MLA Citation Guide (MLA 7th Edition): Books, eBooks & Pamphlets

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.

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.

Access Date

For all content found on the Web, you must list the date you first viewed the resource. This comes last in a citation.

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: Date Month (shortened) Year. E.g. 5 Sept. 2012.

If no date is listed, write n.d.

Page Numbers

If no page number is listed, write n. pag. in the Works Cited list.

For pages in the hundreds, you can exclude the first number. E.g., An article spanning pages 156 to 179 can be written as 156-79.

Place of Publication

List the city where the book was published. If more than one city is listed, use the first. If no city is listed, use n.p.for "no place". E.g., N.p.: U of Gotham P, 2008.

Publishers

You have the option to use the shortened name of the publisher by using UP instead of University Press (e.g. Oxford UP, not 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).

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition. Publication City: Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Format.

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition. City of Publication: Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Name of Library Database or Website. Format. Access date.

Last Name, First Name of First Author, First Name Last Name of Second Author, and First Name Last Name of Last Author. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition. Publication City: Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Format.

Note: Only the first author listed appears in "Last Name, First Name" format. Authors' names are separated by a comma. Before the last author to be listed, add the word "and."

If you have four or more authors you may choose to list only the first author's name followed by et al. instead of listing all authors names. For example Smith, John, et al. The first author is the first name listed on the work you are citing, not the first name alphabetically.

Last Name of First Author, First Name, First Name of Second Author, Last Name, and First Name of Third Author, Last Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition. City of Publication: Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Name of Library Database or Website. Format. Access date.

Note: Only the first author listed appears in "Last Name, First Name" format. Authors' names are separated by a comma. Before the last author to be listed, add the word "and."

If you have four or more authors you may choose to list only the first author's name followed by et al. instead of listing all authors names. For example Smith, John, et al. The first author is the first name listed on the work you are citing, not the first name alphabetically.

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Short Story, Essay, or Article." Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first. Ed. Editor's First Name and Last Name. Place of Publication: Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Page numbers of the essay, article, or short story. Format.

Note: When you have one editor the short form Ed. is used before the editor's name. If you have more than one editor use Eds. instead.

Name of Corporate Author. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition. Publication City: Publisher Name often shortened, Year of Publication. Format.

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition. City of Publication: Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Access date. eReader file type.

Last Name of First Author, First Name, First Name of Second Author, Last Name, and First Name of Third Author, Last Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition. City of Publication: Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. Access date. File type of eReader.

Note: Only the first author listed appears in "Last Name, First Name" format. Authors' names are separated by a comma. Before the last author to be listed, add the word "and." 

If you have four or more authors you may choose to list only the first author's name followed by et al. instead of listing all authors names. For example Smith, John, et al. The first author is the first name listed on the work you are citing, not the first name alphabetically.

Name of Corporate Author. Title of Pamphlet: Subtitle if Any. Publication City: Publisher Name, Year of Publication. Format.

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Name of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): Pages. Rpt. in Title of Course Package. Comp. by Instructors First Name and Last Name. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Page numbers in course package. Format.

Note:

Comp. stands for "Compiler" and Rpt. stands for "Reprinted".  For course packages published by Seneca Polytechnic, we recommeded using Toronto, ON as the place of publication.

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Short Story." Year of Publication. Rpt. in Title of Course Package. Comp. by Instructors First Name and Last Name. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Page numbers in course package. Format.

Note:

Comp. stands for "Compiler" and Rpt. stands for "Reprinted".  For course packages published by Seneca Polytechnic, we recommend using Toronto, ON as the place of publication.