Citing Encyclopedia Sources

Plagiarism is an attempt to pass the words or ideas of someone else as your own, and is a serious accusation that can result in the failure of a class and even expulsion from college. Citing information is one of the most important aspects of writing term papers for college in order to give credit where it is due and to facilitate fact checking. Information must also be cited according to specific formats. Both the American Psychological Association and the Modern Language Association formats set out specific guidelines for the correct citation of encyclopedia articles.
  1. APA Format: Citing an Encyclopedia Article Within a Paragraph

    • An in-text or in-paragraph citation is when you make a note of your source in the text, instead of using footnotes or endnotes. In APA format, an in-text citation should make note of the author's last name, year written, and the number of the page you are referencing, and should occur at the end of a sentence but before its concluding punctuation mark. For example:

      "Spaghetti was accidentally invented in the year 910" (Smith, 2009, p. 134).

      If the author's name is mentioned in the text, then only the year of publication needs to be noted parenthetically, and should follow mention of the author's name. The page number should still occur at the end of the quote. For example:

      According to Smith (2009), "spaghetti was accidentally invented in the year 910" (p. 134).

      If you are paraphrasing instead of directly quoting, you need only provide the name and year of the reference. For example:

      Spaghetti was accidentally invented in the year 910 (Smith, 2009).

    APA Format: Citing an Encyclopedia Article In a Bibliography

    • Bibliographies are lists of references that occur after the text of a term paper. To cite an encyclopedia article in a bibliography according to APA Format, the citation should be formatted in the following manner:

      Author's Last Name, First Initial (Year Published). Title of Article. In Title of encyclopedia in italics with only first letter capitalized (Volume number, page numbers). City of Publication: Name of Publisher.

      For example:

      Smith, P. (2009). Italian Cuisine. Encyclopedia of foods from around the world (Vol. 7, pp. 133-137). New York City: City Press.

    MLA Format: Citing an Encyclopedia Article Within a Paragraph

    • MLA guidelines specify that you include the name of the author and page number you are referencing in parentheses when citing within the text. Unlike APA format, direct quotations and paraphrasing are not cited differently. For example:

      Spaghetti was accidentally invented in the year 910 (Smith 134).

      "Spaghetti was accidentally invented in the year 910" (Smith 134).

      Note that there is no punctuation between the author's name and the page number as there is in APA style.

      As with APA style, when the author's name is mentioned in the text, you only need to reference the page number parenthetically. For example:

      According to Smith, "spaghetti was accidentally invented in the year 910" (134).

    MLA Format: Citing an Encyclopedia Article In a Bibliography

    • If you are citing an encyclopedia article in a bibliography according to MLA format, it should appear in the following manner:

      "Title of Article." Title of Encyclopedia in Italics. Edition Number. Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.

      For example:

      "Italian Cuisine." Encyclopedia of Foods from Around the World. 9th ed. 2009. Print.

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