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How To - Use the MLA Style Guide: Parts of Books

Additional Information

When citing an electronic source, the title of the eBook or database provider goes on line 3 of Container #2, and is written in italics. According to MLA Handbook, 9th ed., the permalink and the Accessed Date are optional. Check with your instructor to clarify if you need to include the permalink and the Accessed Date for eBooks from online databases available through Taft College Library. Check out this tutorial on how to locate the permalink for eBooks found in online databases.

*Please note that the citations below are not formatted with a hanging indent due to formatting restrictions.  Please make sure you set your MS Word document to hanging indent with .5" spaces.  

Parts of Books

Material Type In-text Citation Works Cited
Chapter/essay from a book/anthology          (O'Brien 689)

O'Brien, Tim. "The Things They Carried." Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, edited by Robert DiYanni, 6th ed., McGraw Hill, 2007, pp. 684-97.

Part of book from an online database with an author

(Porter 13)

Porter, Carolyn. "Ann Beattie: The Art of the Missing." The Contemporary American Women Writers: Native Strategies, edited by William J. Scheick and Catherine RainwaterUP of Kentucky, 2015, pp. 9-28. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=938247&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_Cover. permalink optional.

Part of a book from an online database with an editor and no author (Milne 202) Milne, Ira Mark, editor. "The Pearl." Short Stories for Students, vol. 22, Gale, 2006, pp. 198-215. Gale Virtual Reference Library, db12.linccweb.org/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.db12.linccweb.org/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=lincclin_ircc&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CCX3423600021&asid=0ae289f9ef022738a99752be2647ef1b. permalink optional.
Introduction/preface from a book or anthology written by the editor (Damrosch xxi)

Damrosch, David, and David L. Pike. Preface. The Longman Anthology of World Literature, edited by Damrosch, et al, 2nd ed., Pearson Education, 2009, pp. xxi-xxv.

Start the citation with author of the introduction/preface.

Introduction/preface from a book written by someone other than the author(s) (Wyatt ii)

Wyatt, David. Introduction. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, Penguin, 1992, pp. i-vi.

Start the citation with author of the introduction/preface.

Entry in a reference work, with an author and editor (Munro and Munro 553)

Munro, Brenda, and Gordon Munro. “Family, Definition Of.” International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family, edited by James J. Ponzetti, Jr., 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gale Group, 2003, pp. 549-­55. 

Entry in a reference work, with an editor and no author ("Cuba" 235)

"Cuba." Political Handbook of the World 2014, edited by Tom Lansford, CQ Press, 2014, pp. 354-8.