PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Multivolume work

How to Cite a Multivolume Work in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for one volume of a multivolume work gives the editors or authors, the title in italics, the edition, vol. and the volume number, the publisher, and the year: Loscalzo, Joseph, et al., editors. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 21st ed., vol. 1, McGraw Hill, 2022. When the volume has its own title, that title leads, and the set's title can close the entry: Vol. 4 of APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology. The in-text citation is the name and the page, (Loscalzo et al. 215), plus the volume and a colon when you cite the whole set: (Schneiderman et al. 2: 45).

The format

Last Name, First Name, et al., editors. Title of the Work. #th ed., vol. #, Publisher, Year.

PERRLA MLA Experts ยท Updated October 27, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Citing one volume? In PERRLA, choose Book, then Book, e-book, or audiobook, and pick Volume in a series as the kind. Type the title shared by every volume in Series Title, the volume's own title (if it has one) in Volume Title, and its number in Volume Number. Add the editors as Editor contributors, in the order the volume lists them, then the year, the edition, the publisher, and the DOI. When the volume has a title, PERRLA leads with it and ends the entry with Vol. and the set's title. When a book has editors and no authors, PERRLA moves the editors to the front, adds editors, and shortens three or more to the first one and et al.

Citing the whole set? Choose All or part of a book instead, type the set's title in Book Title, and leave the volume out. PERRLA doesn't add the optional count of volumes. When you cite a passage, choose Page number and type the volume, a colon, a space, and the page, like 2: 45.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Editors or authors

Most multivolume works, like handbooks and encyclopedias, are edited. Put the editors where the author would go: the first editor's last name, a comma, and their first name as the book prints it, then a comma and editors (or editor for one). Three or more: the first editor, et al., and editors.

Schneiderman, Neil, et al., editors.

Which editors? For the whole set, the editors of the whole work. For one volume, the editors that volume credits, in its order. APA PsycNet lists Volume 4 of the APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology under the handbook's three lead editors plus Nnamdi Pole, who edited that volume, so the entry starts with the first lead editor.

Norcross, John C., et al., editors.

2. Title

Write the title in italics and title case, followed by a period. For the whole set, or for a volume with no title of its own, use the title every volume shares.

Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine.

When the volume you used has a title of its own, cite it by that title. The set's title moves to the end of the entry.

Psychopathology and Health.

3. Edition and volume number

After the title, give the edition, then vol. and the number of the volume you used, each followed by a comma. The edition always comes first.

21st ed., vol. 1,

No edition? The volume follows the title's period, so it starts with a capital: Vol. 2,. Citing the whole set? Leave the volume out here.

4. Publisher and year

Give the publisher's name, without business words like Inc. or Company, then a comma and the year from the copyright page of the volume you used.

American Psychological Association, 2025

Citing a whole set whose volumes came out over several years? Give the first and last years with an en dash between them.

5. DOI

Big handbooks often give each volume its own DOI. Use the one for the volume you cite, as a full https://doi.org/ link after the year, then a period.

2025, https://doi.org/10.1037/0000394-000.

Citing the whole set and it has no DOI of its own? End after the year. Don't borrow one volume's DOI for the whole set.

6. The set's title (titled volume)

When you cite a volume by its own title, you can close the entry with Vol., the number, of, and the set's title in italics, then a period. MLA calls this a supplemental element: it's optional, but it tells your reader the book belongs to a larger work.

Vol. 4 of APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology.

7. Number of volumes (whole set)

Citing the whole set, you may add the total number of volumes at the very end, after the period: the number and vols. It's optional, so a whole-set entry is complete without it.

American Psychological Association, 2025. 3 vols.

Examples

A whole multivolume set

The three-volume APA Handbook of Health Psychology, cited as a whole because your paper draws on more than one volume. There's no single DOI for the set, so the entry ends with the year. In the text, 2: 45 means volume 2, page 45.

  • In-text citation(Schneiderman et al. 2: 45)
  • Narrative citationSchneiderman et al. note that … (2: 45).

One volume that has its own title

Volume 1 of the same handbook, Foundations and Context of Health Psychology, with its own DOI. The volume's title leads the entry, and the set's title comes at the end.

  • In-text citation(Schneiderman et al. 45)
  • Narrative citationAs Schneiderman et al. explain, … (45).

One volume with no title of its own

Volume 1 of the two-volume 21st edition of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, the internal medicine reference many nurse practitioner and PA students use. The volumes are numbered but not titled, so the volume number goes after the edition.

  • In-text citation(Loscalzo et al. 215)
  • Narrative citationLoscalzo et al. note that … (215).

One volume with its own volume editor

Volume 4 of the five-volume APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology, on psychopathology and health. Its editors are the handbook's three lead editors and Nnamdi Pole, who edited this volume, in the order APA PsycNet lists them. MLA names only the first, then et al.

  • In-text citation(Norcross et al.)
  • Narrative citationNorcross et al. bring together …

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation for a multivolume work is the author's or editor's last name and the page, with no comma between them. Whether you add the volume depends on your Works Cited entry.

  • Your entry names one volume: the page alone is enough, because the entry already tells your reader which volume: (Loscalzo et al. 215)
  • Your entry is the whole set: give the volume number, a colon, a space, and the page: (Schneiderman et al. 2: 45)
  • A whole volume, no page: add a comma and vol. with the number: (Schneiderman et al., vol. 2)
  • Three or more editors: the first editor's last name and et al. Leave the word editors out of the text.
  • Name in your sentence: put only the location in parentheses at the end: Schneiderman et al. note that … (2: 45).

Citing a whole set and one of its volumes in the same paper? Both entries start with the same names, so add a short title to tell them apart: (Schneiderman et al., Foundations 45).

Common mistakes

  • (Schneiderman et al., vol. 2, p. 45)(Schneiderman et al. 2: 45)When you give both a volume and a page, MLA joins them with a colon and a space and drops vol. and p.
  • (Loscalzo et al. 1: 215)(Loscalzo et al. 215)Your Works Cited entry already names volume 1, so the page alone is enough. Add the volume only when the entry covers the whole set.
  • Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. Vol. 1, 21st ed., McGraw Hill, 2022.Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 21st ed., vol. 1, McGraw Hill, 2022.MLA puts the edition before the volume number, so vol. comes second and stays lowercase.
  • APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology: Vol. 4. Psychopathology and Health.Psychopathology and Health. … Vol. 4 of APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology.That's the APA pattern. In MLA, a volume with its own title is cited by that title, and the set's title can follow at the end of the entry.
  • Schneiderman, N., Smith, T. W., Anderson, N. B., et al. (Eds.). (2025).Schneiderman, Neil, et al., editors.MLA spells out the first editor's first name, names only the first of three or more, and writes editors where APA uses (Eds.). The year goes after the publisher.

Quick checklist

  • Editors first: the first one inverted, then et al. and editors
  • A volume with its own title is cited by that title
  • Edition first, then vol. and the number
  • Publisher and year from the volume you used, then its DOI
  • Optional: Vol. # of Set Title, or # vols. for the whole set, at the end
  • In text: the page alone for one volume, volume: page for the whole set

Questions students ask

Should I cite the whole set or just one volume?

Cite what you used. If everything came from one volume, cite that volume, with its own title and DOI if it has them, and your in-text citations need only the page. Cite the whole set when you drew on several volumes, and put the volume and page in each citation: (Schneiderman et al. 2: 45).

Where does the volume number go in MLA 9?

After the title and the edition, as vol. and a numeral, followed by a comma and the publisher: Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 21st ed., vol. 1, McGraw Hill, 2022. If the volume has its own title, the number moves to the end instead: Vol. 4 of APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology.

How do I cite a volume and page in the text?

Write the volume number, a colon, a space, and the page, with no vol. or p.: (Schneiderman et al. 2: 45). Do this only when your Works Cited entry is the whole set. If the entry names one volume, give the page alone.

Do I need to give the number of volumes?

No. MLA treats the total number of volumes as optional. If you cite the whole set and want to show its size, add it at the very end of the entry, after a period: 3 vols.

What if the volumes came out in different years?

For one volume, use that volume's year from its copyright page. For the whole set, give the first and last years with an en dash between them, so the date covers every volume.

How do I cite a chapter from one volume?

Cite the chapter the same way as any chapter in an edited book: the chapter's author, the chapter title in quotation marks, then the volume's title in italics, edited by and the editors, the publisher, the year, and the chapter's page range. See our chapter in an edited book guide.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (the core elements, with version before number, and the supplemental elements, sections 5.105–5.119, including 5.117 on one volume of a multivolume work) and chapter 6 (in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's posts on citing a commentator (a titled volume closed with Vol. 1 of The Divine Comedy), a volume republished in a multivolume work (edition, then vol., with the number of volumes at the end), essays in multivolume works, and digitized multivolume works (volume and page in the text). Example sources are the ones verified for the APA 7 page, rechecked at Crossref for each volume's DOI and every editor's full name, plus the CiNii catalog record for Harrison's.

PERRLA builds the Works Cited entry for one volume or the whole set, with the editors up front and the volume's own title where it belongs.

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