PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Encyclopedia entry

How to Cite an Encyclopedia Entry in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for an encyclopedia entry gives the entry's author, last name first, the entry title in quotation marks, and the encyclopedia's name in italics. Then come any editors (edited by), the edition, the publisher, the date, the pages for a print entry, and the URL or DOI. An entry with no named author starts with its title. The in-text citation is the author's last name, with a page only for a print entry: (Eyal) or (Luger 999).

The format

Last Name, First Name. "Title of the Entry." Name of the Encyclopedia, edited by First Name Last Name, Edition ed., Publisher, Year, pp. #–#, URL or https://doi.org/xxxx.

PERRLA MLA Experts · Updated October 27, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Paste a Britannica link into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA files it as an entry in an encyclopedia and fills in the writer, the entry title, Encyclopaedia Britannica as the reference work, the date the entry was last updated, and the link. Britannica changes its entries, so click Today on the Retrieval Date, and PERRLA adds Accessed and the date.

For an entry written by Britannica's editors, fix two things before you save. Delete the Group Author (Organization) for the entry that the search adds, so the entry starts with its title. Then type the date shown under the entry's title, the day it was last updated, in Publication Year, like 8/10/2026.

Have a DOI for an entry in a print or e-book encyclopedia, like Springer's Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine? Paste the DOI. PERRLA builds it as a chapter in an edited book, which MLA formats the same way, with the author, the editor, the encyclopedia, the publisher, the year, the pages, and the DOI. Add the edition if the encyclopedia has one, and check the names against the entry.

Adding one by hand, like a Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry? Choose Reference Work, then Entry in a reference work, and pick Entry in an encyclopedia. Add the writer as Author of the entry and the encyclopedia's editors as Editor for the entry, then fill in the Entry Title, the Reference Work Name, the publisher, the Publication Year, and the Edition (type Spring 2025 for a Stanford edition). Paste the archived URL. For a print entry, add its pages in Page Number. PERRLA handles the quotation marks, the italics, edited by, and the title case.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Author

Start with the entry's author: last name, a comma, and the first name as the encyclopedia prints it, then a period. Look for the byline at the top or the bottom of the entry.

Selanders, Louise.

No person named? Start with the entry title. That includes entries Britannica credits to its own editors: the encyclopedia's staff wrote it and the encyclopedia publishes it, and MLA skips an author who is also the publisher. The MLA Style Center also accepts listing the editors as the byline prints them, so follow your instructor if they ask for it.

2. Entry title

Put the entry title in quotation marks and title case, with the period inside the closing quotation mark.

"Hippocratic Oath."

3. Encyclopedia

The encyclopedia is the container, so its name goes in italics, followed by a comma. Use its full name, with "The" if the title has it.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,

4. Editors and edition

Name the encyclopedia's editors after edited by, in normal order. Then give the edition: a number (2nd ed.) or a name, like the Stanford Encyclopedia's seasonal archives (Spring 2025 ed.).

edited by Edward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman, Spring 2025 ed.,

Online encyclopedias like Britannica don't name editors for each entry, so this part drops out.

5. Publisher

Give the publisher, shortened the MLA way: drop words like Inc., and write University as U and Press as P.

Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford U,

Leave the publisher out when it has basically the same name as the encyclopedia, as with Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. and Encyclopaedia Britannica.

6. Date

Give the date of the version you read. For an online entry that changes, that's the last-updated date, written day, month, year, with the month abbreviated except May, June, and July. For a print or archived edition, the year.

18 Sept. 2026,

7. Pages, URL, or DOI

For an entry in a print or e-book encyclopedia, write pp. and the entry's page range, even though entries are in alphabetical order. Then end with the DOI as a https://doi.org/ link or the URL without https://, and a period.

pp. 999–1000, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39903-0_1227.

For an online encyclopedia that changes, like Britannica, add Accessed and the day you read it at the very end: Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

Examples

An entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Nir Eyal's entry on informed consent, a staple of nursing and research ethics courses. The Stanford Encyclopedia asks you to cite a fixed, archived edition, so this entry uses the Spring 2025 archive (the entry was first published in 2011 and last revised in February 2025) and needs no access date. It has no page numbers, so the in-text citation is the name alone.

  • In-text citation(Eyal)
  • Narrative citationAs Eyal explains, …

A Britannica entry with a named writer

Britannica's entry on Florence Nightingale names Louise Selanders, a nursing historian and Nightingale scholar, as its writer. Britannica updates entries without archiving the old versions, so the entry gives the last-updated date and an access date.

  • In-text citation(Selanders)
  • Narrative citationSelanders writes that …

A Britannica entry written by its editors

Britannica's entry on the Hippocratic oath is credited to Britannica's own editors, not a named writer. The encyclopedia wrote and published it, so the entry starts with its title, and the in-text citation uses the title in quotation marks.

  • In-text citation("Hippocratic Oath")
  • Narrative citationThe Encyclopaedia Britannica entry "Hippocratic Oath" notes that …

An entry in an edited encyclopedia with a DOI

Tana M. Luger's entry on the health belief model in the second edition of Springer's Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine, edited by Marc D. Gellman. The entry runs from page 999 to page 1000 and has its own DOI, so the in-text citation gives the page.

  • In-text citation(Luger 999)
  • Narrative citationLuger explains that … (999).

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation for an encyclopedia entry is the entry author's last name, plus the page for a print or e-book entry. Online entries have no page numbers, so the name stands alone.

  • Online entry: (Eyal), (Selanders)
  • Print or e-book entry: the name and the page, with no comma and no p.: (Luger 999)
  • No named author: the entry title in quotation marks, shortened if it's long: ("Hippocratic Oath")
  • Two authors: both last names joined by and. Three or more: the first author and et al.
  • Name in your sentence: leave the parentheses off when there's no page: Selanders writes that …

Cite the entry's author, not the encyclopedia's editors. The editors go in the Works Cited entry after edited by.

Common mistakes

  • (Selanders, 2026)(Selanders)That's APA. MLA in-text citations don't take the year, and an online entry has no page to add.
  • Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Hippocratic Oath." Encyclopaedia Britannica,"Hippocratic Oath." Encyclopaedia Britannica,An entry by the encyclopedia's own staff has no separate author. Starting with the encyclopedia's name repeats it, so start with the entry title.
  • (Zalta and Nodelman)(Eyal)Zalta and Nodelman edit the whole encyclopedia. The in-text citation names the person who wrote the entry.
  • plato.stanford.edu/entries/informed-consent/.plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2025/entries/informed-consent/.The Stanford Encyclopedia's live link always shows the newest version. Cite the archived edition, which won't change, and match the edition in the entry.
  • Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine, edited by Marc D. Gellman, 2nd ed., Springer, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39903-0_1227.Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine, edited by Marc D. Gellman, 2nd ed., Springer, 2020, pp. 999–1000, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39903-0_1227.An entry in a print or e-book encyclopedia gets its page range, even though the entries are in alphabetical order.

Quick checklist

  • Entry author first, or the entry title if no person is named
  • Entry title in quotation marks and title case
  • Encyclopedia name in italics
  • edited by, edition, publisher, and date, when the encyclopedia gives them
  • pp. and the page range for a print or e-book entry
  • Archived URL or DOI, and an access date for entries that change

Questions students ask

How do I cite Britannica in MLA?

Start with the entry's writer, if one is named, then the entry title in quotation marks, Encyclopaedia Britannica in italics, the last-updated date, and the URL without https://. Britannica changes its entries, so end with Accessed and the day you read it.

How do I cite an encyclopedia entry with no author in MLA?

Start the Works Cited entry with the entry title in quotation marks, then the encyclopedia and the rest as usual. In the text, use the title in quotation marks: ("Hippocratic Oath"). Don't write Anonymous.

Do I need an access date for an online encyclopedia?

MLA makes the access date optional, but it's a good idea for an encyclopedia like Britannica that updates entries without keeping the old versions. Skip it for a fixed, archived edition like a Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy archive.

Do I include page numbers for an encyclopedia entry?

For a print or e-book encyclopedia, yes: give the entry's page range after the date, and the page you quote in the in-text citation. Online encyclopedias without pages get no page numbers. If the encyclopedia has several volumes, add vol. and the volume number after the edition.

How do I cite the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy in MLA?

Cite the archived edition the entry's Cite this Entry page points to. Give the author, the entry title in quotation marks, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy in italics, edited by and the editors, the edition (Spring 2025 ed.), the publisher, the year, and the archived URL.

How is MLA different from APA for an encyclopedia entry?

MLA spells out first names, puts the entry title in quotation marks and title case, drops APA's In before the encyclopedia, and puts the date near the end. MLA uses Accessed and the date where APA writes Retrieved, and the in-text citation has no year.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapters 5 and 6 (the core elements, containers, shortened publisher names, optional access dates, and in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's answers on entries in reference works (page numbers for print entries), sources with no author (an author who is also the publisher), "The Editors of Britannica" as an author, the last-updated date, and website names that match the publisher. Example sources are the ones verified for the APA 7 page: the Stanford Encyclopedia's citation page for the entry (re-checked on October 27, 2026: Spring 2025 archive, editors Edward N. Zalta and Uri Nodelman, Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, last revised Feb. 20, 2025), Britannica's pages for the two entries (writer and dates confirmed again through PERRLA's own Britannica lookup on October 27, 2026), and Springer Nature Link and Crossref for the Springer entry.

PERRLA builds the encyclopedia entry from a Britannica link, a DOI, or the form, with edited by and the access date in MLA order.

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