Part of a book (foreword, introduction, preface, afterword) (MLA)

Works cited entries

Bennett, Hal Zina. Foreword. Shimmering Images: A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir, by Lisa Dale Norton, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2008, pp. xiii-xvi.

MLA-150

Sullivan, John Jeremiah. “The Ill-Defined Plot.” Introduction. The Best American Essays 2014, edited by Sullivan, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014, pp. xvii-xxvi.

Explain

  • Begin with the author of the book part, followed by the name of that part (“Foreword,” “Introduction,” and so on), without quotation marks.
  • If the book part being cited has a title, include the title in quotation marks immediately after the author’s name and before the name of the book part (as in the second example).
  • Then give the title of the book, italicized; the author of the book, preceded by the word “by”; and the editor of the book (if any), preceded by “edited by”
  • If the author or editor is the same as the person who wrote the part, use only the last name after “by” or “edited by,” as in the second example.
  • After the publication information, give the page numbers for the part of the book being cited.
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