How Do You Cite an Encyclopedia on a Bibliography?
- 1). Determine whether the encyclopedia article you are citing is signed or not signed. Usually, encyclopedia articles are signed, but some are not. An author's name at the top of the article, or at the end of the article, will tell you that it is signed. You can also reference the table of contents to see if an author's name is given next to the article's title. If you can't find a name in the table of contents or anywhere on the article's pages, the article is most likely not signed.
- 2). Begin writing or typing the citation. You will want to type the entry without hitting enter, so that it takes up only one or two lines.
- 3). Type the author's last name, if the encyclopedia article is signed, followed by a comma, a space and then the author's first name and middle initial. Insert a period after the first name. If the article is not signed, skip this step.
- 4). Type a single space after the period. Only use a single space after each part of the citation. Type the title of the article. You can find the title of the article at the top of the first page of the article. This title should be enclosed in quotation marks in the citation. Type a period after the title and inside the quotation marks.
- 5). Type the name of the encyclopedia. This name should either be underlined or in italics. Which to use is personal preference, but choose one or the other and stick with it, if you have more than one encyclopedia entry to make. The full name of the encyclopedia can be found on the front or spine of the book, or on the title page. Type a period after the name of the encyclopedia.
- 6). Type the copyright year of the encyclopedia. You can find the copyright date on the publication page, toward the front of the book. You will know it's the correct year because it will be preceded either by the word "copyright," or a copyright symbol. Insert a period, then a space.
- 7). Type the word "Volume" with a capital "V" and then a space. Type the volume number of the encyclopedia, followed by a comma and a space. The volume number can be found on the spine of the book.
- 8). Type the page numbers on which the encyclopedia article is located. If the article only spans one page, precede this number with a lowercase "p" and a period. If the article takes up more than one page, precede the number with two lowercase p's, and a period, like this: (pp.). If the article is more than two pages, use a hyphen between the page numbers. For example, use "pp. 120-122" to show that the information came from pages 120, 121 and 122.
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