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MLA Style Guide, 7th Edition: Multi-Volume Works

This is a guide for MLA Style. It is based on the Modern Language Association of America's MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Seventh Edition.

Multi-Volume Works

Material Type          

In-text Citation              Works Cited                                                     
Two or more volumes from a multivolume work

Levinson and Ember present a discussion of controversial developments in anthrological studies that support . . . (1: 252-63).

1 is the volume number.                    

Levinson, David, and Melvin M. Ember, eds. Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. 4 vols. New York: Henry Holt, 1996. Print.

Give specific references to the volume and page numbers in the text.

 

(Wellek 2: 1-10)

Wellek proposes that the history . . . (3: 110-13).

In volume 5, Wellek describes . . . (265-71).

Wellek, Rene. A History of Modern Criticism, 1750-1950. 8 vols. New Haven: Yale UP, 1955-92. Print.

If the volumes were published over a period of years, give the inclusive dates.

Give specific references to volume and page numbers in the text.

One volume from multivolume work

(James 265-68)

James, Henry. The Complete Letters of Henry James, 1855-1872. Eds. Pierre A. Walker and Greg W. Zacharias. Vol. 2. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2006. Print.  

Include the volume number and the publication information for the single volume in the reference.

  Olsen describes the shawl as a "a decorative quasi-classical drapery" (170).

Olsen, Kristin. All Things Austen: An Encyclopedia of Austen's World. Vol. 1. Westport: Greenwood, 2005. Print.

A single volume with an individual title

 (Caro 17-31)

Caro, Robert A. Master of the Senate. New York: Knopf, 2002. Print. 

If you are using only one volume of a multivolume work and the volume has an individual title, you can cite the book without reference to other volumes.