How to Cite a Dictionary in a Research Paper
Part of writing a proper research paper includes following specific editorial style guidelines. There are two main styles commonly used in writing research papers--MLA and APA. MLA (Modern Language Association) style is commonly used for humanity fields and when writing about language or literature. APA (American Psychological Association) style was developed for and is mostly used for the social sciences. Each of these styles has a specific process for citing a dictionary in a research paper.
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Instructions
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Citing a Dictionary in MLA Style
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Create a place for the dictionary citation on the works cited page of your research paper.
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Place the dictionary entry being cited in quotation marks. Capitalize the first letter of the word.
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Specify the specific definition in the entry being cited by writing, "Def." followed by the letter or number of the definition being used. Place a period after the definition letter or number.
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Underline the title of the dictionary and place it after the previous period.
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Specify the edition of the dictionary used by typing the number of the edition followed by "ed."
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Follow the dictionary edition with the year of publication. Place a period after the year.
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Cite the dictionary in the body of the research paper by placing the title of the dictionary (or a shortened version of the title of the dictionary) along with the page number on which the fact is found in parenthesis at the end of the sentence. The period for that sentence should be placed outside of the parenthetical reference.
Citing a Dictionary in APA style
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Create a reference page to place at the end of the research paper. Title this page "References" without any quotations or underlining and list the dictionary used in the citation on this page.
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Italicize the name of the dictionary. Capitalize the appropriate words in the title.
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Place the number of the edition of the dictionary, followed by "ed." in parenthesis after the italicized name of the dictionary.
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Place a period after the parenthesis containing the edition number.
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Place the year that the dictionary was published in parenthesis after the period.
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Follow the parenthesis containing the year of publication with another period.
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Insert the city where the dictionary was published after the previous period. Follow the name city with a colon.
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Write the name of the publishing company that published the dictionary after the colon.
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Finish the citation with a period after the name of the publishing company.
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Place an in-text citation in the body of the research paper. The in-text citation should be an abbreviated version of the name of the dictionary followed by a comma, the year of publication followed by a comma, and "p." followed by the page number on which the material being cited is found.
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Tips & Warnings
With both MLA and APA style research papers, list the works cited on the works cited and reference pages in alphabetical order.
