MLA book citation generator

Turn the ISBN on your book into an MLA Works Cited entry.

ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 both work. Spaces and hyphens are optional; ISBN-10 may end in X.

Try an example

The structure of scientific revolutions — ISBN 9780226458113

Thomas S. Kuhn. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Fourth edition., U of Chicago P.

Check the year and edition against your copy. Missing dates appear as “n.d.” in APA.

Build an MLA Works Cited entry

Find the ISBN on the copyright page or above the barcode. Use the ISBN for the edition you read, enter it above, and copy or download the resulting MLA entry. No account is needed.

What to check

An MLA book entry usually identifies the author, title, edition when relevant, publisher, and publication year. Check those details against your copy, especially for translations, edited collections, and reprints. A paperback and an ebook may have different ISBNs.

The generated entry belongs in your Works Cited list. An in-text citation also needs the page or other locator for the passage you used; an ISBN cannot supply that locator.

When a citation is unavailable

A valid check digit does not establish that a book exists or that its details are available. Check the ISBN for a typo and consult the title and copyright pages if the lookup has no result.

Read how to cite a book and how to arrange a Works Cited page. Use the ISBN converter and validator to check an identifier.