| Citation Elements in Order: |
|
 |
Author |
 |
Publication date |
 |
Entry title |
 |
Editor |
 |
Title of reference work |
 |
DOI or URL |
Reference Example:
Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of entry. In F. M. Lastname (ed.), Title of reference work (edition). Publisher. URL or DOI
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Semantics. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved January 4, 2020, from
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/semantics
Proper Bibliographic Reference Format:
- Bibliographic references are double-spaced and indented half an inch after the first line.
- If there is no author, the article title comes first.
- Use italics and "sentence-style" capitalization for reference work titles.
- If no DOI is available, find and include the homepage URL of the publisher.
- An online dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia may be continuously updated and therefore not include a publication date. If that’s the case, use “n.d.” for the date and include the retrieval date in the citation.
- Because entries are updated over time and are not archived, include a retrieval date in the reference.
In-Text Citations:
- Citations are placed in the context of discussion using the author’s last name and date of publication.
- When a work has no identified author, cite in text the first few words of the article title using double quotation marks, “headline-style" capitalization, and the year.
(Merriam-Webster, n.d.)
- Alternatively, you can integrate the citation into the sentence by means of narrative.
- There must be a total match between the reference list and the parenthetical citation, so the article title must stand in place of an author’s name in the essay.
