Library Guides: Chicago Referencing Guide: Reference works

Well-known reference works

Well-known reference works, like major dictionaries and encyclopaedias, should only be cited in your notes, not in your bibliography.
Publication information can be omitted, apart from the edition (unless it is the first, or no edition is specified).
If you consulted the reference work online, include a URL. If it is undated, include an access date.
For dictionaries and encyclopaedias that are arranged by key terms, do not cite the volume or page number. Instead, cite the entry that you consulted, preceded by s.v. ("sub verbo" - Latin for "under the word").

Note:

19. Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed., s.v. "chiaroscuro."

20. Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v. "Serval (mammal)," accessed June 17, 2017, http://www.britannica.com/serval.

Cite reference works that are more specialised or less well-known just as you would cite a book - in both your notes and bibliography.
For works with no named author(s) or editor(s), begin the citation with the title.

Note:

21. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture (London: St. James Press, 2000), s.v. "Street Art".

Bibliography:

Horowitz, Maryanne Cline, ed. New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2005.