Skip to Main Content
Go to the Langara College website. Opens in a new window
Go to the Langara Library website. Opens in a new window

MLA Style 9th ed Citation Guide - Langara Library

Basic Format

The MLA 9th ed. does not provide rules for citing specific types of resources. They provide a universal set of guidelines for any type of material based on the core elements. The examples provided in this guide were created by a Langara College librarian and follow this format.

Print book with one author

Basic Format

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

Works Cited

Amato, Joseph A. Everyday Life: How the Ordinary Became Extraordinary. Reaktion Books, 2016.

In-Text

(Amato 45)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pp. 230-32, and 313.

Print book with two authors

Basic Format

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

Works Cited

Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne, and Dina Gilio-Whitaker. "All the Real Indians Died Off": And 20 other Myths about Native Americans. Beacon Press, 2016.

In-Text

(Dunbar-Ortiz and Gilio-Whitaker 76)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pp. 232-33, and 313.

Print book with three or more authors

Basic Format

Last Name, First Name, et al. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

Works Cited

Hart, Carl L. et al. Drugs, Behaviour, and Society. 2nd Canadian ed., McGraw Hill Ryerson, 2016.

In-Text

(Hart et al. 126)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pp. 234-37, and 313.

Print book with an editor

Basic Format

Editor's Last Name, First Name, editor. Title of Book. Edition if not the first, Publisher, Publication Date.

Works Cited

D'arcens, Louise, editor. The Cambridge Companion to Medievalism. Cambridge UP, 2016.

In-Text

(D'arcens 56)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pp. 107-08, and 314.

Print book without author or editor

Basic Format

Without an edition: Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

With an edition: Title of Book. Edition, Publisher, Publication Date.

Works Cited

Oxford Atlas of the World. 15th ed., Oxford UP, 2008.

In-Text

(Oxford Atlas 152)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 237 and 313.

Print book with corporate author

Basic Format

Name of Corporate Author. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date.

Works Cited

Canadian Health Information Management Association. Fundamentals of Health Information Management. Canadian Healthcare Association, 2013.

In-Text

(Canadian Health Information Management Assoc. 28)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pp. 233-34, and 313-14.

Print Book with a Translator

Basic Format

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of the book. Translated by Translator's First Name Last Name, Publisher, year. 

Works Cited

Honjo, Tasuku. Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy: From Serendipity to Cure. Translated by Andrew Gonzalez, Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2021.

In-Text 

(Honjo 27)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 314.

Print Comic or Graphic Novel

Basic Format

Authors Last Name, First Name. Title of the Book. Illustrated by First Name Last Name, Publisher, Date.

Works Cited

Yan, Gene Luen. The Shadow Hero. Illustrated by Sonny Liew, lettered by Janice Chiang, First Second, 2014.

In-Text 

(Luen 21)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 315.

Print book in a second or subsequent edition

Basic Format

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Edition, Publisher, Publication Date.

Works Cited

McWhorter, Kathleen T. Successful College Writing: Skills, Strategies, Learning Styles. 6th ed., Bedford/St. Martins, 2015.

In-Text

(McWhorter 132)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pp. 154-58, and 315.

Ebook from a library collection (e.g., ProQuest Ebook Central, EBSCO eBook Collection)

Basic Format

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date. Name of Website or Database, DOI or URL.

Works Cited

Mikulec, Erin A. and Paul Chamness Miller. Queering Classrooms: Personal Narratives and Educational Practices to Support LBGTQ Youth in Schools. Information Age Publishing, 2016. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/langara-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4744492#. 

In-Text

(Mikulec and Miller 208)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pp. 134-45, 154-58, 211-13, and 316.

Ebook available online (Google Books, Hathi Trust, Project Gutenberg, etc.)

Basic Format

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date. Name of Website or Database, URL or doi number.

Works Cited

Covington-Ward, Yolanda. Gesture and Power: Religion, Nationalism, and Everyday Performance in Congo. Duke UP, 2016. Hathi Trust Digital Library, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ku01.r2_100;view=1up;seq=4.

In-Text

(Covington-Ward 78)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pp. 134-45, 316-17, and 324-25.

Open Textbook

Basic Format

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Publication Date, URL or doi number.

Works Cited

Geography Open Textbook Collective. British Columbia in a Global Context. BCcampus, 2014, opentextbc.ca/geography/.

In-Text

(Geography Open Textbook Collective 88)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 316.

Government publication

Basic Format

Print: Title of Document. Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Publication Date.

Online: Title of Document. Name of Government Department, Agency or Committee, Publication Date, URL.

Works Cited

An Audit of the Management of Groundwater Resources in British Columbia. Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia, 2010.

In-Text

(Audit 83)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pp. 119-21, 182-83, and 343-44.

Government document with named author

Basic Format

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Document." Name of Publisher, Publication Date, URL.

Works Cited

Hango, Darcy. "Cyberbullying and Cyberstalking among Internet Users Aged 15 to 29 in Canada." Statistics Canada, 19 Dec. 2016, www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75-006-x/2016001/article/14693-eng.pdf.

In-Text

(Audit 83)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 171.

Government document where the author is the publisher

Basic Format

Title. Name of Publisher, Date, URL.

Works Cited

The Opioid Crisis in Canada. Canadian Public Health Association, 2016. www.cpha.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/policy/positionstatements/opioid-positionstatement-e.pdf.

In-Text

(Opioid 4)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., pp. 120-21, 182-83, 338, and 343.

Dissertations or Theses from a Library Database

Basic Format

Author's Last Name, First Name. Title of the Work. Year. Institution of the student, type of  document. Database name, URL.

Works Cited 

Duncan, Whitney. The Culture of Mental Health in a Changing Oaxaca. 2012. University of California, PhD dissertation. eScholarship,escholarship.org/uc/item/0wj4w34j.

In-Text 

(Whitney 126)

MLA Handbook, 9th ed., p. 339.