Simple Tips on How to Cite an Encyclopedia in My Paper Correctly

During writing any paper, you may use various sources. Needless to say, you need to cite them properly. When you are working on a research paper, essay, or any other assignment, you may use information from reliable books. If you need advice on how to cite an encyclopedia in text, read our instructions and follow them properly.

There are several types of books you may use for creating your paper: online, in print, and in a database. In our guide, we will give you examples for all these cases.

How to Cite an Online Encyclopedia?

Here is a structure to cite in the MLA style:

1. The author’s last and first name
2. The title of the article and the book
3. The city, the year of release, and the publisher
4. The website title
5. The date when the website was accessed

Example: Smith, Kate, and George Thomson. “Mammals.” Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Private Agency, 2001. Google Books. Web. 2 Oct. 2015.

And this is a structure of how to cite an encyclopedia APA:

1. The author’s last and first name
2. The year of release
3. The title of both the article and the book
4. Retrieved from URL

Example: Smith, K., & Thomson, G. (2007). Mammals. In Encyclopedia of Mammals.

How to Cite a Cyclopedia in Print?

This is a structure to cite in the MLA style:

The author’s last and first name

The title of the article and the book

The city, the publisher, and the year of release

The number of pages

Example: Smith, Kate, and George Thomson. “Mammals.” Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Private Agency, 2001. 185-187. Print

And this is how you should arrange the data for the APA style:

1. The author’s last and first name
2. The year of release
3. The title of the article and the book
4. The number of volume and pages
5. The city, the state, and the publisher

Example: Smith, K., & Tomson, G. (2007). Mammals. In Encyclopedia of Mammals. (pp. 185-187). New York, NY: Private Agency.

How to Cite a Cyclopedia in a Database?

This is a structure of how to cite an encyclopedia MLA:

1. The author’s last and first name
2. The title of the article and the book
3. The name of the editor
4. The volume number
5. The city, the publisher, and the year of release
6. The database name and the date when it was accessed

Example: Hipps, Gerald. “Egypt” Encyclopedia of Architecture. Ed. Joseph H. Ross. Vol. 1. New York: Scribner’s, 2010. National United Database. Web. 2 Aug 2015.

And this is a structure to cite in the APA style:

1. The author’s last and first name
2. The year of release
3. The title of the article
4. The name of the editor
5. The title of the book
6. The number of volume and pages
7. The city, the state, and the publisher
8. The date when it was accessed and the URL

Example: Hipps, G. (2010). Egypt. In J. H. Ross (Ed.), “Egypt” Encyclopedia of Architecture. Vol. 1, pp. 32-38). New York, NY: Scribner’s. Retrieved Oct 28, 2016.