ISBN to MLA Citation Converter
Paste an ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 and get a full MLA 9th edition book citation with edition and publisher. Free ISBN to MLA converter, no sign-up.
Paste an ISBN to get a MLA citation
What is an ISBN?
An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) identifies one specific edition and format of a published book. ISBN-13 is the current standard – 13 digits beginning with 978 or 979 – while older books also carry a 10-digit ISBN-10. Both work here, with or without hyphens. You will find the number above the barcode on the back cover or on the copyright page behind the title page. When you paste an ISBN into CiteTools, we look the book up in Open Library and Google Books and pull the fields a book citation needs: authors or editors, full title and subtitle, publisher, publication year, and edition. That is the tedious part of citing a book done for you; the formatter then applies the punctuation, capitalization, and author-name rules of the style you select.
How the ISBN to MLA conversion works
- Find the ISBN above the barcode or on the copyright page and paste it in – hyphens optional.
- CiteTools looks the book up in Open Library and Google Books.
- Copy the finished book citation with publisher, year, and edition included.
Example input:
9780262033848
About MLA Style
Modern Language Association - primarily used in humanities, literature, and arts.
MLA 9th edition is the standard in literature and the humanities. It uses full author names rather than initials, Title Case with quotation marks around article titles, and a container model that lists the journal, volume, issue, year, and pages in sequence. CiteTools renders the full works-cited entry, including the doi.org form MLA prefers for articles that have a DOI.
Frequently asked questions
ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 – which should I paste?
Either works, with or without hyphens. If the book prints both, prefer the ISBN-13; it is the current standard and matches more database records.
Does the MLA citation include the edition?
When the book record carries an edition statement, it appears in the MLA output where the style requires it. First editions are left unmarked, which is what every major style expects.
The lookup found nothing – what now?
Some regional or self-published ISBNs are missing from Open Library and Google Books. Paste the book’s title and author as plain text instead; CiteTools parses free-form references too.