How To Cite A Book

While writing essays, stories, or research papers, the resources used as reference should be cited properly. If you have used a quote while writing your thesis or treatise it should be properly cited within the manuscript and it should be also listed in the bibliography at the end of the manuscript. A citation is very important while writing a research paper or a term paper. A citation allows you to strengthen your point and it shows that you have done your research as it should be. Plus, by alluding to proper citations you give due credit to the original author as well. When citing a book you can either follow the style guide prescribed by the ‘Linguistic Society of America’ popularly known as ‘LSA style guide’ or you may follow the rules set by the ‘Modern Language Association’ or ‘MLA style guide’. Although both MLA and LSA styles are very similar, significant differences do exist between the two style guides. Read through this article to know how to cite a book properly.

Citing A Book

Citing A Book In Modern Language Association (MLA) Style Format (Single Author)
If the book is written by a single author, then the book is cited first by the author’s last name followed by the author’s first name, followed by the title of the book, followed by the place of publication and name of the publisher and finally followed by the year of publication.

Pattern
Author Last name, First name, Title of Book, Place of Publication: Name of the Publisher, Year of Publication

Example
McCallum, Rachelle, Frontier: A Collection of New Canadian Short Stories, Maple Ridge, BC: Polar Expressions, 2008

Citing A Book In Modern Language Association (MLA) Style Format (Multiple Author)
If the book is written by multiple authors, then the book is the intellectual property of all the authors and so you need to cite all the authors involved in writing the book. However, if the book is written by more than 3 authors, you don’t have to mention the names of all the authors, instead you can mention the name of the first author and follow up with “et al”.

Pattern
Author Last name, First name of first author, and Author Last name First name of second author. Title of Book, Place of Publication: Name of the Publisher, Year of Publication

Example
Joelson, Ann, and Liddy Bettly, Chasing the Dream of the Chimps, Hampton: Ellerton Brothers Publishing, 2003.

Citing A Book In Modern Language Association (MLA) Style Format (No Author)
Sometimes you may come across books that have no author in particular. At such times, cite the title of the book, city of publication, followed by name and year of publication. 

Example
Illustrated Family Encyclopedia, New York: Nature Publishing Group, 2008.

Citing A Book In Linguistic Society Of America LSA Style Format (Single Author)
The basic format for citing a book in the LSA format is by the author’s surname, author’s first/middle name and/or Initials. Publication year. Book title. City, and/or Country of publication: Publisher.

Example
Hopper, Paul J. 1999. A short course in grammar. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Citing A Book In Linguistic Society Of America (LSA) Style Format (Multiple Authors)
The basic template for citing a book in the LSA style where there are two or more authors is by the author’s surname, author’s first name and/or middle name and/or Initials, and author surnames, author first names and/or middle names and/or initials. Publication year. Book title. City, and/or Country of publication: Publisher.

Example
Fischer, Olga, Ans Van Kemenade, Willem Koopman, and Wim van der Wurff. 2000. The syntax of early English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.