dictionary entries in Chicago Manual Style

marisabrandt

Hi,

According to my Chicago Manual (I'm using 14th ed. - please let me know if this has changed), a dictionary entry should be cited in a note using the following format:

Webster's New International Dictionary, 3rd ed., s.v. "epistrophe."

Also, they (assuming they are "well-known reference books") should NOT appear in bibliographies, and (as shown in the above example) the publication information is "usually omitted."

Although zotero has a "dictionary" entry style, this does not seem to be the way it works.

I'm entering things manually, as it doesn't look like there's a site translator for OED online yet, so please let me know if I should just be entering things differently. (I'm having some trouble figuring out which pieces of info should go in which field - I don't usually cite this sort of thing.)

erazlogo

A "sub verbo" locator is now added to the dev xpi and the trunk. It will be available in 1.0.8 soon. You can use "s.v." with OED entered as a book item to achieve correct citation, as above (which is recommended by CMS 15th ed. as well).

The problem with formatting the dictionary entry item type with "s.v." is that then the "lesser-known" dictionaries will be formatted incorrectly, and there are a lot more lesser-known reference works than the few "well-known" ones (and the latter are only well-known in a specific Anglo-American context). So if your research requires working with many OED entries I would enter them as separate dictionary entries, but cite them as the OED book entry with s.v. locator.

marisabrandt

Ah! That makes sense. Thank you.