

Smith, John. The MLA Handbook. 8th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2016.

If you’re quoting from the book, you would add a page number after the publication year:

Smith, John. The MLA Handbook. 8th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2016, p. 123.