APA Citation Guide (APA 7th Edition): Encyclopedias & Dictionaries

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication).Title of entry. In Editor's First Initial. Second Initial if given. Last Name (Ed.), Name of encyclopedia or dictionary (edition if given and is not first edition). URL

Example

Beck, J., & Foley, D. (2012). Music composition. In The Canadian encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/music-composition

(First Author's Last Name & Second Author's Last Name, Year, page or paragraph number)

Example

(Beck & Foley, 2012, para. 2)

(First Author's Last Name & Second Author's Last Name, Year)

Example

(Beck & Foley, 2012)

Title of entry. (Year of Publication). In Editor's First Initial. Second Initial if given. Last Name (Ed.), Name of encyclopedia or dictionary (edition if given and is not first edition). URL

Example

Second name. (2024). In Oxford English dictionary. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/second-name_n

Note: If a dictionary or encyclopedia entry has no author, the in-text citation should include the title of the entry. The title of the entry should be in quotation marks, with each major word starting with a capital letter.

("Title of Entry," Year, p. page number or section name or paragraph number)

Example

("Second Name," 2024, para. 1)

("Title of Entry," Year)

Example

("Second Name," 2024)

Author's Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial if Given. (Year of Publication). Title of entry. In Editor's First Initial. Second Initial if given. Last Name (Ed.), Name of encyclopedia or dictionary (Volume number, pp. first page of entry-last page of entry). Publisher Name often shortened.

Example

King, P. N., & Wester, L. (1998). Hawaii. In The world book encyclopedia (Vol. 9, pp. 88-110). World Book.

(Author's Last Name, Year, p. page number or section name and paragraph number)

Example

(King & Wester, 1998, p. 90)

(Author's Last Name, Year)

Example

 (King & Wester, 1998)

When there is no named author for the entry, treat the dictionary/encyclopedia as an edited book and move the editors to the author position:     

Editor, A., & Editor, B. (Eds.). (Date). Dictionary/Encyclopedia entry. In Name of dictionary/encyclopedia (edition, if not the first). Publisher.   

Example

Hughes, J. M., Michell P. A., & Ransom, W. S. (Eds.). (1992). Zucchini. In The Australian concise Oxford dictionary (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

(Editor's last name, Year, p. Page Number)

Example

(Hughes, Michell, Ransom, 1992 p. 227)

(Editor's last name, Year)

Example

(Hughes, Michell, Ransom, 1992)

Title of article. (Year, Month, Day article was updated). In Wikipedia. URL of archived revision of the article on the chosen date

Example

Video game. (2019, October 29). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Video_game&oldid=923638998

Note: If a dictionary or encyclopedia entry has no author, the in-text citation should include the title of the entry. The title of the entry should be in quotation marks, with each major word starting with a capital letter.

When there are no visible page numbers or paragraph numbers, you may cite the section heading and the number of the paragraph in that section to identify where your quote came from.

("Title of Article," year, para. paragraph number)

Example

("Video Games," 2019, para. 3)

("Article Title," year)

Example

("Video Games," 2019)