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How to Cite Something in MLA Format

MLA formatting refers to the writing style guide produced by the Modern Language Association. If you’re taking a class in the liberal arts, you usually have to follow this format when writing papers. In addition to looking at MLA examples, it helps to know the basics of the style guide.

Parenthetical Citations

MLA requires parenthetical citations within the document. This means you must include source information inside parentheses placed after a quotation or paraphrase from a source. Each parenthetical citation must have the page number where you found the information you used. It may also have the author’s or creator’s name. Do not use a comma to separate the name and the date.

In-text Citations

The format for in-text citations depends on the format of the source material. For print material like books and journals, you need the author’s name and publication date. If the source has two authors, use and to join them and the term “et al.” if it has more than two authors. You can also reference the authors in the document and include only the page number in parentheses.

Citations for Nonprint Material

If you use nonprint materials as sources, you have to cite them. However, you don’t have to include page numbers with the in-text citations. You do have to include information like the name of the work, the creator’s name and the year of publication on the Works Cited page.

When you complete the Work Cited page, each source requires additional information. For images, you need to include contributors, the reproduction number and URL where you located the image online. Movies must list the director’s name and distributor. A TV series needs the episode title and number, series title, season number and network. Pieces of music should include the title of the track and album and the record label.

Works Cited List

When you use MLA format, you must have a Works Cited page that lists all of the sources you used for the paper. This page goes at the end of the document on a separate page. You list all of the sources in alphabetical order according to the author’s last name. Make sure the page is double-spaced and that you follow the specific guidelines for formatting each entry.

Citation Generators

If you don’t have access to printed MLA style guides or don’t understand how to format your sources, you can turn to a citation generator. There are several citation generators available online for free or as part of a subscription service. You can also find them in word processing programs.

To use a citation generator, you enter information about each source. The program automatically formats the sources for the works cited page. You can also select the places in the document to add in-text citations.

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iPads, Chromebooks, Nooks, Kindles, Tabs: Citation & ereaders

Citing books on ereaders

Citing books accessed on ereaders can be difficult for several reasons. You may wonder, is it cited as a book or as a file? How do you specify where a direct quotation came from if there are no static page numbers? Where in the citation do you indicate which ereader you accessed it on?

Below are details on how to cite in the various styles. We still suggest that you check with your instructor in case they have any special instructions for citing books accessed on ereaders.

Citing books accessed on ereaders in MLA 8

Here's an example from EasyBib on how to structure and cite ebooks accessed on ereaders: 

Structure of an MLA 8 citation for a book in print:

Author’s Last name, First name. “Title of chapter or section.” Title of the work, translated by or edited by First name Last name, vol. number, City of Publication*, Publisher, Year the book was published, page number(s).

Structure of a citation for an e-book found on an e-reader in MLA 8:

Author’s last name, First name. “Title of the chapter or section.” Title of the e-book, translated by or edited by First name Last name, Name of e-reader device, vol. number, Publisher, Year of publication, page number(s).

Example of a citation for an e-book found on an e-reader in MLA 8:

Doerr, Anthony. All the Light We Cannot See. Kindle ed., Scribner, 2014.

Citing books accessed on ereaders in MLA

The MLA Style Center provides general guidance on citing e-books .

The example they give is as follows:

MLA Handbook . 8th ed., e-book, Modern Language Association of America, 2016.

For your parenthetical citation, section 3.3.3 of the MLA Handbook states "If the work is divided into stable numbered sections like chapters, the numbers of those sections may be cited..." The example given is:

According to Hazel Rowley, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt began their honeymoon with a week's stay at Hyde Park (ch. 2).

It goes on to say that if no such visible, fixed part number is present, it must be cited as a whole (do not include any reference to the page, chapter, paragraph, etc.). You still need to include enough info in parenthesis for your reader to find the source in your works cited, usually the author's last name.

Citing books accessed on ereaders in APA

The American Psychological Association has a blog post about how to cite ebooks. An older APA blog post is also helpful.  Below is some information from these posts.

For the reference list , include the author, year, book title, the version of book you read, and the DOI or URL where you downloaded the book. If the full URL is very long (like the URL for O'Brien's book in the example below was),  give the homepage URL and a description of where to find the book from there, or the store name—your preference (e.g., Amazon Kindle store or http://www.amazon.com ). The first example below is from the APA's blog post and shows how to use a DOI in the citation, if one is provided. The second example shows how to cite a book with no DOI provided:

In-text citations can be confusing because e-books often lack page numbers. Kindle books have “location numbers,” which are static, but are useless to others without a Kindle. Certain models of Kindles have page numbers available.  That will also depend on if the publisher has made them available for that particular e-book. If page numbers are included, these are appropriate to use in your in-text citation. To cite in text for e-books lacking page numbers it is suggested by the APA that you include any of the following to cite the quotation:

If a book has numbered chapters and sections, here's an example given by the APA of how to cite a direct quotation with chapter, section, and paragraph numbers: 

Citing books accessed on ereaders in Chicago style

The Chicago Manual of Style website provides examples of how to cite ebooks on its website under 'Book published electronically'.

In your citation, include the author, title, editor (if there is one), publication information, and the version of the book you consulted. If you used the book online, include the URL. Include an access date only if required by your publisher or discipline. If no fixed pagination is available, include a section title, chapter or other number.

The Manual website offers examples of how to cite ebooks in both the notes and bibliography style and the author-date style. A couple of our own examples are shown below. Consult the Manual's website to see additional examples:

Notes and Bibliography:

 1. Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried (Boston: Mariner Books, 1990), Kindle edition.

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Boston: Mariner Books, 1990. Kindle edition.

Author-Date:

O'Brien, Tim. 1990. The Things They Carried. Boston: Mariner Books. Kindle edition.

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / How to Cite Sources / How to Cite a Kindle E-Book Reader in APA, MLA, or Chicago

How to Cite a Kindle E-Book Reader in APA, MLA, or Chicago

The citation for an e-book is the same regardless of which type of e-reader is used to read the e-book. However, we recommend the following rules if you’d like to include information about your specific e-reader in your citation.

In MLA, it is not necessary to include the name of the e-reader used, and instead, you will specify that the version you accessed is the e-book edition in the version element of the citation. If you are accessing the e-book on a website, the URL can be included at the end of the citation. Page numbers can be omitted in both the in-text citation and full reference, but if needed for clarity, the chapter number can be included in the citation in prose.

(Rowling) or (Rowling, ch. 3)

Note that a comma should be included before the chapter number in the citation in prose, unlike the page number in typical MLA citations in prose.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets . E-book ed., Pottermore Publishing, 2015.

For APA, cite the source as you would a regular book but add the DOI number or URL at the end (if applicable). If you need to include the specific text location in the in-text citation, you can include the chapter number if no page numbers are available.

(Rowling, 2015) or (Rowling, 2015, Chapter 3)

Rowling, J. K. (2015). Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets . Pottermore Publishing. https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Chamber-Secrets-Rowling-ebook/dp/B0192CTMW8

For Chicago style, you will cite the source as a book and add the e-reader type or URL at the end of the reference. In the in-text citation, include the chapter number if page numbers are not available.

Author-Date Example:

(Rowling 2015, chap. 3)

Rowling, J. K. 2015. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets . New York: Pottermore Publishing. Kindle.

Notes-Bibliography Example:

1. J.K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets  (New York: Pottermore Publishing, 2015), chap. 3, Kindle.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets . New York: Pottermore Publishing, 2015. Kindle.

You can modify the citation on EasyBib by clicking Edit, and then clicking the custom edit link.

Updated July 19, 2022.

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To cite an e-book, you will need to have basic information including the book’s author or editor, publication year, title, and publisher. The templates and examples for in-text citations and works cited list entries for e-books are provided below:

In-text citation template and example:

In parenthetical citations, use the author’s surname.

Parenthetical:

(Author Surname)

Citation in prose:

Author Surname…

According to Glaude…

Works cited list entry template and example:

Author’s Surname, First Name. Title of the Book . E-Book ed., Publisher, Publication Date.

Glaude, Eddie. Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own . E-Book ed., Crown, 2020.

Use “E-Book ed.” after the title of the book to indicate that you are referencing the e-book edition of the book.

To cite a Kindle book without page numbers in APA and MLA styles, it is important that you know basic information such as the name of the author, title of the book, publisher name, and publication date. For in-text citations, the page number should simply be omitted. However, if needed, the chapter number can be added to the in-text citation if you need to reference a specific part of the text. The below examples show how to cite a Kindle book without page numbers in your full reference or works cited entries, as well as in-text citations.

(Surname, Publication Year) or (Surname, Publication Year, Chapter #)

Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Title of the book . Publisher. URL

(Tagore, 2011) or (Tagore, 2011, Chapter 1)

Tagore, R. (2011). Stories from Tagore . Amazon. https://www.amazon.in/Stories-Tagore-Rabindranath-ebook/dp/B004TPO5JE/ref=sr_1_4?brr=1&dchild=1&qid=1632501986&rd=1&s=digital-text&sr=1-4

(Surname) or (Surname, ch. #)

Surname, First Name. Title of the Book . E-book ed., Publisher, publication date.

(Tagore) or (Tagore, ch. 1)

Tagore, Rabindranath. Stories from Tagore . E-book ed., Amazon, 2011.

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MLA Style (9th Edition) Citation Guide: Books & Ebooks

Table of Contents

Book in print, book with editor(s) but no author, translated book, chapters, short stories, essays, or articles from a book (anthology or collection), an introduction, preface, foreword, or afterword, article in a reference book (e.g. encyclopedias, dictionaries).

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.

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.

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).

You have the option to use the shortened name of the publisher by abbreviating "University" and "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).

The format of all dates is: Date Month (shortened) Year. e.g. 5 Sept. 2012.

Whether to give the year alone or include a month and day depends on your source: write the full date as you find it there.

If no date is listed, omit it unless you can find that information available in a reliable source. In that case the date is cited in square brackets. e.g. [2008]

Page Numbers

Page number on your Works Cited page (but not for in-text citations) are now proceeded by p. for a single page number and pp. for a range of page numbers. E.g. p. 156 or pp. 79-92.

Access Date

Date of access is optional in MLA 8th/9th edition; it is recommended for pages that may change frequently or that do not have a copyright/publication date.

Last Name, First Name.  Title of Book . City of Publication, Publisher, Publication Date.

Note :  The city of publication should only be used if the book was published before 1900, if the publisher has offices in more than one country, or if the publisher is unknown in North America.

Works Cited List Example:

Kurlansky, Mark. Salt: A World History . Walker, 2002.

In-Text Citation Example:

(Author's Last Name Page Number)

Example: (Kurlansky 10)

Two Authors

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 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."

 Jacobson, Diane L., and Robert Kysar.  A Beginner's Guide to the Books of the Bible,  Augsburg, 1991.

 (Author's Last Name and Author's Last Name Page Number)

 Example: (Jacobson and Kysar 25)

Three or More Authors

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 you have three or more authors 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.

Nickels, William, et al.  Understanding Business.  9th ed., McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2016. 

(First Author's Last Name et al. Page Number)

Example: (Nickels et al. 5)

eBook from a Library Database

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.  Name of eBook Database,  doi:DOI number/URL/Permalink.

Calhoun, Craig. Sociology in America: A History . U of Chicago P, 2008.  ProQuest Ebook Central , ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/up/detail.action?docID=408466&pq-origsite=primo.  

 (Author's Last Name Page Number)

 Example: (Calhoun 53)

eBook for Kindle or other eBook Reader

Note:  The MLA uses the term "eBook" to refer to publications formatted specifically for reading with an eBook reader device (e.g., a Kindle) or a corresponding web application, which will not have URLs or DOIs. Citations will be very similar to physical book citations; just add the word "eBook" in the "version" slot of the MLA template (i.e., after the author, the title of the source, the title of the container, and the names of any other contributors).

Silva, Paul J.  How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing , eBook, American Psychological Association, 2007.

 Example: (Silva 30)

Note : When no page numbers are listed on an eBook, cite the chapter number instead in your in-text citation. Example: (Smith ch. 2).  

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.

 Wolfteich, Claire E., editor. Invitation to Practical Theology: Catholic Voices and Visions . Paulist, 2014. 

 (Last name page number)

 Example: (Wolfteich 103)

Electronic Materials

(More than one editor)

Kidwell, Jeremy, and Sean Doherty, editors. Theology and Economics: A Christian Vision of the Common Good.  eBook, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. 

(Last name page number)

Example: (Kidwell and Doherty 103)

If you want to emphasize the work rather than the translator, cite as you would any other book. Add “translated by” and follow with the name(s) of the translator(s).

Boitani, Piero. The Bible and Its Rewritings . Translated by Anita Weston, Oxford UP, 1999.

Example: (Boitani 89)

Augustine. The Confessions of St. Augustine . Translated by Edward Bouverie Pusey, eBook, Floating Press, 1921.

Example: (Augustine 65) 

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Short Story, Essay, or Article."  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 essay, article, or short story. 

Boys, Mary C. “Learning in the Presence of the Other: Feminisms and the Interreligious Encounter.” Faith and Feminism: Ecumenical Essays , edited by Diane B. Lipsett, Westminster John Knox Press, 2014, pp. 103-114.

Note:  The first author's name listed is the author of the chapter/essay/short story.

Note: If there is no editor given you may leave out that part of the citation.

Example: (Boys 110)

When citing an introduction, a preface, a foreword, or an afterword, write the name of the author(s) of the piece you are citing. Then give the name of the part being cited, which should not be italicized or enclosed in quotation marks; in italics, provide the name of the work and the name of the author of the introduction/preface/foreword/afterword. Finish the citation with the details of publication and page range.

Farrell, Thomas B. Introduction.  Norms of Rhetorical Culture , by Farrell, Yale UP, 1993, pp. 1-13.

(Farrell 5)

If the writer of the piece is different from the author of the complete work, then write the full name of the principal work's author after the word "By." For example, if you were to cite Hugh Dalziel Duncan’s introduction of Kenneth Burke’s book Permanence and Change, you would write the entry as follows:

Duncan, Hugh Dalziel. Introduction.  Permanence and Change: An Anatomy of Purpose,  by Kenneth Burke, 1935, 3rd ed., U of California P, 1984, pp. xiii-xliv.

(Duncan xiv)

For entries in encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference works, cite the entry name as you would any other work in a collection but do not include the publisher information. Also, if the reference book is organized alphabetically, as most are, do not list the volume or the page number of the article or item.

"Ideology."  The American Heritage Dictionary , 3rd ed., Dell, 1997, p. 369.

("Ideology" 369)

Online Reference book

Isaacson, Joel. "Monet, Claude." Grove Art Online , Oxford Art Online , www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T059077.

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MLA Citation Style Guide: E-Book

E-Book from a Website or Database (p.187-189)

E-book on a digital device (p.210).

To cite a book on a digital device such as a Kindle or Nook follow the guidelines for a book citation but replace the medium type "Print" with the digital file type followed by the word "file."  ex. Kindle file or PDF file.  Kindles and other digital readers generally do not include page numbers. They may instead refer to a location number which will not be the same for all users.  For your parenthetical citation look at the organization of the book.  Refer to chapter (ch.), section (sec.), and paragraph (par.) numbers, or a combination of these if necessary.

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MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Books, eBooks & Pamphlets

On This Page: Books & eBooks

Citing a part of a book vs citing the whole book, book in print - one author, book in print - two authors, book in print - three or more authors, book - group or corporate author, ebook from a library database - one author, ebook from a library database - two authors.

eBook from an eReader Platform

Open textbook (free online textbook), a book chapter uploaded to moodle, a book prepared by an editor, chapter, short story, or essay from a book (edited anthology or collection), short story or essay from a book (anthology or collection of author's own work), article or essay in an authored textbook, book with editor(s) but no author, how can i tell if it's a book in print or an ebook.

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.

Citing an eBook with no Page Numbers

When there are no page numbers listed on an ebook, or it is a resizable format like Kindle or EPUB, cite the chapter number instead in your in-text citation.

Example: (Smith ch. 2).  

In-Text Citation For Two or More Authors/Editors

Access Date

Works from the web can be changed or removed at any time, so it is often 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, or you believe the source has been edited without notice. 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.

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.

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). 

Capitalize the first letter of every important word in the title. You do not need to capitalize words such as: in, of, or an. Do not use all-caps (except for words like USA where each letter stands for something), even if the words appear that way on the book or article.

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. Microsoft Word and some other text editing programs allow you to highlight a citation and apply a hanging indent. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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. If the corporate author is a division of a larger organization, the division is the author and the organization is the publisher. 

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 .

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.

eBook From a Library Database - Three or More Authors

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.  

eBook From a Website

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 if there is no publication date . File type.

  Note : When the landing page provides a choice of formats (such as PDF or EPUB), include the file type at the end of the citation (in case there are slight differences between versions). If you use the default format of the book, omit this element. In most cases, a URL should be provided. However, if there is a DOI, use it instead (because it is the most stable link to the book), beginning with https://doi.org. 

Author's Last Name, First Name.  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any.  Edition if given and is not first edition, e-book ed., Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication. File type.

  Note:  The file type is important to include, since only a PDF will have stable page numbering. Do not cite the website (Amazon, VitalSource, Google Play, etc) as a container.

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any. Edition if given and is not first edition,   Publisher name if different from website name ,  Year of Publication. Website Name , URL if no DOI is provided. File type.

Author Last Name, Author First Name. "Title of Book Chapter."  Moodle , uploaded by Instructor Name, upload date [if known], moodle.columbiacollege.bc.ca/.

Note:  The MLA Style Center has more guidance on citing online handouts and readings , including the difference between a reading that is uploaded to a course versus one that is shared via a link. If your instructor asks you to practice citing a course reading using the original publication information, follow the model for the original type of source (book chapter, journal article, etc.). 

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle if Any,  edited by Editor's First Name and Last Name ,  Publisher Name often shortened, Year of publication.

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.

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.

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.

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.

How do I cite an e-book in MLA style?

Use the Version element to specify that the work you are citing is an e-book—that is, a book that lacks a URL and that you use software to read on a personal device or computer.

MLA Handbook . 9th ed., e-book ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

E-books may have been published in different file formats (e.g., EPUB or, for some earlier Kindle editions, MOBI), and the display of content in each format can vary. If you know that the work varies by file format for the e-book you are citing, you can list the file format as a supplemental element at the end of the entry. 

MLA Handbook . 8th ed., e-book ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2016. EPUB.

When citing an e-book in your text, avoid using device-specific numbering systems. See chapter 6 of the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook for an alternative way to identify the parts of an e-book.

University Libraries      University of Nevada, Reno

MLA Citation Guide (MLA 9th Edition): Ebooks

E-Book Citation Clarification

Most e-books do not have a DOI, however if the e-book has a DOI, include the DOI at the end of the entry. The proper way to note the DOI is to include https://doi.org/.

Access Date

If there is not a publication date or if you suspect the source may be removed or altered, list the date you accessed the e-book. For example, if you access an e-book from a website and there is no publication date listed in the e-book, include "Accessed day month year" at the end of the citation. Adding the date you accessed the book (after the DOI, permalink or URL) is optional. It may be useful for your readers if the book is informal or self published and may not be available (at the link provided) at a later date.

Last Name of Author, First Name. Title.  E-book ed., Publisher, year.

MLA Handbook . 9th ed., e-book ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021.

E-Book From a Website

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 Access Date.

Henty, George Alfred.  The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt . Blackie and Son, 1889. HathiTrust Digital Library,  https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/29756/pg29756-images.html . Accessed 16 November 2021.

E-Book From a Library Database

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,  Permalink URL.

McClean, Shilo T.  Digital Storytelling: The Narrative Power of Visual Effects in Film . MIT Press, 2007.  eBook Comprehensive Academic Collection (EBSCOhost) ,  unr.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e025xna&AN=446856&site=ehost-live&scope=site&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_Cover .

Multiple Authors

Follow above formatting except 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."

Format and Example for Two Authors

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,  Permalink URL.

Boss, Stephen, and Jason Cranford Teague.  The New Web Typography: Create a Visual Hierarchy with Responsive Web Design , CRC Press, 2016.  Ebook Central , ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/knowledgecenter/detail.action?docID=4689429 .

Format and Example for Three and More Authors

If you have three 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, 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.  

Ziarek, Ewa Plonowska, et al. A Time for the Humanities: Futurity and the Limits of Autonomy, Fordham UP, 2008. eBook Comprehensive Academic Collection (EBSCOhost),  unr.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e025xna&AN=1045294&site=ehost-live&scope=site&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_Cover .

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Citing Kindles (MLA, APA, Chicago)

Citing Kindles

The following advice is taken from the APA Style website:

Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers: The story of success [Kindle DX version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

Cite in text:

To cite in text, either (a) paraphrase, thus avoiding the problem (e.g., "Gladwell, 2008"), or (b) use APA’s guidelines for direct quotations of online material without pagination (see Section 6.05 of the manual). Name the major sections (chapter, section, and paragraph number; abbreviate if titles are long), like you would do if you were citing the Bible or Shakespeare. One of the author’s main points is that “people don’t rise from nothing” (Gladwell, 2008, Chapter 1, Section 2, para. 5).  

Chicago Style

N: 1. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (New York: Penguin Classics, 2007), Kindle.

B: Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice . New York: Penguin Classics, 2007. Kindle edition.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice . New York: Penguin Classics. 2007. Kindle.

MLA Quick Citation Guide

Formatting Notes

Unless directed otherwise by your instructor, when using MLA 8 Style for your paper, follow these steps for formatting your citations:

The Purdue Owl site has a helpful page with more detailed information about formatting:

Due to some limitations on this guide's design, many of the examples do not use double spaces and hanging indents (they don't work well with responsive design). Any color-coded images of citations, however, do show citations with standard MLA style spacing and indents.

Online Books & E-books

Online books and ebooks: not quite the same thing.

MLA makes a distinction between online books and eBooks:

Each is cited somewhat differently, although the core style elements still provide the basis for your citations.

Online Books (books with URLs or DOIs, accessed on the web)

color coded MLA style citation of an book read online

Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan. Carmilla . 1872.  Project Gutenberg . www.gutenberg.org/files/10007/10007-h/10007-h.htm.

Bell, Nancy. We Are Not Amused: Failed Humor in Interaction, De Gruyter, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central , https://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:3447/lib/wsu/detail.action?docID=2035730.

E-books (books without URLs, accessed on an e-reader, e-reader app, or on your computer using e-reader software)

color coded MLA citation for an eBook

Gay, Roxane. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body . EPUB, Harper, 2017.

Part of an Online Book or E-book

Online Book Examples:

Osawa, Yoshimi. “‘We Can Taste but Others Cannot’: Umami as an Exclusively Japanese Concept." Devouring Japan: Global Perspectives on Japanese Culinary Identity, Oxford UP, 2018. Oxford Scholarship Online. www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/oso/9780190240400.001.0001/oso-9780190240400-chapter-7.

Henry, O. “The Fox in the Morning.” Cabbages and Kings , Doubleday, Page & Co., 1919, pp. 11-24. Google Books . www.books.google.com/books?id=zmcqAAAAYAAJ&dq=O.%20Henry&pg=PP10#v=onepage&q=O.%20Henry&f=false.  

E-book Examples:

Bottigheimer, Ruth B. “A New History.” Fairy Tales: A New History . EPUB, Excelsior Editions/State U of New York P, 2009, pp. 103-15.

How to Cite a Kindle eBook

Last Updated: February 2, 2020 References

This article was co-authored by Michelle Golden, PhD . Michelle Golden is an English teacher in Athens, Georgia. She received her MA in Language Arts Teacher Education in 2008 and received her PhD in English from Georgia State University in 2015. This article has been viewed 30,290 times.

Just like the printed versions, e-books need to be cited as well whenever a part of it is used in a scholarly paper. There are three main ways of citing sources: MLA style, APA style, and Chicago Style. Use the method required by your paper to cite an e-book correctly. With a little time and attention to detail, you can easily cite an e-book for your paper or article.

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Chicago Style

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Community Q&A

Community Answer

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COMMENTS

  1. How to Cite Something in MLA Format

    MLA formatting refers to the writing style guide produced by the Modern Language Association. If you’re taking a class in the liberal arts, you usually have to follow this format when writing papers. In addition to looking at MLA examples, ...

  2. 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 (includ...

  3. How Do You Block Quote in MLA Format?

    When writing in MLA format, use block quotes for quotes that are more than four lines long by introducing the quote with a colon and indenting the entire quote 1 inch from the left margin and flush to the right margin.

  4. iPads, Chromebooks, Nooks, Kindles, Tabs: Citation & ereaders

    Author's last name, First name. “Title of the chapter or section.” Title of the e-book, translated by or edited by First name Last name, Name of

  5. How to Cite a Kindle E-Book Reader in APA, MLA or Chicago

    To cite a Kindle book without page numbers in APA and MLA styles, it is important that you know basic information such as the name of the author, title of the

  6. MLA Style (9th Edition) Citation Guide: Books & Ebooks

    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

  7. MLA Citation Book Downloaded to a Device (Kindle, iPad etc.)

    The Case for Marriage. Broadway, 2001. Kindle Book. In-text citation: In Chapter 3, Waite and Gallagher explain that "text of quotation.”.

  8. MLA Citation Style Guide: E-Book

    To cite a book on a digital device such as a Kindle or Nook follow the guidelines for a book citation but replace the medium type "Print"

  9. MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Books, eBooks & Pamphlets

    When there are no page numbers listed on an ebook, or it is a resizable format like Kindle or EPUB, cite the chapter number instead in your in-

  10. How do I cite an e-book in MLA style?

    Use the Version element to specify that the work you are citing is an e-book—that is, a book that lacks a URL and that you use software to

  11. MLA Citation Guide (MLA 9th Edition): Ebooks

    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

  12. Citing Kindles (MLA, APA, Chicago)

    Cite in text: To cite in text, either (a) paraphrase, thus avoiding the problem (e.g., "Gladwell, 2008"), or (b)

  13. Citing E-books & Online Books

    Author (Last name, first name).Title of Book. Edition (if available), Publisher (if available), Year of online publication. Name of Website or

  14. 3 Ways to Cite a Kindle eBook

    Start off with the author's name. The first thing you want to cite when using MLA citation is an author's name. You should start with the author's last name