How to cite a thesis or dissertation
Theses and dissertations are valuable primary sources, especially for niche topics, but each style treats them differently — italicized in APA and MLA, in quotation marks in Chicago, and with different "type" labels everywhere. This guide covers master's and doctoral works in APA, MLA, Chicago, and Harvard, with rules for ProQuest, institutional repositories, and unpublished theses.
What information you need
A thesis or dissertation citation needs: the author, year, title (italicized), document type (master's thesis, doctoral dissertation), institution, and a retrieval source — usually ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, an institutional repository, or a public URL.
If you cite a published version (a book derived from a dissertation), you cite the book — not the original thesis. Treat them as different works with different bibliographic facts.
How to cite a thesis or dissertation in APA 7
Unpublished — held only at the institution
Author, A. A. (Year). Title [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Institution.
Patel, R. K. (2024). Bayesian models of policy uptake under uncertainty [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Michigan.
Published in a database (e.g., ProQuest)
Author. (Year). Title (Publication No. xxx) [Doctoral dissertation, Institution]. Database.
Patel, R. K. (2024). Bayesian models of policy uptake under uncertainty (Publication No. 30421988) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
Available in an institutional repository
Patel, R. K. (2024). Bayesian models of policy uptake under uncertainty [Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan]. Deep Blue. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/...
How to cite a thesis or dissertation in MLA 9
Author Last, First. Title. Year. Institution, type of work.
Patel, Riya K. Bayesian Models of Policy Uptake under Uncertainty. 2024. University of Michigan, PhD dissertation.
Patel, Riya K. Bayesian Models of Policy Uptake under Uncertainty. 2024. University of Michigan, PhD dissertation. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, www.proquest.com/.
How to cite a thesis or dissertation in Chicago
Chicago notes-bibliography
1. Riya K. Patel, "Bayesian Models of Policy Uptake under Uncertainty" (PhD diss., University of Michigan, 2024), 87.
Patel, Riya K. "Bayesian Models of Policy Uptake under Uncertainty." PhD diss., University of Michigan, 2024.
Chicago author-date
Patel, Riya K. 2024. "Bayesian Models of Policy Uptake under Uncertainty." PhD diss., University of Michigan.
How to cite a thesis or dissertation in Harvard
Patel, R.K. (2024) Bayesian models of policy uptake under uncertainty. PhD thesis. University of Michigan. Available at: https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/ (Accessed: 5 May 2026).
Master's vs. doctoral
The document type label varies by style and institution:
| Style | Doctoral | Master's |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | [Doctoral dissertation, Institution] | [Master's thesis, Institution] |
| MLA 9 | PhD dissertation | MA thesis / MS thesis |
| Chicago NB | PhD diss. | Master's thesis |
| Harvard | PhD thesis | Master's thesis |
In the UK and Commonwealth, the term "thesis" often applies to doctoral work; in the US, "thesis" usually means master's and "dissertation" means doctoral. Match the institution's usage if it differs from your style guide.
ProQuest vs. institutional repository
If the dissertation is available in both ProQuest and the university's repository, choose the most stable, freely accessible link — usually the institutional repository. APA and Chicago accept either; MLA prefers the database that you actually used.
Common mistakes
Citing the advisor or committee chair as author
The author of a thesis is the student who wrote it. Advisors and committee members appear in the acknowledgments, not in the citation.
Treating a published-as-book dissertation as a thesis
If a dissertation has been revised and published as a monograph, cite the book. The book has different page numbers, often a slightly different argument, and a real ISBN.
Italicizing the title in Chicago
Chicago places dissertation titles in quotation marks, not italics — because the work is treated as unpublished. APA and MLA both italicize.
Quick reference
| Style | Title format | Type label |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | Italicized, sentence case | [Doctoral dissertation, Institution] |
| MLA 9 | Italicized, title case | PhD dissertation |
| Chicago NB | Quoted, headline case | PhD diss. |
| Chicago AD | Quoted, headline case | PhD diss. |
| Harvard | Italicized, sentence case | PhD thesis |
Cite a dissertation faster — our citation generator handles ProQuest IDs, repository URLs, and the per-style title formatting.
Try the Citation Generator