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APA Referencing Examples: Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Dictionary or encyclopedia entry (with author)

Format

Author, A. (Date). Entry term. In E. Editor (Ed.), Title of dictionary or encyclopedia in italic sentence case (pp. x-xx). Publisher. URL or DOI (formatted as https://doi.org/10####)

Group Author. (Date). Entry term. In E. Editor (Ed.), Title of dictionary or encyclopedia in italic sentence case (pp. x-xx). Publisher. URL or DOI (formatted as https://doi.org/10####)

Reference List

Hwang, E.-G. (2002). North Korea: Economic system. In D. Levinson & K. Christenson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of modern Asia (Vol. 4, pp. 350-353). Charles Scribner's Sons.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Library. In Merriam-Webster dictionary. Retrieved November 23, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/library

Swarbrick, N. (2015, July 1). Page 13: Te Kīngitanga, 1880 onwards. In Te Ara: The encyclopedia of New Zealand. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. https://teara.govt.nz/en/waikato-region/page-13

 

In-Text

... (Hwang, 2002). 

... (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). 

... (Swarbrick, 2015, The 21st Century section, para. 3). 

OR

Hwang (2002) ... 

Merriam-Webster (n.d.) ... 

Swarbrick (2015) ... "...." (The 21st Century section, para. 3).

Notes

  • For dates that cannot be determined, use n.d. (for no date) and add a retrieval date. Please see the Webpage retrieval date section in the APA Formatting guide for further information.
  • If you quote from online material and there are no page numbers (e.g. HTML based document), provide either a section heading, paragraph number (para.), or both. See the Quotation section in the APA Formatting Guide.
  • Note the editors' initials precede the family name.
  • If the resource is the second edition or higher, include this after the title in brackets (unitalicised), e.g. Title of the resource (2nd ed.). 
  • When information is missing, for example if there are no editors listed, omit it from the reference.
  • If an online article has both a DOI number and a URL, only include the DOI.

Dictionary or encyclopedia entry (no author)

Format

Entry term. (Date). In E. Editor (Ed.), Title of dictionary or encyclopedia in italic sentence case (edition information if 2nd edition or higher). Publisher. URL or DOI (formatted as https://doi.org/10####)

Reference List

Social constructionism. (2015). In J. Scott (Ed.), A dictionary of sociology (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780199533008.001.0001

Whakataukī. (n.d.). In Te Aka Online Māori Dictionary. Te Ipukarea Research Institute. https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoan Words=&keywords=whakatauki

In-Text

It is defined as ... ("Social Constructionism," 2015).

Whakataukī include … (“Whakataukī,” n.d.).

 

Notes

  • Note that the entry is capitalised when used in text, but not in the reference list.
  • Use no date (n.d.) if no date of publication is given.
  • If you feel your webpage is likely to change or be updated, include an access date e.g. Retrieved January 14, 2020, from URL. Please see the Webpage retrieval date section in the APA Formatting guide for further information.
  • If a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is available, include it at the end of the reference.

Wikipedia Entry

Format

Title of Wikipedia entry in sentence case. (Year, Month Day). In Wikipedia. URL

Reference List

Moon landing. (2024, April 25). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moon_landing&oldid=1220737902

In-Text

... ("Moon Landing", 2024).

OR

"Moon Landing" (2024) ...

Notes

  • Used the archived version of the page so that readers can retrieve the version you used. Access this by selecting "View History" and then the date of the version you used. Click through and use this URL as well for your reference entry.
  • Capitalise the entry title in your in-text citations in title case, even though sentence case is used in the reference list entry. 
  • To cite a quote from a source that does not use page numbers, please see the Quotations section in the APA Formatting Guide for further information.