Citing Articles

Citing articles from encyclopedias and anthologies still seems to be causing problems for some of you.


This is the WRONG way to cite an article from an encyclopedia:

Brunvand, Jan, ed. American Folklore: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishers, 1996.

This is the RIGHT way to cite an article from an encyclopedia:

Burke, Carol. “Military Folklore.” American Folklore: An Encyclopedia. ed. 1996.

Santino, Jack. “Halloween.” Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music and Art. ed. 1997.

“The Vanishing Hitchhiker.” Encyclopedia of Urban Legends. ed 2001.


This is the WRONG way to cite an chapter in a book (what the MLA International Bibliography calls a “book article” and some style sheets call an “article in an anthology”):

Oring, Eliott, ed. Folk Groups and Folklore Genres. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1986.

This is the RIGHT way to cite a chapter in a book:

McCarl, Robert. “Occupational Folklore.” Folk Groups and Folklore Genres. Ed. Eliott Oring. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1986. 71–89.

Nickerson, Bruce. “Factory Folklore.” Handbook of Folklore. Ed. Richard Dorson. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983. 121–127.


Some of you are having a lot of trouble formatting your bibliographies. Try Easybib!