Skip to Main Content

MLA Citation: Books, Book Chapters, Reference Book Entries

Books

  • Authors and editors: can be a personal author or an entity (organization, association, etc.)
  • Title: Italicize the title, capitalize all words except small ones like a, an, the, on, of ...
  • Publisher: Write publishers’ names in full, but omit words like Company (Co.), Corporation (Corp.), Incorporated (Inc.), and Limited (Ltd.). For academic institutions, abbreviate university with U and press with P. If the publisher is the same as the author, omit the author position and start with the title (as in the WHO example)
  • For ebooks from a KPU database, include the publication platform name and the DOI number (xxxxx) if available; use the following format: https://doi.org/xxxxx; if there is no DOI, look for a permalink; if there is neither a DOI nor a permalink, include the URL or the platform's generic search/login page, for example: search.ebscohost.com (omit http:// or https:// for URLs)
  • For ebooks from openly accessible sources without a DOI, look for a permalink, and if not available, use the URL (you can omit http:// as long as the URL still works without this protocol)

PRINT BOOKS

Author OR editor last name, full given name(s) OR Entity name. Title of Work: Subtitle. Publisher, Year.

Dawson, Michael. Selling Out or Buying in?: Debating Consumerism in Vancouver and Victoria 1945-1985. U of Toronto P, 2018.
Coates, Colin M., and Graeme Wynn, editors. The Nature of Canada. On Point Publishing, 2019.
United Nations Human Settlements Programme. Cities and Climate Change: Global Report on Human Settlements, 2011. Earthscan, 2011.
Traditional Herbal Remedies for Primary Health Care.  World Health Organization, 2010.

In text citation: ... (Dawson 55) ... (Coates and Wynn 102) ... (United Nations Human Settlements Programme, 31) ... (Traditional 25) 

 

EBOOKS FROM KPU DATABASES or REPUBLISHED ON THE WEB

Author OR editor last name, full given name(s) OR Entity name. Title of Work: Subtitle. Publisher, Year. Database Name. https://doi.org/:xxxxx OR Permalink OR URL/main search page.

Brown, Ron. Canada's World Wonders. Dundurn, 2018. ProQuest, ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/kwantlen-ebooks/detail.action?docID=5123525.
Schatzberg, Alan F., and Charles DeBattista, editors. Schatzberg's Manual of Clinical Psychopharmacology. 9th ed., American Psychiatric Association, 2019. Psychiatry Online, https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9781615372997.
Brooker, Bertram. Think of the Earth, Nelson & Sons, 1936. Gutenberg Canada, gutenberg.ca/ebooks/brookerb-thinkoftheearth/brookerb-thinkoftheearth-00-e.epub.
In text citation: ... (Brown 20 ) ... (Schatzberg and DeBattista, ch. 5)
 

EBOOKS PUBLISHED ONLY ON THE WEB

Author OR editor last name, full given name(s) OR Entity name. Title of Work: Subtitle. Publisher, Year, https://doi.org/xxxxx OR Permalink OR URL/main search page.

Davies, Gareth. Coffee Time Stories. Smashwords, 2014, www.smashwords.com/books/view/423502.
FayJay. The Student Prince. Archive of Our Own, Organization for Transformative Works, 2010, archiveofourown.org/works/91885?view_full_work=true.
In text citation: ... (Davies) ... (FayJay, ch. 3) 
  • To a basic book citation in print, add the CHAPTER author and title (in regular script and in quotation marks), the words edited by and the names of the editor(s) in regular order and page numbers (example 1)
  • for ebooks from a KPU database, include the publication platform name and the DOI number (xxxxx) if available; use the following format: https://doi.org/xxxxx; if there is no DOI, look for a permalink; if there is neither a DOI nor a permalink, include the URL or the platform's generic search/login page, for example: search.ebscohost.com (omit http:// or https:// for URLs)
  • For ebooks from openly accessible sources without a DOI, use the URL (you can omit http:// and www. as long as the URL still works without these)

PRINT BOOKS

Chapter author last name, full given name(s). "Title of chapter." Title of Work: Subtitle, edited by editor full given name last name, Publisher, Year, pp. xx-xx.

Brooks, Steven. "Imagining Each Other." Canada and the United States: Differences That Count, edited by David M. Thomas and David N. Biette, 4th ed., U of Toronto P, 2014, pp. 23-45. 

In text citation: ... (Brooks 33)  

 

EBOOKS FROM A KPU DATABASE

Chapter author last name, full given name(s). "Title of Chapter." Title of Work: Subtitle, edited by editor full given name last name, Publisher, Year, pp. xx-xx. Database Name, https://doi.org/xxxxx OR Permalink OR URL/main search page

Suess, Eleanor. "Projective Views." Flow: Interior, Landscape and Architecture in the Era of Liquid Modernity, edited by Penny Parke et al., Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2018, pp. 134-141. Bloomsbury Design Library, https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474293327.

In text citation: ... (Suess 139) 

  • To a basic book citation in print, add the Author of the reference list entry, the title of the entry (in regular script and in quotation marks), the words edited by and the names of the editor(s)/compiler(s)/revisor(s) of the book in regular order and page numbers if available (example 1)
  • If there is no author, begin the citation with the reference entry (Mountie and Vancouver Canucks exampes); if the entry is from a dictionary, indicate whether the entry is a noun N. a verb V. or and adjective Adj. and the number of the entry (1), (3), etc. if given
  • If there is no date, give your best estimate in square brackets with a ?, for example [2015?]
  • For reference entries in ebooks from KPU databases,  include the publication platform name and the DOI number (xxxxx) if available; use the following format: https://doi.org/xxxxx; if there is no DOI, look for a permalink; if there is neither a DOI nor a permalink, include the URL or the platform's generic search/login page, for example: search.ebscohost.com (omit http:// or https:// for URLs)
  • For entries from openly accessible sources without a DOI, use the URL (you can omit http:// and www. as long as the URL still works without these; see Wikipedia example)

ENTRIES IN A REFERENCE PRINT BOOK

Entry author last name, full given name(s). "Title of Entry." Title of Work: Subtitle, edited by editor full given name last name, Publisher, Year, pp. xx-xx.

Howell, Colin. "Hockey." The Oxford Companion to Canadian History, edited by Gerald Halowell, Oxford UP, 2004, p. 289. 

"Mountie, N." Canadian Oxford Dictionary, edited by Katherine Barber, 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 2004, p. 1013.

In text citation: ... (Howell 289) ... ("Mountie" 1013)

 

ENTRIES IN A REFERENCE EBOOK FROM A KPU DATABASE

Entry author last name, full given name(s). "Title of Entry." Title of Work: Subtitle, edited by editor full given name last name, Publisher, Year, pp. xx-xx (if available). Database Name, https://doi.org/xxxxx OR Permalink OR URL

Howell, Colin. "Hockey." The Oxford Companion to Canadian History, edited by Geral Halowell, Oxford UP, 2004. Oxford Reference Online, https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195415599.001.0001.

In text citation: ... (Howell) 

 

ENTRIES IN A REFERENCE BOOK ON THE OPEN WEB (E.G.  WIKIPEDIA)

Marsh, James H. "Ice Hockey." The Canadian Encyclopedia, revised by Jeremy Freeborn and Tabitha Marshall, Historica Canada, 2015, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ice-hockey.

"Vancouver Canucks." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, 12 March 2020, en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vancouver_Canucks&oldid=928807469.

In text citation: ... (Marsh) ... ("Vancouver Canucks")

  • If there is no author, begin the citation with the reference entry (Mountie and Vancouver Canucks exampes)
  • If there is no date, give your best estimate in square brackets with a ?, for example [2015?]

"Mountie." Canadian Oxford Dictionary, edited by Katherine Barber, 2nd ed., Oxford UP, 2004, p. 1013.

"Vancouver Canucks." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, 12 March 2020, en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vancouver_Canucks&oldid=928807469.

In text citation: ...  ("Mountie") ... ("Vancouver Canucks")

  • Add the edition before the publishing information
  • If you borrow from a specific volume, add the volume before the publishing information (and after the edition if applicable; as in the Puchner example)
  • If you borrow from more than one volume in a series of volumes, put the number of volumes after the date (as in the Bumsted example); in the in-text citation specify the volume before the page number (in the Bumsted example 2 refers to volume 2, and 31-35 refers to the page range)

EDITION INFO

Castro, Elizabeth. Publishing a Blog with Blogger. 2nd ed., Peachpit, 2010.  

 

EDITION AND SPECIFIC VOLUME INFO

Puchner, Martin, et al., editors. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 9th ed., vol. 1, W. W. Norton, 2014.

 

EDITION AND MULTIPLE VOLUME INFO 

Bumsted, John M., et al., editors. Interpreting Canada’s Past. 4th ed., Oxford UP, 2011. 2 vols.

 

In text citation: ... (Castro 72) ... (Puchner et al. 93) ... (Bumsted 2:31-35)