Chicago / Turabian Encyclopedia Citation

←Back to Chicago Citation Examples

How to reference an Encyclopedia Entry using the Chicago Manual of Style

The most basic entry for an encyclopedia/dictionary consists of the author name(s), encyclopedia/dictionary name, edition, article title, publication city, publisher, and year published.

Last Name, First Name. Encyclopedia/Dictionary name, Edition ed., s.v. “Article Title.” Publication City: Publisher Name, Year Published.

Smith, John. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 8th ed., s.v. “Internet.” Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2009.

The first author’s name should be reversed, with a comma being placed after the last name and a period after the first name (or any middle name). The name should not be abbreviated and should be written exactly as it appears in the encyclopedia. Titles and affiliations associated with the author should be omitted. A suffix, such as a roman numeral or Jr./Sr. should appear after the author’s given name, preceded by a comma.

For an article written by two or more authors, list them in order as they appear in the encyclopedia. Only the first author’s name should be reversed, while the others are written in normal order. Separate author names with a comma.

Smith, John, and Jane Doe. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 8th ed., s.v. “Internet.” Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2009.

Include the encyclopedia/dictionary name in italics, a comma, the encyclopedia/dictionary’s edition, and the abbreviation “ed.” Then include a comma and the abbreviation “s.v.”, and then place the article title, along with a period, in quotation marks.

If the encyclopedia/dictionary’s volume is available and the work does not arrange entries alphabetically, cite the volume after the article title, along with the abbreviation “vols.”

Smith, John. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 8th ed., s.v. “Internet.” 20 vols. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2009.

Include the city of publication, a colon, the publisher, a comma, and the year of publication. End the citation with a period.

If the article has no author, begin the citation with the encyclopedia/dictionary name.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 8th ed., s.v. “Internet.” Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2009.

If you are citing the entire encyclopedia/dictionary and not a specific article, exclude the following parts of the citation: the authors, the article title, and the “s.v.” abbreviation.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 8th ed. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2009.

If the article was published online, include the web address of the article, and then place the word “accessed”, along with the date on which you accessed the website (written in the format of “month day, year”) in parentheses. Conclude the citation with a period after the parentheses.

Smith, John. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 8th ed., s.v. “Internet.” Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2009. http://www.britannica.com/articles/id=2533 (accessed February 21, 2009).

←Back to Chicago Citation Guide

“If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.”
– Edgar Rice Burroughs