10 Golden Rules of MLA Book Citation That Make You A Pro

Citation meaning is to cite or mention the sources you’ve used in your writing. For academic writing, students must add references at the end of the page. This step ensures their write-up is well researched and authentic.

For students, it’s essential to give credit to the research content and writer by appropriately mentioning them. This step encourages sharing of work and helps spread the knowledge between researchers. MLA (modern language association) book citation is the most commonly used reference style in academic writing.

New students may use an essay service to grip the referencing style better. This blog will teach you all the steps of citing a source. Let’s start from the beginning.

What’s an MLA (modern language association) Style Citation Format?

MLA format is used by students studying humanities subjects such as political science, sociology, arts, religion and philosophy. Modern language association developed this format for creating a single approach in academic writing.

MLA is used extensively in essay writing, book reviews and research reports. It offers uniformity for in-text citations, heading format, and endnotes page. There are also specific guidelines for page margins when applying this formatting style.

Every educational institution (e.g., college, university) follows specific guidelines. Your teacher or professor may prefer APA (American Psychological Association) format. Before choosing an MLA book citation style, ask them for appropriate guidance.

Lastly, using MLA format throughout your essay or paper is important. It offers cohesion and uniformity throughout the citation work. All the pages using the same referencing shows your professionalism. Hence, you must choose one source referencing style and keep it till the end of the paper.

10 Rules of Citing a Book in MLA Format

If you are a university student writing a book, you must follow the rules. The guidelines for MLA header format are the same as other reference styles. Here we will show you how to use MLA headings appropriately.

All students must know MLA format header rules for the citation of a book. There are ten golden rules to cite a book in MLA format. Let’s look at them one by one.

Rule No.1 (Double Spacing)

Double spacing is an important rule for citation in MLA formatting style. Students should add double space when citing the reference. This technique has many benefits on the sources page and as an MLA paper header.

Having double space in MLA format helps increase the readability of the references. Readers can easily find the references you’ve used in your book. So it’s important to use double space to cite books in MLA formatting.

Quotes and the list of citations must also be in double spacing and alphabetical order. Coherence in applying double space should be throughout the content of all types.

Rule No.2 (Proper Use of Source Page)

The second rule you should follow is to add all the references at the end of the content. This means all of them should be added after the endnotes. If you are writing a rhetorical analysis essay or a research paper, you must follow the same protocol.

Although for writing a college application essay, you may also add in-text citations with numbers on each page and reference details at the end of the book. The second option is to add every page’s reference on the same page where they are used.

This way, you ensure the entire book is cited as the guidelines require. Deviation in applying this may confuse readers and your peers.

Rule No. 3 (Using Block Quotes)

Rule three dictates writers use block quotes for lengthy quotes. Any quotation over two lines in length must be in a block quote. This way, you can distinguish longer quotes from a paragraph’s content.

Block quotes also make your content visually appealing to readers. It helps to understand the text better for all readers, including your professor.

Rule No. 4 (Removing Periods)

The fourth rule for MLA book citations is removing periods between acronyms and abbreviations. It’s a general text rule to remove periods between acronyms because they distract readers. For example, “ER” means emergency room. Adding periods between them may cause distraction.

Secondly, acronyms are used to save space. If you add periods, then it will take more space. To make content appealing, it’s necessary to remove periods when the acronym is more than three words long.

Rule No.5 (Standard Printing Size)

Another golden rule of a book citation in MLA is to select the standard 8.5×11 inch print size. Typically all the books in printed form follow this. MLA citations should follow the same.

Rule No.6 (Selecting Page Margins)

The next rule for citing your book in MLA format is adding 1-inch margins. You must leave a 1-inch margin on the sides of the top, left, right, and bottom. This will help you with the purpose of binding your book, research paper or thesis.

Additionally, you must indent the first line of the paragraph from the left margin for half an inch. This step helps in separating the paragraphs and making them more prominent.

Rule No.7 (Font style and size)

Selecting a font size and style for MLA citations is very important. Students are encouraged to use the font “New Times Roman” and size 12 for better readability. This is a standard format. If your educational institute says otherwise, follow it. 

If no instruction is given, you may follow the standard MLA format guidelines. Although MLA standards are the same, some teachers prefer a blend of two, such as MLA and APA.

Rule No.8 (Adding Running Head)

A running head is a text on top of a page separated by a line. It shows the book title and author’s name. Adding a running head to every page is essential for a book citation. You must add a writer’s last name followed by the page number. The running head is placed in the top right corner in MLA format. 

The margins for the running head are 1.5 inches from the top. In other citation formats, it can be placed on the left side. If the page width allows, you can add a short title of the book to your MLA essay header. Some educational institutions prohibit using MLA format header or running head in a book or assignment. 

Rule No.9 (Page Title)

MLA referencing style doesn’t require page titles to be added to the page. You may add them if your teacher allows it. A student may use two types of page titles if permitted. Student version and professional version are two-page title types for MLA heading. 

You can add a page number on the right side in the student version. You can add the complete book title with the page number on the right side for the professional version. 

Rule No.10 (MLA Format Heading)

Rule number ten guides you to what side does the heading go on in an MLA format. For a book citation, MLA headings are added on the left side.

Furthermore, the alignment for an MLA heading is justified for better use of space and symmetry. Here we will present an example of the first-page heading.

Author’s name: Michael Phoenix 

Instructor’s name: Professor Nicholas 

Course number: Physics 2190

 Date of the paper: 21st January 2007

Conclusion

Doing an MLA book citation is difficult for students. In this blog, we’ve covered all the rules you should follow. These essential rules will help you cite sources better and appropriately. It’s understandable that citing a dissertation or a book is lengthy and requires technical assistance. It’s best to hire custom dissertation writing services for such endeavors. 

A dedicated citation service helps provide prompt help and ensure your book is cited as required. You will get the following benefits in hiring essay writer;

• Quick service

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