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.

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  • 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.

General guidelines for the MLA works cited list

Directory to MLA works cited models

Related works cited entries:

Chapter in a book

One selection from an anthology or a collection

MLA-151

Republished book