How to Cite a Dissertation or Thesis in APA, MLA, and Chicago | CiteTools

Dissertations and theses are valuable academic sources -- they represent original research that often hasn't been published elsewhere. But citing them correctly requires understanding a key distinction: whether the work is published or unpublished. Each major citation style handles this differently, and getting it wrong is one of the more common formatting errors in graduate-level writing.

Published vs. Unpublished: Why It Matters

Before formatting your citation, you need to determine the publication status of the dissertation or thesis you're citing.

Published dissertations are available through a database or repository such as ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, an institutional repository, or a commercial publisher. If the work has a DOI, it's almost certainly considered published.

Unpublished dissertations exist only as manuscripts held by the granting institution. They haven't been deposited in a searchable database and typically lack a DOI or persistent URL.

The distinction matters because citation styles use different formatting -- and sometimes different labels -- depending on publication status. APA, for instance, uses square brackets to indicate the source type, and the bracketed text changes based on whether the work is published or not.

If you're unsure, check whether the dissertation appears in ProQuest or the university's institutional repository with a DOI or stable URL. If it does, treat it as published.

APA 7th Edition

Published Dissertation (Database)

Martinez, R. L. (2024). Community-based interventions for urban food deserts Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. https://doi.org/10.1234/example

Key elements:

Author name, followed by year in parentheses
Title in italics, sentence case
Bracketed descriptor: Doctoral dissertation, University Name
Database name
DOI or URL

Unpublished Dissertation

Chen, W. (2025). Neural correlates of bilingual language switching Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Stanford University.

Key elements:

The bracketed label changes to Unpublished doctoral dissertation
The institution name follows instead of a database
No DOI or URL (since it's not publicly accessible)

Master's Thesis

The format is the same, but the bracketed descriptor changes:

Published:

Okafor, A. N. (2024). Microplastic concentrations in Great Lakes tributaries Master's thesis, University of Wisconsin--Madison. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. https://doi.org/10.5678/example

Unpublished:

Patel, S. (2025). Teacher perceptions of AI-assisted grading Unpublished master's thesis. Boston University.

For a broader overview of APA formatting rules, see our APA citation guide.

MLA 9th Edition

MLA uses a container-based system, so the format varies depending on where you accessed the dissertation.

Published Dissertation (Database)

Martinez, Rosa L. Community-Based Interventions for Urban Food Deserts. 2024. University of Michigan, PhD dissertation. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, https://doi.org/10.1234/example.

Key elements:

Author, title in italics (title case)
Year, university, and degree type
Database as the container (italicized), followed by the URL

Unpublished Dissertation

Chen, Wei. Neural Correlates of Bilingual Language Switching. 2025. Stanford University, PhD dissertation.

Key elements:

No database container since it wasn't accessed through one
University and degree type follow the year

Master's Thesis

Okafor, Adaeze N. Microplastic Concentrations in Great Lakes Tributaries. 2024. University of Wisconsin--Madison, MA thesis. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, https://doi.org/10.5678/example.

MLA doesn't use a rigid label like APA's brackets. Instead, you describe the type of work (PhD dissertation, MA thesis, MS thesis) after the institution name.

Chicago (Notes-Bibliography)

Chicago offers two systems. Most humanities disciplines use Notes-Bibliography, which is what we'll cover here.

Published Dissertation -- Footnote

Rosa L. Martinez, "Community-Based Interventions for Urban Food Deserts" (PhD diss., University of Michigan, 2024), 87, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

Published Dissertation -- Bibliography

Martinez, Rosa L. "Community-Based Interventions for Urban Food Deserts." PhD diss., University of Michigan, 2024. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

Unpublished Dissertation -- Footnote

Wei Chen, "Neural Correlates of Bilingual Language Switching" (PhD diss., Stanford University, 2025), 34.

Unpublished Dissertation -- Bibliography

Chen, Wei. "Neural Correlates of Bilingual Language Switching." PhD diss., Stanford University, 2025.

Key elements:

Chicago puts dissertation titles in quotes, not italics (unlike books)
"PhD diss." is abbreviated and not capitalized
Footnotes include the specific page number; the bibliography entry doesn't
Published dissertations add the database name at the end

Master's Thesis in Chicago

Thompson, James R. "Renewable Energy Adoption in Rural Communities." MA thesis, Georgetown University, 2024.

Replace "PhD diss." with "MA thesis," "MS thesis," or "MFA thesis" as appropriate.

For a side-by-side comparison of how these three styles differ in general, see APA vs MLA vs Chicago.

How to Find a Dissertation's DOI

Many students struggle to locate DOIs for dissertations. Here are the most reliable methods:

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global -- Search the title or author. Published dissertations in ProQuest typically have a DOI displayed on the record page.
Institutional repositories -- Most universities now maintain open-access repositories (e.g., Deep Blue at Michigan, DSpace at MIT). These often assign DOIs or handles to deposited works.
CrossRef or DOI.org -- If you have partial metadata, search CrossRef by title. If a DOI exists, it will appear.
The dissertation itself -- Check the title page, copyright page, or abstract page. Many newer dissertations print their DOI.

If you can't find a DOI, use the most stable URL you have -- a direct database link or institutional repository link. Avoid linking to general search result pages.

For more on DOIs and why they matter for citations, see our guide to DOIs.

Citing a Dissertation You Found Online (Not in a Database)

Some dissertations are posted on personal websites, academic networking sites like ResearchGate, or departmental pages. In these cases:

APA:

Nakamura, H. (2023). Seismic risk modeling in coastal megacities Doctoral dissertation, Tokyo Institute of Technology. https://www.example.com/nakamura-dissertation.pdf

MLA:

Nakamura, Hiroshi. Seismic Risk Modeling in Coastal Megacities. 2023. Tokyo Institute of Technology, PhD dissertation. ResearchGate, https://www.researchgate.net/example.

Use the site name as the container or source, and include the direct URL. If the work has a DOI, always prefer the DOI over other URLs.

In-Text Citations for Dissertations

Dissertations follow the same in-text citation rules as other sources in each style:

APA: (Martinez, 2024) or Martinez (2024)

MLA: (Martinez 87) -- page number, no comma

Chicago: Uses footnotes (see examples above)

There's nothing special about the in-text format for dissertations. The complexity is entirely in the reference list or bibliography entry.

Common Mistakes

Using italics in Chicago -- Chicago puts dissertation titles in quotation marks, not italics. This is the opposite of how Chicago formats book titles, and it trips people up constantly.
Omitting the institution -- Every style requires the degree-granting university. Unlike journal articles, the institution is a required element.
Using "dissertation" for a master's thesis -- Be precise about the degree level. A master's thesis isn't a doctoral dissertation, and citation styles label them differently.
Forgetting the database name -- For published dissertations, APA and Chicago expect the database name (ProQuest, institutional repository). Leaving it out makes the source harder to locate.
Treating all dissertations as unpublished -- If the work is in ProQuest or has a DOI, it's published. Using the "unpublished" label for a publicly accessible, database-indexed work is technically incorrect.
Missing the DOI -- If a DOI exists, you should include it. DOIs are more stable than URLs and are preferred by all three major styles. Check ProQuest and CrossRef before assuming no DOI exists.

Try It with CiteTools

Dissertation citations have more moving parts than most source types -- published vs. unpublished, doctoral vs. master's, database vs. institutional repository. Instead of second-guessing the format, paste the dissertation's DOI or title into CiteTools.io and get a correctly formatted citation in seconds. We handle the labels, punctuation, and style-specific quirks automatically.