How do I cite an author's unpublished notebook?

How do I cite an author’s unpublished notebook?

Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook.

When you cite unpublished material, follow the MLA format template and provide as much information from the source as you can.

In general, list the author of the work, the title of the notebook in quotation marks (since it is an unpublished work) or a description if there is no title. Provide the date of the notebook, if given. In the optional-element slot at the end of the entry, indicate the format. The following is an example:

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Unpublished notebook. 1794. Manuscript.

Read about citing unpublished translations and unpublished scripts.