Harvard Referencing: Encyclopedia & Dictionary Entries

Basic format for an encyclopedia or dictionary entry

The basics of a Reference List entry for an encyclopedia or dictionary entry:

  • Author or authors. The surname is followed by first initials.
  • Year.
  • Title of encyclopedia or dictionary entry.
  • Title of encyclopedia or dictionary (in italics).
  • Publisher.
  • Place of publication.

Example: 

Riches, C & Stalker, P 2016, ‘Russia’, A guide to countries of the world, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Referencing an encyclopedia or dictionary entry: Examples

Material Type    In-text example Reference List example

Encyclopedia Entry - No Author

Microeconomics 'analyses individual consumers and producers, the market conditions and the law of supply and demand' (World encyclopedia 2014, microeconomics entry).

Note: If no page number is available use the title of the entry.

 For encyclopedia entries with no author there is no need for an entry in the reference list.    

Dictionary Entry - No Author

 

Curriculum can be understood as 'the totality of the specified learning opportunities available in one educational institution' (Dictionary of education 2015, curriculum entry).

Note: If no page number is available use the title of the entry.

Note: entries retrieved from online encyclopedias and dictionaries via the Library databases can be referenced as though they were print.

 For dictionary entries with no author there is no need for an entry in the reference list.  

Encyclopedia Entry - Author

 ‘Russia, which is officially the Russian Federation, is by far the world’s largest country, spanning two continents…’ (Riches & Stalker 2016, p.1).
 

Riches, C & Stalker, P 2016, ‘Russia’, A guide to countries of the world, 4th edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    

Dictionary Entry - Author

 

‘Macroenvironment. The wider environment that creates the forces that shape every business and non-profit enterprise’ (Law 2018).

Note: entries retrieved from online encyclopedias and dictionaries via the Library databases can be referenced as though they were print.

Law, J 2018, ‘macroenvironment’, A dictionary of finance and banking, 6th edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Note: the title of the dictionary entry is not capitalised, in line with how it appears in the dictionary.