MLA 9th Edition

Notes:

The following citations are in MLA style according to the 9th edition of the MLA handbook.

Sample citations are also available at the end of each chapter.

MLA citations should contain a hanging indent (every line after the first of each entry should be indented). See examples below.

Citing this book

To cite an anthology like this textbook in its entirety, utilize the following elements (when available) as outlined below and in the Penn State Libraries citation guide:

Author. Title of source. Title of container, Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).

So, for this anthology, our citation looks like this:

Nicosia, Marissa, et al., editors. Transatlantic Literature and Premodern Worlds. Pressbooks, 2025.

Citing texts from this book

Citing individual texts in this book is similar to citing the entire book, but you should move the position of the editors from the first place as editors to after the book title and instead begin the citation with the author. Or, as outlined in examples from our book below, if the text you are citing does not have an author, simply start with the title.

Cavendish, Margaret. “The Hunting of the Hare.” Transatlantic Literature and Premodern Worlds, edited by Marissa Nicosia et al., Pressbooks, 2025.

“Spring Song.” Transatlantic Literature and Premodern Worlds, edited by Marissa Nicosia, et al., Pressbooks, 2025.

Citing introductions with a title from this book

For introductions that have a title (these will say something other than just “Introduction” at the top of the page), utilize the following format, which you can also view by visiting the Purdue Online Writing Lab‘s entry on “A Work in an Anthology, Reference, or Collection.”

Last name, First name. “Title of Essay.” Title of Collection, edited by Editor’s Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page range of entry.

Here is an example from our textbook:

Rhoades, Rebecca. “Distance and Death in John Donne’s ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning.'” Transatlantic Literature and Premodern Worlds, edited by Marissa Nicosia et al., Pressbooks, 2025.

Citing introductions without a title from this book

Most of the introductions in this book do not have a title. When citing these works, utilize the format outlined below, which you can also view on the MLA Style Center site:

Lester, Blake. Introduction to Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever.” Anthology of Early Twentieth-Century Literature, edited by Lester, Ink Press, 1980, pp. 499-500.

An example from our textbook is as follows:

Handlin, Joseph A. Introduction to Andrew Marvell’s “To his Coy Mistress.” Transatlantic Literature and Premodern Worlds, edited by Marissa Nicosia et al., Pressbooks, 2025.