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How Do I In-Text Cite an Online Dictionary in MLA?

No one ever agrees, and with language the disagreements are often loud. Words and language, however, are the commerce of scholarship, and you should be certain in your own scholarship that the words you use and their meanings are clear to your reader. If you use a word that has a specific and perhaps unfamiliar meaning, for example, you will want your reader to know your authority for this particular use. The Modern Language Association of America offers guidelines for the in-text citations of your online dictionary sources.

Instructions

- 1
  Cite the dictionary on your Works Cited page by including the entry in quotation marks, the publisher and date of publication, the word "Web" and the date of access. For example, "atrabilious." Oxford Dictionaries Online. Oxford University Press, 2011. Web. 17 June 2011.
- 2
  Include a URL in angle brackets only if your professor requests it. For example, "atrabilious." Oxford Dictionaries Online. Oxford University Press, 2011. Web. 17 June 2011 <http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/atrabilious?region=us>.
- 3
  Cite the dictionary in your text by placing the word in quotation marks and parentheses at the point of reference. For example, Bile being the referent in question ("atrabilious").

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