How Do You Cite an Encyclopedia Article?
Encyclopedia articles can be authoritative sources for research papers and often serve as excellent sources of background information to help you get up to speed on a particular topic. When you use an encyclopedia for background research or direct citations, you must include it in your bibliography. The exact format of the bibliography entry depends on the citation style you're using (MLA or APA) and whether the encyclopedia is online or in print.
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Instructions
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Cite a Print Encyclopedia Article
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Collect the following information: the encyclopedia name, the article title, the encyclopedia's publisher, the encyclopedia's edition, the place of publication, the article's page number, the article's author, and the article's copyright date (if not listed, use the encyclopedia's copyright date).
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Use the following format for MLA style citations, replacing the information in brackets with the information you collected about your article:
"[Article Title]." [Encyclopedia Title]. [Edition]. [Copyright Year]. Print.
Italicize the name of the encyclopedia.
For example:
"Thanksgiving." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2nd ed. 1999. Print.
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Use the following format for APA style citations, replacing the information in brackets with the information you collected about your article:
Italicize the name of the encyclopedia.
[Author's Last Name], [Author's First Name] ([Copyright Year]). [Article Title]. In [Encyclopedia Title] (Vol. [Volume #]), pp [Page Range]). [Place of Publication]: [Publisher].
For example:
Brown, John (1999). Thanksgiving. In Encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 2, pp 45-47). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica.
Cite an Online Encyclopedia Article
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4
Collect the following information: the name of the encyclopedia, the publisher of the encyclopedia, the title of the article, the exact URL of the article and the copyright date of the article (which is usually the same as that of the entire encyclopedia).
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Use the following template for MLA style citations. Input the information you collected in place of the bracketed items.
"[Title of Article]." [Title of Encyclopedia]. [Publisher of Encyclopedia], [Copyright Year]. Web. [Day Accessed] [Abbreviated Month Accessed] [Year Accessed].
Italicize the name of the encyclopedia.
For example:
"Thanksgiving." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1999. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.
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Use the following template for APA style citations. Input the information you collected in place of the bracketed items.
[Title of Article]. ([Copyright Year]). In [Name of Encyclopedia]. Retrieved [Month Accessed] [Day Accessed], [Year Accessed], from [URL].
Italicize the name of the encyclopedia.
For example:
Thanksgiving. (1999). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from http://www.eb.com.
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