How Do You Cite a Book Using MLA Style?

For in-text citations, cite the book by the author’s last name and the page number where you found the information using either attributive tags or parenthetical citation; the end-of-text citation on the Works Cited page should read (including punctuation): Author’s last name, Author’s first name. Title of book. City of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. Medium of publication. The title of the book should be italicized.

  1. Cite information in the text

    For any and all information quoted or paraphrased, cite the book from which it came by either attributing it in a sentence like so: Post states that …. (23). The number in parentheses is the page number only in attributive citations. In parenthetical citations, include both the name and page number in the parentheses at the end of the sentence; for example: (Post 23).

  2. Cite the information on the Works Cited page

    The basic citation for a book is Author’s last name, Author’s first name. Title of book. City of publication: Publisher, Year of publication. Medium of publication. The title of the book should be italicized. If there is more than one author, the second and subsequent authors’ names must be in natural order before the book title: First name Last name.

  3. Check your citations

    Make sure that all in-text citations match those on the Works Cited page. Make sure the punctuation and italics match the formatting, too.

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