Number,

The source you are citing using the MLA style may have a volume or issue number or both. This is especially likely for journal articles. Some books also have numbers, when they are long enough to be published in several volumes. This mostly applies to encyclopedias.

  • Abbreviate volume to “vol.” and issue number to “no.”
  • For other types of numbers such as television episodes or government reports, write out the whole word (e.g. season 3, episode 6; report 52-315).
  • Follow the number with a comma.

Examples:

The examples found in the MLA section are based on the manual MLA Handbook, 9th ed., 2021.

Marchetti-Mercer, Maria C. “Those Easily Forgotten: The Impact of Emigration on those Left Behind.” Family Process, vol. 52, no. 3, Sept. 2012, pp.376-390.

Kunz, Jean Lock. Being Young and Visible: Labour Market Access among Immigrant and Visible Minority Youth: Final Report. Working paper SP-581-08-03E, Human Resources Development Canada, Applied Research Branch, 2003.