Frequently Asked Questions:
Examples (Books):
Examples (eBook From a Library Database):
Examples (ebooks):
More Examples:
A print book means it's printed on paper. If you checked the book out of a library or bought it from a bookstore, it's print.
An eBook is a book you can read entirely online or on an eReader.
Access Date
Works from the web can be changed or removed at any time, so it is important to include the date you accessed the material in your citation. This is optional, but is especially important when there is no date specifying when the item (web document, article, webpage) was produced. Add the access date to the end of your citation. E.g. Accessed 23 July 2019.
Authors/Editors
An author can be a person but can also be an organization, or company. These are called group or corporate authors.
If you are citing a chapter from a book that has an editor, the author of the chapter is listed first, and is the name listed in the in-text citation.
Dates
The format of all dates is: Day Month (shortened) Year. E.g. 5 Sept. 2012.
Write the full date as you find it on the source. If there is only a year listed, you will only put the year in your citation. For others, you will also include a month and day if they are given.
If there is no date listed, just leave it out unless you can find that information available in a reliable source. In that case the date is cited in square brackets to show that you found that information somewhere else. E.g. [2008]
Page Numbers
On your Works Cited page (but not for in-text citations), single page numbers are preceded by p. and a range of page numbers is preceded by pp. E.g. p. 156 or pp. 79-92.
Publishers
You have the option to use the shortened name of the publisher. For example, you can use UP instead of University Press (e.g. Oxford UP instead of the full name Oxford University Press).
You also have the option to remove articles (A, An, The), business abbreviations (e.g. Co., Inc.) and descriptive words (e.g. Books, House, Press, Publishers).
Titles
Capitalize the first letter of every important word in the title. You do not need to capitalize words such as: in, of, or an.
If there is a colon (:) in the title, include what comes after the colon (also known as the subtitle).
Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.
A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.
Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication.
Kirsh, Steven J. Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence: A Critical Look at the Research. 2nd ed., Sage, 2006.
(Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Kirsh 70)
Last Name, First Name of First Author, and First Name Last Name of Second Author. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication.
Note: Only the first author's name appears in "Last Name, First Name" format. The second author's name appears in "First Name Last Name" format.
Wykes, Maggie, and Barrie Gunter. The Media and Body Image: If Looks Could Kill. Sage, 2005.
(Author's Last Name and Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Wykes and Gunter 53)
Last Name, First Name of First Author, et al. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication.
Note: If there are three or more authors list only the first author's name followed by et al. instead of listing all authors' names. The first author is the first name listed on the work you are citing, not the first name alphabetically.
Nickels, William, et al. Understanding Canadian Business. 9th ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2016.
(First Author's Last Name et al. Page Number)
Example: (Nickels et al. 5)
Name of Corporate Author. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of Publication.
Note: When the organization that published the work is also the corporate author of the work, begin the entry with the title, skipping the author element, and list the organization only as publisher.
Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation. Employability Skills: Creating My Future. Nelson, 1996.
(Name of Corporate Author Page Number)
Example: (Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation 14)
Last Name of editor, First Name, editor(s). Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of Publication.
Matuz, Roger, editor. Contemporary Canadian Artists. Gale Canada, 1997.
(Last name page number)
Example: (Matuz 35)
Learn more: See the MLA Handbook, pp. 22-23
Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Name of Library Database.
Waldau, Paul. Animal Rights: What Everyone Needs To Know. Oxford University Press, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).
(Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Waldau 132)
Last Name of First Author, First Name, and First Name Last Name of Second Author. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Name of Library Database.
Note: Only the first author's name appears in "Last Name, First Name" format. The second author's name appears in "First Name Last Name" format.
Foster, Lois E., and David Stockley. Multiculturalism: The Changing Australian Paradigm. Multilingual Matters, 1984. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).
(Author's Last Name and Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Foster and Stockley 22)
Last Name of First Author, First Name, et al. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Name of Library Database.
Note: If there are three or more authors list only the first author's name followed by et al. instead of listing all authors' names. The first author is the first name listed on the work you are citing, not the first name alphabetically.
Ziarek, Ewa Plonowska, et al. A Time for the Humanities: Futurity and the Limits of Autonomy. Fordham UP, 2008. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost).
(First Author's Last Name et al. Page Number)
Example: (Ziarek et al. 75)
Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Website Name, URL. Accessed Day Month Year site was visited.
Henty, George Alfred. The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt. Blackie and Son, 1889. HathiTrust Digital Library, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073478847. Accessed 6 July 2016.
(Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Henty 132)
When there are no page numbers listed on an ebook, cite the chapter number instead in your in-text citation.
Example: (Smith ch. 2).
Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition, e-book or eBook type if known, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication.
Note: If you know the type of eBook you consulted (e.g. Kindle, EPUB), specify it instead of "e-book".
Smith, Zadie. On Beauty: A Novel. e-book, Hamish, 2005.
Smith, Zadie. On Beauty: A Novel. Kindle ed., Hamish, 2005.
(Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Smith 132)
*Note: When citing an e-book in your text, avoid using device-specific numbering systems. In this case, use the chapter number instead*
Example: (Smith ch. 4)
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Chapter, Short Story, or Essay." Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, edited by Editor's First Name and Last Name, Edition if given and is not first, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication, Page numbers of the chapter, short story, or essay.
Note: The author listed at the beginning of the citation is the author of the chapter, short story, or essay.
Ross, Colin. "The Story of Grey Owl." Fiction/Non-Fiction: A Reader and Rhetoric, edited by Garry Engkent and Lucia Engkent, 2nd ed., Thomson Nelson, 2006, pp. 327-333.
(Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Ross 332)
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Short Story or Essay." Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, Edition if given and is not first, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication, Page numbers of the short story or essay.
Note: Use this format when the book is a collection of an author's own work. In this case, there will be no editor.
Carter, Angela. "The Tiger's Bride." Burning Your Boats: The Collected Stories, Penguin, 1995, pp. 154-69.
(Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Carter 155)
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article or Essay." Title of Book: Subtitle if Any, by Author's First Name and Last Name, Edition if given and is not first, Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication, Page numbers of the article or essay.
Note: The first author's name listed is the author of the article or essay. The second is the author of the textbook.
Graff, Gerald. "Disliking Books." From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Practical Guide, by Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky, 2nd ed., Bedford / St. Martin's, 2012, pp. 22-26.
(Last name page number)
Example: (Graff 22)
(Author's Last Name and Author's Last Name Page Number)
Example: (Case and Daristotle 57)
(Author's Last Name et al. Page Number)
Example: (Case et al. 57)
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