You might know how to cite a book with MLA referencing, but what about citing only part of a book? For example, you might need to reference a chapter from a collection of essays. If so, you need to know how to cite an edited book.
In-Text Citations
When citing an edited book, you need to name the author of the chapter or section in question (not the editor of the book as a whole). As with any MLA citation, you should also give a page number:
One approach to art history is known as the ‘technological theory’ (Wollheim 527).
If the author is named in the text, just give the page number in brackets:
According to Richard Wollheim (527), art history mirrors technological advances in representation.
When quoting a source, moreover, the page numbers should come after the quoted passage (even if the author is named in the text):
Wollheim argues that we appreciate naturalistic art because it bears a ‘very lifelike’ (536) resemblance to a real object.
The only time you need to cite the editor of a book is when citing an edited book as a whole. But this is fairly unusual, so typically you’ll need to cite the author of the relevant chapter.
The ‘Works Cited’ Page
In the ‘Works Cited’ list, a chapter from an edited book is referenced as follows:
Surname, First name. ‘Title of Chapter’. Title of Collection, edited by Editor’s Name(s), Publisher, Year, Page range.
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The essay cited in the examples above, for instance, would be listed like this:
Wollheim, Richard. ‘Reflections on Art and Illusion’. Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, edited by George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, and Ronald Roblin, St. Martin’s Press, 1989, pp. 525-543.
Cross-Referencing Chapters
Finally, MLA has special rules for referencing more than one essay from the same collection. In the ‘Works Cited’ list, you can cross-reference chapters with the container volume.
To do this, simply give one entry for the edited book, then list each chapter separately by referring to the book it comes from. To cite several chapters from Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology, for example, we’d list them like this:
Danto, Arthur. ‘The Artistic Enfranchisement of Real Objects: The Artworld’. Dickie, Sclafani, and Roblin, pp. 171-182.
Dickie, George, Richard Sclafani, and Ronald Roblin, editors. Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology. St. Martin’s Press, 1989.
Goodman, Nelson. ‘How Buildings Mean’. Dickie, Sclafani, and Roblin, pp. 544-555.
Wollheim, Richard. ‘Reflections on Art and Illusion’. Dickie, Sclafani, and Roblin, pp. 525-543.
As with any source in MLA referencing, chapters and edited books should be listed alphabetically by the surname of the first-listed editor/author in the entry.