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MLA Citation Guide (MLA 7th Edition): Encyclopedias & Dictionaries

Formatting

Note: For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Tips

Access Date

For all content found on the Web, you must list the date you first viewed the resource. This comes last in a citation.

Authors/Editors

An author can be a person but can also be an organization, or company. These are called group or corporate authors.

If you are citing a chapter from a book that has an editor, the author of the chapter is listed first, and is the name listed in the in-text citation.

Dates

The format of all dates is: Date Month (shortened) Year. E.g. 5 Sept. 2012.

If no date is listed, write n.d.

Page Numbers

If no page number is listed, write "n. pag." in the Works Cited list.

For pages in the hundreds, you can exclude the first number. E.g., An article spanning pages 156 to 179 can be written as 156-79.

Place of Publication

List the city the book was publsihed. If more than one city is listed, use the first.

Titles

Capitalize the first letter of every important word in the title. You do not need to capitalize words such as: in, of, or an.

If there is a colon (:) in the title, include what comes after the colon (also known as the subtitle).

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In-Text Citation - No Author

If a dictionary or encyclopedia entry has no author, the in-text citation should include the first word or words in the title of the entry. The title of the entry should be in quotation marks, with each word starting with a capital letter.

If you are using a print dictionary or encyclopedia, include the page number where the quote or paraphrased section appears.

Examples:

("Cat Care")

("Tattooing" 54)

Online Encyclopedia or Dictionary From Library Database - Known Author

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Entry." Title of Encyclopedia or Dictionary. Year of publication. Name of Database. Format. Access date.

Works Cited Example

Jones, Frank Allen, Jr. "Anorexia Nervosa." Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. 2002. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 4 Jan. 2013.

In-Text Citation Example>

(Author's Last Name)

Example: (Jones)

Online Encyclopedia or Dictionary From Library Database - Unknown Author

"Title of Entry." Title of Encyclopedia or Dictionary. Year of publication. Name of Database. Format. Access date.

Works Cited List Example

"Culture." Oxford Reference Online. N.d. Oxford Reference Online. Web. 16 Feb. 2013.

In-Text Citation Example

("Title of Entry")

Example: ("Culture")

Note: This entry has no page numbersso this information is left out of the citation.

Note: If a dictionary or encyclopedia entry has no author, the in-text citation should include the title of the entry. The title of the entry should be in quotation marks, with each word starting with a capital letter.

Online Encyclopedia or Dictionary From a Website - Known Author

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Entry." Title of Encyclopedia or Dictionary. Date of publication. Format. Access date.

Works Cited List Example

Bothwell, Robert, and Norman Hillmer. "Ontario." The Canadian Encyclopedia. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.

Note: This entry has two authors.

In-Text Citation Example

(Author's Last Name and Author's Last Name)

Example: (Bothwell and Hillmer)

Note: This entry has no page numbers so this is left out of the citation.

Online Encyclopedia or Dictionary From a Website - Unknown Author

"Title of Entry." Title of Encyclopedia or Dictionary. Date of publication. Format. Access date.

Works Cited List Example

"Subprime." Investopedia. 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.

In-Text Citation Example

("Title of Entry")

Example: ("Subprime")

Note: This entry has no page numbers so this is left out of the citation.

Note: If a dictionary or encyclopedia entry has no author, the in-text citation should include the title of the entry. The title of the entry should be in quotation marks, with each word starting with a capital letter.

Wikipedia

"Title of Entry." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Date last modified. Web. Access date.

Note: The date the article was last modified appears at the bottom of each Wikipedia article.

Wikipedia may not be considered an acceptable source for a college or university assignment. Be sure to evaluate the content carefully and check your assignment.

Works Cited List Example

"Body Image." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 7 July 2012. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

In-Text Citation Example

("Title of Entry")

("Body Image")

Note: If a dictionary or encyclopedia entry has no author, the in-text citation should include the title of the entry. The title of the entry should be in quotation marks, with each word starting with a capital letter.

Encyclopedia or Dictionary Entry In Print - Known Author

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Entry." Title of Encyclopedia or Dictionary. Year of publication. Page numbers. Format.

Works Cited List Example

Sanmiya, Inge V. "Journalism (Canada)." The Home Front Encyclopedia: United States, Britain, and Canada in World Wars I and II. 2007. 352-55. Print.

In-Text Citation Example

(Author's Last Name Page Number)

Example: (Sanmiya 355)

Encyclopedia or Dictionary In Print - Unknown Author

"Title of Entry." Title of Encyclopedia or Dictionary. Year of publication. Page numbers. Format.

Works Cited List Example

"Fitzgerald, F. Scott (1896-1940)." Compton's by Encyclopedia Britannica. 2005. 147. Print.

In-Text Citation Example

("Title of Entry")

Example: ("Fitzgerald")

Note: If a dictionary or encyclopedia entry has no author, the in-text citation should include the title of the entry. The title of the entry should be in quotation marks, with each word starting with a capital letter.

Note: If an entry is only one page long, you do not need to provide the page number in the in-text citation.

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