Missing information is not indicated in the citation.
Use letter by letter alphabetization for your citations.
Single: Last Name, First Name Initial. Additional source by the same author: use ---. in place of their name (3 hyphens & a period.)
2 authors: Last Name, First Name, and First Name Last Name.
3 or more authors: Last Name, First Name, et al.
No author: Begin your citation with Title.
Organization is both author and publisher: begin the entry with the work's title, and list the organization only as publisher.
Italics: Book titles, Plays, Anthologies, and Database names. (These are Containers.)
“Quotation marks:” Article title, webpage title, chapter, and poems etc. in an anthology.
No title? Add a short description. Eg: photograph of – chart showing – gif of cat with …
Italicize them and follow by a comma: Journal Title, Anthology title, name of streaming site or database.
Eg: Sports Medicine, Riverside anthology of literature, Netflix, or ARTstor.
Description of their role follow by a comma then First Name Last Name: narrated by – performance by
Eg: Translated by Natasha Randall, or poetry reading by Kim Catrall, etc.
Follows title and ends in a comma. Eg: 2nd edition or Canadian edition or Director’s cut.
Your source is part of a number sequence or series. Abbreviate volume to vol. and number to no.
Eg: Orange is the New Black, S02 – E04. or Journal name, vol. 10, no. 4, etc.
Omit words such as Company & their abbreviations: Co., Inc., Ltd., Corp. Omit the publisher for a web site or newspaper if it duplicates information.
Shorten University Press to UP E.g. Oxford UP etc. More than one? separate with a forward slash. E.g. National Gallery / Yale UP,
Write the full date as you find it on the source. Format: Day Month Year Eg: Jan. 2013. Ends in either a period or comma.
Date missing? Do not write "No date" or "N.d."
This varies with different source types: page numbers, a permalink, a URL, or a physical location. Exclude http:// & https://
Eg: pp. 193-200, or pp. 57+ or doi:10.1353/pmc.2000.0021. or Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Use p. for a single page source, pp. for multiple pages, add a Plus sign (57+) for multiple non-consecutive pages.
No page numbers? Do not try to guess or count paragraphs, leave out missing information.
Date of access, Date of original publication, City of publication, Series name, and Information on prior publication.
Your best estimate for missing information can be included in square brackets with a question mark Eg. for publication date: [2008?]
Include a description of an unusual or unexpected source type like a web comment or reblog. Eg. Slam Poetry performance: “Bic for Her.” poetry written and recited by Mary Pinkowski, or for a dissertation or Master's thesis: Diss., MA thesis, or MS thesis.
The MLA 8th ed. does not provide rules for citing specific types of resources. They provide a universal set of guidelines for any type of material based based on the core elements. Ask your instructor which information should be included in your citations.
FORMAT
Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date. Name of Website or Database, URL or doi number.
EXAMPLE
Shaw, Bernard. Pygmalion. Brentano, 1916. Bartleby.com, www.bartleby.com/138/.
In Text: (Shaw)
FORMAT
Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date. Name of Website or Database, URL or doi number.
EXAMPLE
Boudarbat, Brahim and Marie Connolly. Brain Drain: why do some post-secondary graduates choose to work in the United States? CIRANO, 2013. Camosun College Library Catalogue, libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat00727a&AN=camo.541020&site=eds-live.
In Text: (Boudarbat189)
FORMAT
Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date. Name of Website or Database, URL or doi number.
EXAMPLE
Perepa, Prithvi. Understanding Autism in the Early Years. McGraw-Hill Education, 2013. EBSCOhost, libsecure.camosun.bc.ca:2443/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=524887&site=eds-live.
In Text: (Fraihat 76)
NOTE: date accessed is optional; check with your Instructor!
FORMAT
Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.
EXAMPLE
Alexis, Andre. Fifteen Dogs: An Apologue. Coach House Books, 2015.
In-Text: (Alexis 58)
FORMAT
Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Edition, Publisher, Publication Date.
EXAMPLE
Lutgens, Frederick K., and Edward J. Tarbuck. The Atmosphere: An Introduction to Meteorology. 13th ed., Pearson, 2016.
In Text: (Lutgens and Tarbuck 219-220)
FORMAT
Editor's Last Name, First Name, and Second Editor's First Name Last Name, editors. Title of Book. Edition, Publisher, Publication Date.
EXAMPLE
Bartol, Curt R., and Anne M. Bartol, editors. Current Perspectives in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Behavior. 4th ed., Sage, 2016.
In Text: (Bartol and Bartol 78)
FORMAT
Name of Corporate Author. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.
EXAMPLE
Canadian Health Information Management Association. Fundamentals of Health Information Management. Canadian Healthcare Association, 2013.
In Text: (Canadian Health Information Management Association 87)
"When a work's author and publisher are separate organizations, give both names, starting the entry with the one that is the author. When an organization is both author and publisher, begin the entry with the work's title, skipping the author element, and list the organization only as publisher." (MLA Handbook, 8th ed, p. 104)
FORMAT
Title of Book. Other Contributors, Edition if given and not the first, Publisher, Publication Date.
EXAMPLE
American Heritage Dictionary for Learners of English. Houghton, 2002.
In Text: (American Heritage 49)
"When a work is published without an author's name, skip the author element and begin the entry with the work's title." (MLA Handbook, 8th ed., p. 24). If there are other contributor's such as translators, they would come after the title of the book. Place of publication is now optional, check with your instructor!
WORKS CITED LIST
"When an entry in the works-cited list begins with the title...your in text citation contains the title. The title may appear in the text itself or abbreviated, before the page number in parenthesis." (MLA Handbook, 8th ed. 55-56).
Format - Book (with other contributors e.g. translators)
Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Other contributors, edition statement, Publisher, Publication Date.
EXAMPLE
Paz, Octavio. In Light of India. Translated by Eliot Weinberger, Harcourt, 1997.
In Text:(Paz 37)
This example shows a citation highlighting other contributors (the translator). This format could also be used for illustrators, adapted screenplay author, performer, director, etc. (MLA Handbook, 8th ed., p. 37)
FORMAT
Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Short Story, Essay, or Article." Title of Book, edited by Editor's First Name Editor's Last Name, Edition if given and not the first, Publisher, Publication Date, pp. xx-xx.
EXAMPLE
Brant, Beth. “Coyote Learns a New Trick.” An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English, edited by Daniel David Moses and Terry Goldie, Oxford UP, 1992, pp. 148-150.
In Text: (Brant 153)
FORMAT
"Title of Short Story, Essay, or Article." Title of Book, edited by Editor's First Name Editor's Last Name, Edition if given and not the first, Publisher, Publication Date, pp. xx-xx.
EXAMPLE
"Is Abortion Immoral?" Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Bioethical Issues, edited by Carol Levine, 14th ed., McGraw Hill, 2012, pp.136-137.
In Text: (Is Abortion Immoral? 138)
FORMAT
Author Last Name, First Name or Initial. Title of Book. Other Contributors (such as Adaptation or Translator if applicable). Series Number (if applicable), Publisher, Date of Publication.
EXAMPLE
Tamaki, Mariko, and Jillian Tamaki. This One Summer. Groundwood Books, House of Anansi Press, 2015.
In-Text: (Tamaki)
FORMAT
Title of sacred text, First name last name of editor or translator, (if applicable) Version or edition, Publisher, Publication Date, Location.
EXAMPLE
Kojiki or Tales of Ancient Matters, Ō, Yasumaro, and Basil H. Chamberlain, translator. www.sacred-texts.com/shi/kj/kj000.htm
In-Text. [Sect. XXI.—The White Hare of Inaba.)
NOTE follow your first quote from a sacred text with the edition and location information (New Oxford Annotated Bible, Rom. 12.2) for all other in-text citation of this book that follow only the location information is needed. (Rom. 12.2) The location information you include to help your reader depends on the text: for the Ramayana you might include volume, canto and verse; for the Quran you might include surah and verse; for Guru Granth Sahib you might use pauris, raags or hymns; for the Bible you might use chapter and verse or psalms or hymns; for the Kojiki or Nihongi you might use section or paragraph numbers.