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How to Properly Cite a Dictionary As a Reference Source

Scholars are merchants of words. They use words as their medium of exchange and intellectual profit. But this medium, like any other, must be valid. Just as a dollar bill is guaranteed by the government of the United States, the words a scholar uses are guaranteed by accepted lexicographical sources such as dictionaries. Reassure your readers that the words you use are legal tender. Properly cite the dictionaries you rely on as reference sources.

Instructions

    • 1

      Cite your source dictionary this way in APA style: Pompion. (1993). In The new Oxford shorter English dictionary (11th ed., Vol. 2). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    • 2

      Cite your source dictionary this way in MLA style: "Pompion." Entry 1. The New Oxford Shorter English Dictionary. 1993. Print.

    • 3

      Cite your source dictionary this way in Chicago or Turabian style if the dictionary is not well known: Dictionary of Weird Words, rev. ed. (Purple, OK: Domino Editions, 1993), s.v. "pismire."

    • 4

      Do not cite your source dictionary in Chicago or Turabian style if the dictionary is well known.

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