How to Cite a Book in MLA (9th Edition)
The MLA 9th edition book citation comes down to four core fields: author, italicized title, publisher, and year. Get those four fields in the right order with the right punctuation, and your Works Cited entry is correct for any standard single-author book. The cases that trip most writers, such as editions, translators, and books with three or more authors, each follow a predictable extension of that same structure. This walkthrough goes field by field, with copy-ready examples verified against the MLA Style Center at style.mla.org and the MLA Handbook, 9th edition.
The MLA 9th Edition Core Elements for a Book
MLA 9th edition organizes citations around nine core elements, arranged in a fixed sequence. Not every source uses every element. A standard book typically uses four of the nine: author, title of source, publisher, and publication date. Understanding the nine-element framework helps you handle any source type, not only books.
| Position | Core Element | For a Book | Followed by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Author | Last, First. | Period |
| 2 | Title of source | Italicized book title. | Period |
| 3 | Title of container | (not used for standalone books) | |
| 4 | Other contributors | Translated by / Edited by / Vol. | Comma |
| 5 | Version | Edition (e.g., 2nd ed.) | Comma |
| 6 | Number | Volume number in a series | Comma |
| 7 | Publisher | Publisher name, | Comma |
| 8 | Publication date | Year. | Period |
| 9 | Location | Page range (for articles) or URL | Period |
The nine MLA core elements for book citations. A standard single-author book uses elements 1, 2, 7, and 8. Additional elements slot in as needed.
What Goes in Each Field
The author field inverts the name: surname first, then a comma, then the given name, then a period. For a corporate or institutional author with no individual named, use the organization name as stated on the copyright page.
The title of source is the full book title, including any subtitle after a colon. Capitalize the first word of the title, the first word after a colon, and all principal words. The whole title is italicized. A period follows the closing italicized character.
The publisher is the name of the publishing company as it appears on the title page. You can shorten "University Press" to "UP" in MLA (e.g., Oxford UP, Harvard UP), but this abbreviation is optional. A comma separates the publisher from the year.
The publication date is the four-digit year of the edition you consulted, not the original publication year unless you are citing the original. It closes with a period.
Italics and Punctuation Rules
MLA uses italics to mark the title of a standalone, self-contained work: a book, a journal, a film, a website. Titles of works contained within a larger work (a chapter, an article, a short story) go in quotation marks. A standard book is standalone, so its title is always italicized.
Every element in a Works Cited entry ends with a period except the publisher, which ends with a comma before the year. That comma-period distinction is the punctuation pattern most writers get wrong. Two consecutive periods never appear; if the title itself ends with a question mark or exclamation point, that mark replaces the trailing period: What Is a Dog? Knopf, 2020.
If you learned MLA from an earlier edition, note that MLA 9th edition removed the city of publication from the book citation. Earlier editions required it before the publisher name. The 9th edition format omits it entirely. Do not add a city unless your instructor or style sheet specifically asks for it.
Works Cited: The Basic Book Entry
A Works Cited entry differs from a bibliography entry in one key respect: you list only sources you actually cited in the text. MLA format calls the reference list "Works Cited," not "References" (that is APA) and not "Bibliography" (that is Chicago). Each entry follows a hanging-indent format: the first line is flush left, and any continuation lines indent by half an inch.
Copy-Ready Basic Example
The examples below are formatted according to the MLA Handbook, 9th edition, and the MLA Style Center. Each line is a complete, copy-ready Works Cited entry.
| Scenario | Works Cited Entry |
|---|---|
| Single author | Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Knopf, 1987. |
| Two authors | Strunk, William, and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed., Longman, 1999. |
| Three or more authors | Graff, Gerald, et al. They Say / I Say. 5th ed., Norton, 2021. |
| Specific edition | Orwell, George. 1984. Centenary ed., Penguin, 2003. |
| Translated book | Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Translated by Matthew Ward, Vintage, 1989. |
| Corporate/institutional author | American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 7th ed., APA, 2020. |
| Multivolume work (one volume) | Wilson, Edmund. The Wound and the Bow. Vol. 2, Farrar, 1960. |
Copy-ready MLA 9th edition Works Cited entries. Titles are italicized; all entries end with a period. Note: the table uses plain text; apply italic formatting to titles in your word processor.
MLA Works Cited entries use a hanging indent: the first line of each entry is flush with the left margin, and any run-on lines indent 0.5 inches. In Microsoft Word, select all your Works Cited entries, open the Paragraph dialog, set Special to "Hanging," and set the indent to 0.5 in. In Google Docs, use Format > Align & Indent > Indentation options and set the hanging indent to 0.5 in.
How to Write the MLA In-Text Citation for a Book
The MLA in-text citation for a book uses the author's surname and the page number in parentheses, placed before the closing punctuation of the sentence. The Works Cited entry and the in-text citation are linked: whatever appears first in the Works Cited entry (usually the author surname) becomes the key you use in the parenthetical.
The Standard Parenthetical Format
Place the author's surname and the page number inside parentheses, without any punctuation between them: (Morrison 152). The sentence's closing period comes after the parenthetical, not before it. If you already name the author in the prose of the sentence, include only the page number in the parentheses: Morrison argues that memory is not a passive record but an active reconstruction (152).
For a source with two authors, include both surnames: (Strunk and White 18). Never use an ampersand in an MLA in-text citation. For three or more authors, use only the first author followed by "et al.": (Graff et al. 44).
When There Is No Page Number
E-books and some digital book formats do not carry stable page numbers. When no page number exists, use the chapter number, section heading, or paragraph number if the source provides one: (Morrison, ch. 2) or (Morrison, par. 14). If none of those are available, cite the author name alone: (Morrison). The reader will still locate the Works Cited entry and find the full source details.
MLA in-text citations do not use a comma between the author surname and the page number: write (Morrison 152), not (Morrison, 152). APA uses a comma after the author and "p." before the page number: (Morrison, 1987, p. 152). Mixing the two systems in a single document is one of the most common referencing errors instructors see.
Edge Cases: Edition, Translator, Multiple Authors, Multivolume
The four most common edge cases in MLA book citations each follow the same logic: add the new information in the correct element position and adjust the punctuation to match. The base structure does not change.
Citing a Specific Edition
When you cite a specific edition of a book, add the edition descriptor after the title. Use the abbreviation the edition page itself uses (2nd ed., 3rd ed., rev. ed., expanded ed.). The edition element falls in position 5 of the MLA core elements (the "version" slot), separated from the title by a period:
Format: Author Last, First. Title. Edition, Publisher, Year.
Example: Strunk, William, and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. 4th ed., Longman, 1999.
The edition label matters because different editions have different pagination. A reader checking your citation against the wrong edition will not find the passage you cited. Adding the edition is both an accuracy requirement and a courtesy to your reader.
Citing a Translated Book
A translated book carries the original author in the author position and the translator in the "other contributors" slot (position 4), after the title. The label is "Translated by" followed by the translator's name in natural order (given name first):
Format: Author Last, First. Title. Translated by First Last, Publisher, Year.
Example: Camus, Albert. The Stranger. Translated by Matthew Ward, Vintage, 1989.
The in-text citation uses the original author's surname as normal: (Camus 42). The translator does not appear in the parenthetical unless your argument specifically concerns the translation choices. The MLA Style Center guidance on citing translations confirms this format and notes that multiple translators are listed in the order they appear on the title page.
Two Authors, Three or More Authors
For a book with exactly two authors, invert only the first author's name and connect with "and." Both names appear in full:
Example (two authors): Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic. 2nd ed., Yale UP, 2000.
For three or more authors, list the first author (inverted) and abbreviate the rest with "et al." without a comma before it:
Example (three or more): Graff, Gerald, et al. They Say / I Say. 5th ed., Norton, 2021.
The in-text citations follow the same pattern. Two authors: (Gilbert and Gubar 78). Three or more: (Graff et al. 44). The MLA Handbook, 9th edition, does not cap "et al." at any specific author count; it applies from three authors upward.
Citing a Multivolume Work
When you cite a single volume from a multivolume set, add the volume number after the title using "vol." (lowercase, abbreviated):
Format: Author Last, First. Title. Vol. N, Publisher, Year.
The in-text citation for a multivolume work uses a colon between the volume number and the page number: (Wilson 3: 47). If you cite the complete multivolume set rather than one volume, replace "Vol. N" with the total number of volumes: 3 vols.
The Most Common MLA Book Citation Mistakes
Three errors appear in most incorrectly formatted MLA book citations. All three produce entries that look plausible but fail under close inspection.
Forgetting the hanging indent. Works Cited entries require a hanging indent: the first line is flush left, continuation lines indent 0.5 inches. A block-left or full-indent entry is incorrect. Instructors who grade on formatting will deduct marks for this.
Capitalizing titles incorrectly. MLA title case capitalizes the first word, the first word after a colon, and all principal words. Articles (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or), and prepositions under five letters are lowercase unless they open the title. Not "Beloved" capitalized incorrectly, but a title like "The old man and the sea" should be "The Old Man and the Sea."
Adding a comma between author and page in the in-text citation. Write (Morrison 152), not (Morrison, 152). That comma belongs in APA, not MLA.
MLA calls the reference list Works Cited, not "References" (APA) and not "Bibliography" (Chicago/Turabian). The heading "Works Cited" appears centered at the top of the page, in the same font and size as the rest of the document, with no bold or italics. Using the wrong heading label signals to an instructor that you have mixed citation systems.
The citations hub at /university/resources/citations includes a live generator for MLA book citations that formats the entry automatically from the details you enter. For chapters within an edited book (a distinct citation type in MLA), see the how to cite a book chapter in MLA guide. For website citations, the how to cite a website in MLA guide covers the container-system logic that applies when the source sits inside a larger digital publication.
MLA Citation Generator
Enter your source details and generate a correctly formatted MLA 9th edition Works Cited entry instantly. Covers books, journals, websites, and more.
For the parallel APA format, the how to cite a book in APA guide shows the equivalent structure with author initials, year in parentheses, and sentence-case titles. The university resources hub brings together citation generators, grade calculators, and subject tools for all stages of your degree.
Key Takeaways
- The MLA 9th edition book citation format is: Author Last, First. Italicized Title. Publisher, Year. The city of publication is not included in the 9th edition.
- The book title is always italicized. Subtitles follow a colon and are also italicized. All principal words are capitalized.
- The MLA in-text citation uses author surname and page number with no comma: (Morrison 152). The period follows the closing parenthesis.
- For a specific edition, add the edition descriptor after the title: 1984. Centenary ed., Penguin, 2003. For a translation, add "Translated by First Last" after the title.
- Two authors: list both names connected with "and," inverting only the first. Three or more: list the first author followed by "et al."
- A multivolume citation adds "Vol. N" before the publisher. The in-text citation for a volume uses the format (Author vol: page): (Wilson 2: 47).
- Works Cited entries use a hanging indent (first line flush left, continuation lines indented 0.5 in.) and the heading "Works Cited," not "References" or "Bibliography."
