How-to · Step-by-step
How to cite a thesis or dissertation
Citing a thesis or dissertation means recording the author, year, title, degree type, awarding institution, and where you found it — directly or via a database.
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Step by step
How to do it
1.Decide unpublished or from a database
Establish whether you read the thesis directly from the awarding university (unpublished) or accessed it through a database or institutional repository (treated as published).
2.Record the author and year
Note the author’s name and the year the degree was awarded, which appears on the title page of the thesis.
3.Capture the title and degree type
Copy the full title and note whether it is a master’s thesis or a doctoral dissertation — your style states this in a bracketed description.
4.Record the awarding institution
Note the university that conferred the degree. For an unpublished thesis this is the source; for a database copy it appears in the bracketed description.
5.Note the database and URL
For a thesis found online, record the database or repository name and any publication number, plus a stable URL or DOI.
6.Assemble the entry
Apply the unpublished or published template per your style, with the bracketed degree description and the source location.
APA 7th edition
Unpublished format: Author, A. A. (Year). Title of thesis [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Name of Institution. — From a database: Author, A. A. (Year). Title (Publication No. 1234) [Doctoral dissertation, Name of Institution]. Database Name. URL — Worked example: Smith, J. (2021). Citation behaviour in early-career researchers (Publication No. 5678) [Doctoral dissertation, Example University]. ProExample Dissertations. https://www.example.org/diss In-text: (Smith, 2021). The title is italicised in both cases.
MLA 9th edition
Format: Author. Title of Thesis. Year. Institution, degree type. — Worked example: Smith, Jane. Citation Behaviour in Early-Career Researchers. 2021. Example University, PhD dissertation. In-text: (Smith). The title is italicised. For a thesis accessed through a database, add the database as a container with the URL: "ProExample Dissertations, www.example.org/diss." Use "MA thesis" or "PhD dissertation" as the degree label.
Chicago 17th edition (notes–bibliography)
Bibliography: Smith, Jane. "Citation Behaviour in Early-Career Researchers." PhD diss., Example University, 2021. https://www.example.org/diss. — First footnote: 1. Jane Smith, "Citation Behaviour in Early-Career Researchers" (PhD diss., Example University, 2021), https://www.example.org/diss. Chicago places the title of a thesis in quotation marks (not italics), gives the degree, the institution and the year, and adds a database or URL where relevant.
Common questions
FAQ
What is the difference between published and unpublished here?+
It turns on where you found it. A thesis read directly from the awarding university is unpublished and names that institution as the source. One accessed through a database or institutional repository is treated as published, naming the database and any publication number, with a URL or DOI.
Is a thesis title italicised or in quotation marks?+
It differs by style. APA and MLA italicise the title, treating the thesis as a stand-alone work. Chicago places it in quotation marks, like an article. Match the style: the same title may be italicised in an APA reference and quoted in a Chicago note.
How do I show whether it is a master’s or doctoral work?+
State the degree type in your style’s description. APA uses "[Master’s thesis]" or "[Doctoral dissertation, Institution]"; MLA writes "MA thesis" or "PhD dissertation"; Chicago writes "master’s thesis" or "PhD diss." This tells a reader the level of the work.
Going deeper
