How to Cite an Essay in a Book

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Generally, when you use an article or essay published in a book as a source, you list the author and title of the article first. The title and editor of the book, along with publishing information, will make up the rest of your citation. The specific format of your citation varies depending on whether you're using the Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), or Chicago style.

1
Start your Works Cited entry with the author's name. Use the name of the author of the specific article you want to cite. Type their last name first, followed by a comma. Then type their first name. Place a period at the end of the author's name.^[1]
- Example: Charry, Eric.
2
Enclose the title of the article in quotation marks. After the author's name, type the title of the article. Use title case, capitalizing all nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adverbs. Place a period at the end of the title, inside the closing quotation marks.^[2]
- Example: Charry, Eric. "Music and Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa."
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3
Include the title of the book and name of the editor. Type the title of the book in italics, followed by a comma. Type the words "edited by," then list the names of the editor or editors in first name-last name format. Place a period after the names of the editors.^[3]
- Example: Charry, Eric. "Music and Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa." The History of Islam in Africa, edited by Nehwmia Levtzion and Randall L. Pouwels.
4
Conclude with publication information for the book. Type the name of the book's publisher, followed by a comma. Add the year the book was published, also followed by a comma. Then type the abbreviation "pp." followed by the page range where the article appears in the book. Place a period after the last page number.^[4]
- A standard MLA citation includes: Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Title of Book, edited by First Name Last Name. Publisher, year, pp. ##-##.
- Example: Charry, Eric. "Music and Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa." The History of Islam in Africa, edited by Nehwmia Levtzion and Randall L. Pouwels. Ohio University Press, 2000, pp. 545-573.
5
Provide the author's name and page number for in-text citations. When you paraphrase or quote from the article in your text, place a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. Use the page number or range or pages where the information you paraphrased or quoted can be found. Place a period after the closing parentheses.^[5]
- Example: "When communities converted to Islam, many traditional songs were changed to incorporate references to the religion (Charry 546)."
- If you use the author's name in the text of your paper, you don't have to include it in the parenthetical citation. For example: "According to Charry, communities incorporated references to Islam in traditional songs after converting to the religion (546).
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1
Begin your reference list entry with the name of the author. Type the last name of the author of the article you want to cite, followed by a comma. Then type the author's first initial (and middle initial, if available).^[6]
- Example: Berry, W.
2
Add the year of publication. After the author's name, list the year of publication for the book in parentheses. Always use the year the book was published, even if the article was previously published elsewhere. Place a period after the year, outside the closing parentheses.^[7]
- Example: Berry, W. (2005).
3
Copy the title of the article or essay. Type the article's title in sentence case, capitalizing only the first word and any proper nouns in the title. If the article has a subtitle, place a colon after the title and capitalize the first word of the subtitle. Place a period at the end.^[8]
- Example: Berry, W. (2005). War does not maintain peace or promote freedom.
4
Include the names of the book's editors. After the title of the article, type the word "In," then type the editor's first initial followed by their last name. Separate the names of 2 editors with an ampersand (&). After the names, provide the abbreviation "Ed." or "Eds." in parentheses. Place a comma after the closing parentheses.^[9]
- Example: Berry, W. (2005). War does not maintain peace or promote freedom. In L. I. Gerdes (Ed.),
5
Add the title of the book and the page range for the article. Type the title of the book in italics. Use sentence case, capitalizing only the first word and any proper nouns. Type a space, then provide the page range for the article, enclosed in parentheses. Use the abbreviation "pp." before the page numbers. Place a period after the closing parentheses.^[10]
- Example: Berry, W. (2005). War does not maintain peace or promote freedom. In L. I. Gerdes (Ed.), War: Opposing viewpoints (pp. 71-79).
6
Identify the publisher and place of publication. For American publications, use the city and state where the publisher is located. For all others, use the city and the country. Type a colon after the location, then type the name of the publisher. Place a period at the end.^[11]
- A standard APA reference includes: Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Article or essay title. In First Initial Last Name (Ed.), Book title: Subtitle (pp. ##-##). Place of publication: Publisher.
- Example: Berry, W. (2005). War does not maintain peace or promote freedom. In L. I. Gerdes (Ed.), War: Opposing viewpoints (pp. 71-79). Detroit, MI: Greenhouse Press.
7
Use the author's name and year for in-text citations. When you either paraphrase or quote the source directly, place a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. Type the author's last name, followed by a comma, then the year the book was published. Place a period outside the closing parentheses.^[12]
- Example: "When nations go to war to defend freedom, their citizens become less free (Berry, 2005)."
- If you include the name of the author in your text, you don't have to include it in your parenthetical citation. Place a parenthetical with the year immediately after the author's name. For example: "Berry (2005) argued that the process of militarization reduces freedom to the extent that war and freedom are incompatible.
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1
List the author of the article first. In your bibliographic citation, type the author's last name first, followed by a comma. Then type their first name and middle initial, if available. If you don't have the middle initial, place a period after the author's first name.^[13]
- Example: Andriewsky, Olga.
2
Provide the title of the article. Type a space after the author's name, then type the title of the article, enclosed in quotation marks. Use title case, capitalizing all nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adverbs in the title. Place a period at the end of the title, inside the closing quotation marks.^[14]
- Example: Andriewsky, Olga. "The Paradoxes of Reform: Higher Education in Post-Soviet Ukraine."
3
Describe the book where the article appears. Type the word "In," followed by the title of the book in italics. Place a comma after the title of the book. Type the words "edited by," then type the names of the editors in first name-last name format. Place a comma after the last editor's name, then provide the page range for the article. Place a period after the last page number.^[15]
- Example: Andriewsky, Olga. "The Paradoxes of Reform: Higher Education in Post-Soviet Ukraine." In Society in Transition: Social Change in Ukraine in Western Perspectives, edited by Wsevolod Isajiw, 239-268.
4
Close your bibliography entry with publication information. For books published in the US, type the city and state where the publisher is located. For international publishers, use the city and country. Place a colon after the location of the publisher, then type the name of the publisher. Place a comma after the publisher's name, then provide the year the book was published. Place a period after the year.^[16]
- A standard Chicago bibliography entry includes: Last Name, First Name. "Article Title." In Book Title, edited by First Name Last Name, ##-##. Place of Publication: Publisher, year.
- Example: Andriewsky, Olga. "The Paradoxes of Reform: Higher Education in Post-Soviet Ukraine." In Society in Transition: Social Change in Ukraine in Western Perspectives, edited by Wsevolod Isajiw, 239-268. Toronto, CA: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2003.
5
Include the same information but adjust the punctuation for in-text footnotes. An in-text footnote includes the same information as your bibliographic citation. Simply switch the order of the author's name and use commas instead of periods to separate elements. Since it is preceded by a comma instead of a period, the word "in" is not capitalized in footnotes. Enclose the publication information in parentheses. Place a comma outside the parentheses, then type the specific page cited, followed by a period.^[17]
- In Chicago style, the information included in the footnote does not change if you mention the author's name, or any other citation information, in the text of your paper.
- Standard Chicago footnotes include: First Name Last Name, "Article Title," in Book Title, edited by First Name Last Name (Place of Publication: Publisher, year), ##.
- Example: Olga Andriewsky, "The Paradoxes of Reform: Higher Education in Post-Soviet Ukraine," in Society in Transition: Social Change in Ukraine in Western Perspectives, edited by Wsevolod Isajiw (Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press, 2003), 255.
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Question

If I am citing an article within a textbook in MLA format, do I need to list the book's authors or editors, or just the title of the book?

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A textbook is treated like any other book. You would need the author or editor of the textbook as well as the title for your Works Cited entry. For your in-text citation, use the author of the article, not the author or editor of the textbook.
Question

How do you cite if the sentence is cited?

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A sentence in a book or article with a citation is the author's paraphrase or quote of another author's work. This is considered a "secondary source," and is discouraged unless the original work is no longer available. If you still want to cite it, use the format specified by your citation style to cite secondary sources. In most styles, provide a full citation to the work you used in your references or Works Cited at the end of your paper. When you mention the passage in your paper, include the original author's name in your text. Add the words "cited in" or "quoted in" to your in-text citation.

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Article SummaryX

To cite an article inside of a book using MLA format, start by writing the author's last name, then add a comma. Next, write their first name and add a period. In quotation marks, enclose the title of the article you are citing, followed by a period. Then, in italics, write the name of the book, add a comma, write "edited by," and include the name of the editor. After a period, conclude with the name of the book's publisher, along with the year and the relevant page numbers, separated by commas. Alternatively, if you want to do an in-text citation, provide the author's name and page number in parentheses at the end of the line, before the period. For more advice, like how to cite an article inside of a book in APA format, keep reading!

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How to Cite an Essay in a Book

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