MLA Format: Edited Collections

The Center for Writing Studies, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

When texts have been collected by an editor or editors, typical bibliography entries will appear as follows:

Fee, Elizabeth, and Daniel M. Fox, eds. AIDS: The Burdens of History. Berkeley: U of California P, 1988.

Rosser, Sue V., ed. Teaching Science and Health From a Feminist Perspective. New York: Pergamon, 1986.

The names of the editors should be given as they are listed on the title page of the text. The first editor's name should be listed with his or her last name first, followed by the other editors' names. After the editor's name is listed, a comma followed by "ed." should appear. If the text has more than one editor, a comma followed by "eds." should appear instead.

If you refer to an article within an edited collection, then the bibliographic entry should begin with the author of the referenced text. The editor's name (or editors' names) in their normal order, preceded by "Ed." (or "Eds."), should follow the title of the edited text. In this case, typical entries will appear as follows:

Zola, Irving Kenneth. "Medicine as an Institution of Social Control." The American Health Empire: Power, Profits, and Politics. Eds. Barbara Ehrenreich and John Ehrenreich. New York: Vintage, 1971. 80-100.

Fee, Elizabeth. "Women and Health Care: A Comparison of Theories." Women and Health: The Politics of Sex in Medicine. Ed. Elizabeth Fee. Farmingdale, N.Y.: Baywood Publishing Company, Inc., 1982. 17-34.

For additional information, please see the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th edition) and the MLA style website.