how to cite someone with a phd

How to Reference a Person With a PhD

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As you have probably noticed, many authors of books and articles are learned individuals who have received doctorates. Therefore, you may sometimes find that you need to cite authors who have the suffix "Ph.D." listed after their names. However, if you listed "Ph.D." after the name of every author who had one, your term paper would quickly devolve into alphabet soup. Both American Psychological Association (APA) and Modern Language Association (MLA) styles agree on this point: never include the suffix "Ph.D." after an author's name when you are citing sources.

Omit the suffix "Ph.D." from the author's name when citing sources in your reference list. For example, a book authored by Jordan Jones, Ph.D. would be listed as being authored by Jordan Jones. In MLA style this would appear as: Jones, Jordan. In APA style, this would appear as: Jones, J.

Omit as well any titles such as "Ph.D." from the names of translators, editors, or any other names that might appear in your reference list entries.

Omit titles such as "Ph.D." from your in-text citations as well. Use only the last names of authors, editors and other persons in parenthetical citations. In MLA style, an in-text citation for the work of Jordan Jones, Ph.D. should appear as follows: (Jones 86). In APA, the same citation should appear as follows: (Jones, 2009, p. 86).

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How to Cite a Ph.D. Title at the End of a Name

According to the sixth edition of the "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association" and the seventh edition of the "MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers," writers using either the APA or MLA documentation format should avoid using titles such as "Ph.D." by authors' names in the citations or references pages. However, these style guides, along with the 16th edition of "The Chicago Manual of Style" and AP style, do allow the use of such titles at the end of names in the text, when needed.

In Chicago and MLA style, a Ph.D. title is not included in the references, but it can be included in the text. In that case, the doctoral degree title at the end of a name appears after a comma but with no punctuation within the letters in the degree and both the "P" and the "D" should be capitalized.

For example: Steven Hammersmith, PhD.

AP style also does not cite the degree in the references, and it prefers a phrase instead of an abbreviation in the text, when possible.

For example: Jane Doe, who has a doctorate in chemistry.

When the preferred style is too cumbersome, such as when several people and their titles need to be identified, AP style requires a period between the two portions of the abbreviation: Ph.D.

The capitalization remains the same as in Chicago, however, as does the requirement for the comma between the name and the title.

APA is similar to AP style, with a period between the two portions of the abbreviation, and it also does not include the academic degree in the references.

Need help with a citation? Try our citation generator .

• Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition); American Psychological Association
• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th edition); Modern Language Association
• Purdue Online Writing Lab: General Format
• Purdue Online Writing Lab: MLA Works Cited Page: General Format
• The Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition); University of Chicago Press Staff
• The Chicago Manual of Style Online: Abbreviations

Kristie Sweet has been writing professionally since 1982, most recently publishing for various websites on topics like health and wellness, and education. She holds a Master of Arts in English from the University of Northern Colorado.

Do the credentials or titles of authors I cite need to be given?

Note: This post relates to content in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook . For up-to-date guidance, see the ninth edition of the MLA Handbook .

As the MLA Handbook notes (1.2), a title like  Dr. or  Sir should not be included before a name mentioned in the text and is usually unnecessary to include in your works-cited-list entry.

You might, however, explain the qualifications of an author in the body of your essay if they are helpful in making your point or refuting a claim:

Although many continue to deny the dangers of fossil fuel emissions, James E. Hansen, a climate scientist and the former head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, argues that “[c]ontinued failure to phase out fossil fuel emissions will consign our children to a diminishing existence.”

Work Cited Hansen, James E. “The Constitutional Right to a Healthier Climate.”  The Boston Globe , 9 Mar. 2016, www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/03/09/ the-constitutional-right-healthier-climate/0xTKyK1s5SaD0ne78YqRHL/ story.html.

Proper Names

Q. If someone has a PhD and is a professor at a university, what would be his or her title? Doctor or Professor?

A. Although this question doesn’t really fall within the purview of CMOS , the manuscript editing department at Chicago is of course well versed in etiquette, as we are in most things. Traditions vary from school to school and from discipline to discipline. You’re always safe with Mr. or Ms ., but I doubt that any teachers would be offended if you called them Professor , whether or not they are one. Doctor is usually reserved for medical doctors, although some professors use it, and PhDs who don’t have tenure-track appointments (and who therefore don’t hold the title of professor) often like to use Doctor instead. (For other questions of etiquette, you can browse the internet for “etiquette” or “manners” or, in this case, “forms of address.”)

[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]

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• Referencing

A Quick Guide to Harvard Referencing | Citation Examples

Published on 14 February 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on 15 September 2023.

Referencing is an important part of academic writing. It tells your readers what sources you’ve used and how to find them.

Harvard is the most common referencing style used in UK universities. In Harvard style, the author and year are cited in-text, and full details of the source are given in a reference list .

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Table of contents

Harvard in-text citation, creating a harvard reference list, harvard referencing examples, referencing sources with no author or date, frequently asked questions about harvard referencing.

A Harvard in-text citation appears in brackets beside any quotation or paraphrase of a source. It gives the last name of the author(s) and the year of publication, as well as a page number or range locating the passage referenced, if applicable:

Note that ‘p.’ is used for a single page, ‘pp.’ for multiple pages (e.g. ‘pp. 1–5’).

An in-text citation usually appears immediately after the quotation or paraphrase in question. It may also appear at the end of the relevant sentence, as long as it’s clear what it refers to.

When your sentence already mentions the name of the author, it should not be repeated in the citation:

Sources with multiple authors

When you cite a source with up to three authors, cite all authors’ names. For four or more authors, list only the first name, followed by ‘ et al. ’:

Sources with no page numbers

Some sources, such as websites , often don’t have page numbers. If the source is a short text, you can simply leave out the page number. With longer sources, you can use an alternate locator such as a subheading or paragraph number if you need to specify where to find the quote:

Multiple citations at the same point

When you need multiple citations to appear at the same point in your text – for example, when you refer to several sources with one phrase – you can present them in the same set of brackets, separated by semicolons. List them in order of publication date:

Multiple sources with the same author and date

If you cite multiple sources by the same author which were published in the same year, it’s important to distinguish between them in your citations. To do this, insert an ‘a’ after the year in the first one you reference, a ‘b’ in the second, and so on:

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A bibliography or reference list appears at the end of your text. It lists all your sources in alphabetical order by the author’s last name, giving complete information so that the reader can look them up if necessary.

The reference entry starts with the author’s last name followed by initial(s). Only the first word of the title is capitalised (as well as any proper nouns).

Sources with multiple authors in the reference list

As with in-text citations, up to three authors should be listed; when there are four or more, list only the first author followed by ‘ et al. ’:

Reference list entries vary according to source type, since different information is relevant for different sources. Formats and examples for the most commonly used source types are given below.

• Entire book
• Book chapter
• Translated book
• Edition of a book

Journal articles

• Print journal
• Online-only journal with DOI
• Online-only journal with no DOI

• General web page
• Online article or blog
• Social media post

Sometimes you won’t have all the information you need for a reference. This section covers what to do when a source lacks a publication date or named author.

No publication date

When a source doesn’t have a clear publication date – for example, a constantly updated reference source like Wikipedia or an obscure historical document which can’t be accurately dated – you can replace it with the words ‘no date’:

Note that when you do this with an online source, you should still include an access date, as in the example.

When a source lacks a clearly identified author, there’s often an appropriate corporate source – the organisation responsible for the source – whom you can credit as author instead, as in the Google and Wikipedia examples above.

When that’s not the case, you can just replace it with the title of the source in both the in-text citation and the reference list:

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Harvard referencing uses an author–date system. Sources are cited by the author’s last name and the publication year in brackets. Each Harvard in-text citation corresponds to an entry in the alphabetised reference list at the end of the paper.

Vancouver referencing uses a numerical system. Sources are cited by a number in parentheses or superscript. Each number corresponds to a full reference at the end of the paper.

A Harvard in-text citation should appear in brackets every time you quote, paraphrase, or refer to information from a source.

The citation can appear immediately after the quotation or paraphrase, or at the end of the sentence. If you’re quoting, place the citation outside of the quotation marks but before any other punctuation like a comma or full stop.

In Harvard referencing, up to three author names are included in an in-text citation or reference list entry. When there are four or more authors, include only the first, followed by ‘ et al. ’

Though the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, there is a difference in meaning:

• A reference list only includes sources cited in the text – every entry corresponds to an in-text citation .
• A bibliography also includes other sources which were consulted during the research but not cited.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the ‘Cite this Scribbr article’ button to automatically add the citation to our free Reference Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2023, September 15). A Quick Guide to Harvard Referencing | Citation Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved 16 September 2024, from https://www.scribbr.co.uk/referencing/harvard-style/

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How to Cite Sources | Citation Generator & Quick Guide

Citing your sources is essential in  academic writing . Whenever you quote or paraphrase a source (such as a book, article, or webpage), you have to include a  citation crediting the original author.

Failing to properly cite your sources counts as plagiarism , since you’re presenting someone else’s ideas as if they were your own.

The most commonly used citation styles are APA and MLA. The free Scribbr Citation Generator is the quickest way to cite sources in these styles. Simply enter the URL, DOI, or title, and we’ll generate an accurate, correctly formatted citation.

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Table of contents

When do you need to cite sources, which citation style should you use, in-text citations, reference lists and bibliographies.

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Other useful citation tools

Citation examples and full guides, frequently asked questions about citing sources.

Citations are required in all types of academic texts. They are needed for several reasons:

• To avoid plagiarism by indicating when you’re taking information from another source
• To give proper credit to the author of that source
• To allow the reader to consult your sources for themselves

A citation is needed whenever you integrate a source into your writing. This usually means quoting or paraphrasing:

• To quote a source , copy a short piece of text word for word and put it inside quotation marks .
• To paraphrase a source , put the text into your own words. It’s important that the paraphrase is not too close to the original wording. You can use the paraphrasing tool if you don’t want to do this manually.

Citations are needed whether you quote or paraphrase, and whatever type of source you use. As well as citing scholarly sources like books and journal articles, don’t forget to include citations for any other sources you use for ideas, examples, or evidence. That includes websites, YouTube videos , and lectures .

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Usually, your institution (or the journal you’re submitting to) will require you to follow a specific citation style, so check your guidelines or ask your instructor.

In some cases, you may have to choose a citation style for yourself. Make sure to pick one style and use it consistently:

• APA Style is widely used in the social sciences and beyond.
• MLA style is common in the humanities.
• Chicago notes and bibliography , common in the humanities
• Chicago author-date , used in the (social) sciences
• There are many other citation styles for different disciplines.

If in doubt, check with your instructor or read other papers from your field of study to see what style they follow.

In most styles, your citations consist of:

• Brief in-text citations at the relevant points in the text
• A reference list or bibliography containing full information on all the sources you’ve cited

In-text citations most commonly take the form of parenthetical citations featuring the last name of the source’s author and its year of publication (aka author-date citations).

An alternative to this type of in-text citation is the system used in numerical citation styles , where a number is inserted into the text, corresponding to an entry in a numbered reference list.

There are also note citation styles , where you place your citations in either footnotes or endnotes . Since they’re not embedded in the text itself, these citations can provide more detail and sometimes aren’t accompanied by a full reference list or bibliography.

A reference list (aka “Bibliography” or “Works Cited,” depending on the style) is where you provide full information on each of the sources you’ve cited in the text. It appears at the end of your paper, usually with a hanging indent applied to each entry.

The information included in reference entries is broadly similar, whatever citation style you’re using. For each source, you’ll typically include the:

• Author name
• Publication date
• Container (e.g., the book an essay was published in, the journal an article appeared in)
• Location (e.g., a URL or DOI , or sometimes a physical location)

The exact information included varies depending on the source type and the citation style. The order in which the information appears, and how you format it (e.g., capitalization, use of italics) also varies.

Most commonly, the entries in your reference list are alphabetized by author name. This allows the reader to easily find the relevant entry based on the author name in your in-text citation.

In numerical citation styles, the entries in your reference list are numbered, usually based on the order in which you cite them. The reader finds the right entry based on the number that appears in the text.

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Because each style has many small differences regarding things like italicization, capitalization , and punctuation , it can be difficult to get every detail right. Using a citation generator can save you a lot of time and effort.

Scribbr offers citation generators for both APA and MLA style. Both are quick, easy to use, and 100% free, with no ads and no registration required.

Just input a URL or DOI or add the source details manually, and the generator will automatically produce an in-text citation and reference entry in the correct format. You can save your reference list as you go and download it when you’re done, and even add annotations for an annotated bibliography .

Once you’ve prepared your citations, you might still be unsure if they’re correct and if you’ve used them appropriately in your text. This is where Scribbr’s other citation tools and services may come in handy:

Plagiarism Checker

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Citation Editing

Plagiarism means passing off someone else’s words or ideas as your own. It’s a serious offense in academia. Universities use plagiarism checking software to scan your paper and identify any similarities to other texts.

When you’re dealing with a lot of sources, it’s easy to make mistakes that could constitute accidental plagiarism. For example, you might forget to add a citation after a quote, or paraphrase a source in a way that’s too close to the original text.

Using a plagiarism checker yourself before you submit your work can help you spot these mistakes before they get you in trouble. Based on the results, you can add any missing citations and rephrase your text where necessary.

Try out the Scribbr Plagiarism Checker for free, or check out our detailed comparison of the best plagiarism checkers available online.

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Scribbr’s Citation Checker is a unique AI-powered tool that automatically detects stylistic errors and inconsistencies in your in-text citations. It also suggests a correction for every mistake.

Currently available for APA Style, this is the fastest and easiest way to make sure you’ve formatted your citations correctly. You can try out the tool for free below.

If you need extra help with your reference list, we also offer a more in-depth Citation Editing Service.

Our experts cross-check your in-text citations and reference entries, make sure you’ve included the correct information for each source, and improve the formatting of your reference page.

If you want to handle your citations yourself, Scribbr’s free Knowledge Base provides clear, accurate guidance on every aspect of citation. You can see citation examples for a variety of common source types below:

And you can check out our comprehensive guides to the most popular citation styles:

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

The abbreviation “ et al. ” (Latin for “and others”) is used to shorten citations of sources with multiple authors.

“Et al.” is used in APA in-text citations of sources with 3+ authors, e.g. (Smith et al., 2019). It is not used in APA reference entries .

Use “et al.” for 3+ authors in MLA in-text citations and Works Cited entries.

Use “et al.” for 4+ authors in a Chicago in-text citation , and for 10+ authors in a Chicago bibliography entry.

The Scribbr Citation Generator is developed using the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Frank Bennett’s citeproc-js . It’s the same technology used by dozens of other popular citation tools, including Mendeley and Zotero.

You can find all the citation styles and locales used in the Scribbr Citation Generator in our publicly accessible repository on Github .

APA format is widely used by professionals, researchers, and students in the social and behavioral sciences, including fields like education, psychology, and business.

Be sure to check the guidelines of your university or the journal you want to be published in to double-check which style you should be using.

MLA Style  is the second most used citation style (after APA ). It is mainly used by students and researchers in humanities fields such as literature, languages, and philosophy.

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Q. How do I reference a PhD dissertation or MA thesis in APA style?

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Answered By: Theresa Bell (she/her/hers) Last Updated: Nov 04, 2021     Views: 66289

APA Style (7th ed.)

Unpublished print dissertations/theses retrieved from university

Author, A. (year). Title of dissertation [Unpublished doctoral dissertation OR master's thesis]. Name of Institution.

• In-text citation: (Author, year, p. X)
• See pages 333-334 in the APA Style manual for information and examples.

Published dissertation/thesis retrieved from online database

Dissertation

Author, A. (year). Title of dissertation [Doctoral dissertation, Name of Institution Granting Award]. Database Name.

Myers, S. (2018). In British Columbia's nature programs where hearts are rooted: A multiple case study of nature education in early childhood education [Doctoral dissertation, Royal Roads University]. Proquest Dissertations and Theses Global.

• In-text citation: (Myers, 2018, p. 45)

Author, A. (year). Title of thesis [Master's thesis, Name of Institution Granting Award]. Database Name.

Dawson, N. M. (2019). ła w eyasens gayułas: Ancestral teachings to reclaim the roles of Kwakwaka'wakw women in governance and leadership [Master's thesis, Royal Roads University]. Proquest Dissertations and Theses Global.

• In-text citation: (Dawson, 2019, p. 60)

Published dissertation/thesis retrieved from university archive or personal website

Author, A. (year). Title of thesis [Master's thesis, Name of Institution Granting Award]. URL of university archive or personal website

M a nuel, R. (2017). Like semaphore in the dark: There must be a better way to communicate [Master's thesis, Royal Roads University]. VIURRSpace. https://viurrspace.ca/bitstream/handle/10613/17238/Manuel_royalroads_1313O_10623.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

• In-text citation: (Manuel, 2017, p. 39)

American Psychological Association. (2020).  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association  (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

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Are titles such as doctor included in author's name on the References page?

Author titles such as MD and PhD are not included on the References page or in-text citations in APA Style.

From the APA Blog:

If mentioning an author’s academic credentials or professional title in the text because it is relevant to the discussion, use the format without periods (for example PhD, not Ph.D.)

• Titles may be used in the body of the paper, according to some Instructors at Baker College.
• If the professor at your college says otherwise, follow their advice.

For more examples of APA style, visit the   APA Help guide.

Thank you for using ASK US. For further assistance, please contact your Baker librarians .

• Last Updated May 09, 2023
• Views 41597
• Answered By Baker Librarians

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Comments (4)

• The answer given about the use of titles in text has been difficult to find. A professor at a different college told me to never use authors titles such as "PhD" or "Dr." However, this site states otherwise. Is information about the use of titles in text on an APA website so that I can check for verification? Thanks! by Mary-Ann on Apr 17, 2017
• You are correct that titles are not used in APA for in-text citations or on the References page. A faculty person in the English department at Baker College said that titles may be used in the body of the paper if you wish, but if your professor says otherwise, follow his or her advice. by ASK US on Apr 18, 2017
• What about situations in evaluations when you are noting how a patient was seen by a physician? Example: Which is correct: A: "JohnnyBoy is seen regularly by his pediatrician, Jane Doe, MD., who referred him to optometrist, Isee More, OD." B: "JohnnyBoy is seen regularly by his pediatrician, Dr. Jane Doe, who referred him to optometrist, Dr. Isee More." C: "JohnnyBoy is seen regularly by his pediatrician, Jane Doe, who referred him to optometrist, Isee More." by fosgate3 on Sep 03, 2019
• I found this on the APA Blog: Note that if you do want to mention an author’s academic credentials or professional title in the text because it is relevant to the discussion, you should use the format without periods (e.g., PhD, not Ph.D.) So, your answer of A above is correct, except there would not be period after the MD. by ASK US Librarian on Sep 18, 2019

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APA Style 7th Edition: Citing Your Sources

• Basics of APA Formatting
• In Text Quick View
• Block Quotes
• Books & eBooks
• Thesis/Dissertation

Standard Format

Formatting rules.

• Audiovisual
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Click on the categories below to see what types of information is included for that reference component for Dissertations and Theses

Basic Format: Who = Author (When = year). What = Title. Where = Name of Institution Awarding Degree

Unpublished Dissertations and Theses

Author Surname, A. A.

Title of dissertation/thesis: Use sentence case [Unpublished doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis].

Name of Institution Awarding the Degree

Published Dissertations and Theses

Title of dissertation: Use sentence case [Doctoral dissertation, Name of Institution Awarding the Degree].

Provide Database or Archive name and URL (if available)

Database Name. https://xxxx...

Archive Name.

Formatting:

• Italicize the title
• Identify whether source is doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis in parentheses after the title

Click on categories below to see examples.

Thesis, from a commercial database

Dissertation, from an institutional database, unpublished master’s thesis.

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / APA Format / How to Cite a Thesis or Dissertation in APA

How to Cite a Thesis or Dissertation in APA

In this citation guide, you will learn how to reference and cite an undergraduate thesis, master’s thesis, or doctoral dissertation. This guide will also review the differences between a thesis or dissertation that is published and one that has remained unpublished. The guidelines below come from the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2020a), pages 333 and 334. Please note that the association is not affiliated with this guide.

Alternatively, you can visit EasyBib.com for helpful citation tools to cite your thesis or dissertation .

Guide Overview

Citing an unpublished thesis or dissertation, citing a published dissertation or thesis from a database, citing a thesis or dissertation published online but not from a database, citing a thesis or dissertation: reference overview, what you need.

Since unpublished theses can usually only be sourced in print form from a university library, the correct citation structure includes the university name where the publisher element usually goes.

Author’s last name, F. M. (Year published). Title in sentence case [Unpublished degree type thesis or dissertation]. Name of institution.

Ames, J. H., & Doughty, L. H. (1911). The proposed plans for the Iowa State College athletic field including the design of a reinforced concrete grandstand and wall [Unpublished bachelor’s thesis]. Iowa State University.

In-text citation example:

• Parenthetical :  (Ames & Doughty, 1911)
• Narrative :  Ames & Doughty (1911)

If a thesis or dissertation has been published and is found on a database, then follow the structure below. It’s similar to the format for an unpublished dissertation/thesis, but with a few differences:

• The institution is presented in brackets after the title
• The archive or database name is included

Author’s last name, F. M. (Year published). Title in sentence case (Publication or Document No.) [Degree type thesis or dissertation, Name of institution]. Database name.

Examples 1:

Knight, K. A. (2011). Media epidemics: Viral structures in literature and new media (Accession No. 2013420395) [Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Trotman, J.B. (2018). New insights into the biochemistry and cell biology of RNA recapping (Document No. osu1523896565730483) [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses & Dissertations Center.

In the example given above, the dissertation is presented with a Document Number (Document No.). Sometimes called a database number or publication number, this is the identifier that is used by the database’s indexing system. If the database you are using provides you with such a number, then include it directly after the work’s title in parentheses.

If you are interested in learning more about how to handle works that were accessed via academic research databases, see Section 9.3 of the Publication Manual.

In-text citation examples :

• Parenthetical citation : (Trotman, 2018)
• Narrative citation : Trotman (2018)

Author’s last name, F. M. (Year Published). Title in sentence case [Degree type thesis or dissertation, Name of institution]. Name of archive or collection. URL

Kim, O. (2019). Soviet tableau: cinema and history under late socialism [Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh]. Institutional Repository at the University of Pittsburgh. https://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/37669/7/Olga%20Kim%20Final%20ETD.pdf

Stiles, T. W. (2001). Doing science: Teachers’ authentic experiences at the Lone Star Dinosaur Field Institute [Master’s thesis, Texas A&M University]. OAKTrust. https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2001-THESIS-S745

It is important to note that not every thesis or dissertation published online will be associated with a specific archive or collection. If the work is published on a private website, provide only the URL as the source element.

In-text citation examples:

• Parenthetical citation : (Kim, 2019)
• Narrative citation : Kim (2019)
• Parenthetical citation : (Stiles, 2001)
• Narrative citation : Stiles (2001)

We hope that the information provided here will serve as an effective guide for your research. If you’re looking for even more citation info, visit EasyBib.com for a comprehensive collection of educational materials covering multiple source types.

If you’re citing a variety of different sources, consider taking the EasyBib citation generator for a spin. It can help you cite easily and offers citation forms for several different kinds of sources.

To start things off, let’s take a look at the different types of literature that are classified under Chapter 10.6 of the Publication Manual :

• Undergraduate thesis
• Master’s thesis
• Doctoral dissertation

You will need to know which type you are citing. You’ll also need to know if it is published or unpublished .

When you decide to cite a dissertation or thesis, you’ll need to look for the following information to use in your citation:

• Author’s last name, and first and middle initials
• Year published
• Title of thesis or dissertation
• If it is unpublished
• Publication or document number (if applicable; for published work)
• Degree type (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral)
• Thesis or dissertation
• Name of institution awarding degree
• DOI (https://doi.org/xxxxx) or URL (if applicable)

Since theses and dissertations are directly linked to educational degrees, it is necessary to list the name of the associated institution; i.e., the college, university, or school that is awarding the associated degree.

To get an idea of the proper form, take a look at the examples below. There are three outlined scenarios:

• Unpublished thesis or dissertation
• Published thesis or dissertation from a database
• Thesis or dissertation published online but not from a database

American Psychological Association. (2020a). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

American Psychological Association. (2020b). Style-Grammar-Guidelines. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles/parenthetical-versus-narrative

Published August 10, 2012. Updated March 24, 2020.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau. Michele Kirschenbaum is a school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib.com. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

APA Formatting Guide

APA Formatting

• Annotated Bibliography
• Block Quotes
• et al Usage
• In-text Citations
• Multiple Authors
• Paraphrasing
• Page Numbers
• Parenthetical Citations
• Reference Page
• Sample Paper
• APA 7 Updates
• View APA Guide

Citation Examples

• Book Chapter
• Journal Article
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Website (no author)
• View all APA Examples

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To cite a published thesis in APA style, it is important that you know some basic information such as the author, publication year, title of the thesis, institute name, archive name, and URL (uniform resource locator). The templates for an in-text citation and reference list entry of a thesis, along with examples, are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

Use the author surname and the publication year in the in-text citation.

Author Surname (Publication Year)

Cartmel (2007)

Parenthetical:

(Author Surname, Publication Year)

(Cartmel, 2007)

Reference list entry template and example:

The title of the thesis is set in sentence case and italicized. Enclose the thesis and the institute awarding the degree inside brackets following the publication year. Then add the name of the database followed by the URL.

Author Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Title of the thesis [Master’s thesis, Institute Name]. Name of the Database. URL

Cartmel, J. (2007). Outside school hours care and schools [Master’s thesis, Queensland University of Technology]. EPrints. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/17810/1/Jennifer_Cartmel_Thesis.pdf

To cite an unpublished dissertation in APA style, it is important that you know some basic information such as the author, year, title of the dissertation, and institute name. The templates for in-text citation and reference list entry of an online thesis, along with examples, are given below:

Author Surname (Year)

Averill (2009)

(Author Surname, Year)

(Averill, 2009)

The title of the dissertation is set in sentence case and italicized. Enclose “Unpublished doctoral dissertation” inside brackets following the year. Then add the name of the institution awarding the degree.

Author Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Title of the dissertation [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Name of the Institute.

Averill, R. (2009). Teacher–student relationships in diverse New Zealand year 10 mathematics classrooms: Teacher care [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Victoria University of Wellington.

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How to cite a PhD thesis in Harvard

To cite a PhD thesis in a reference entry in Harvard style include the following elements:

• Author(s) of the PhD thesis: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J.) of up to three authors with the last name preceded by 'and'. For four authors or more include the first name followed by et al., unless your institution requires referencing of all named authors.
• Year of submission: Give the year in round brackets.
• Title of the PhD thesis: Give the title as presented in the source. Only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
• Degree description: Type of degree.
• Degree-awarding institution: Give the name of the institution.

Here is the basic format for a reference list entry of a PhD thesis in Harvard style:

Author(s) of the PhD thesis . ( Year of submission ) Title of the PhD thesis . Degree description . Degree-awarding institution .

Take a look at our reference list examples that demonstrate the Harvard style guidelines in action:

A PhD thesis with one author

Confait, M. F . ( 2018 ) Maximising the contributions of PHD graduates to national development: the case of the Seychelles . PhD thesis . Edith Cowan University .

An unpublished PhD thesis

Bowkett, D . ( 2015 ) Investigating the ligandability of plant homeodomains . Unpublished PhD thesis . University of Oxford .

This citation style guide is based on the Cite Them Right (10 th edition) Harvard referencing guide.

More useful guides

• Harvard Referencing: Theses
• Referencing with Harvard: Thesis or dissertation
• Citing and referencing: Theses/Dissertations

More great BibGuru guides

• AMA: how to cite an annual report
• APA: how to cite a book
• Harvard: how to cite a mobile app

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Dissertation & Doctoral Project Formatting & Clearance: Citing In Text

• Submitting to the Library
• Formatting Manual & Forms
• APA Style 7th Ed.
• Submitting to ProQuest ETD

In-Text Citation Basics

Author/Date Citation Method

APA publications use the author/date in text citation system to briefly identify sources to readers.  Each in-text citation is listed alphabetically in the reference list.  All in-text citations referenced in the body of work musr appear in the reference list and vice versa.

The author-date method includes the author's surname and the the publication year.  Do not include suffixes such as Jr., Esq., etc.

(Jones, 2009)

The author/date method is also used with direct quotes.  Another component is added in this format:

(Jones, 2009, p.19)

When multiple pages are referenced, use pp.

(Jones, 2009, pp.19-21)

Variations of author/date within a sentence

Here are some examples of how the author/date citation method are formatted within different parts of a sentence. Please note the author, publication date, and study are entirely fictional (see APA, p.174).

Beginning of a sentence:

Jones (2009) completed a study on the effects of dark chocolate on heart disease.

Middle of a sentence:

In 2009, Jones's study on the effects of dark chocolate and heart disease revealed...

End of a sentence:

The study revealed that participants who ate dark chocolate bars every day did not develop heart disease (Jones, 2009).

Citing a specific part of source (chapter, tables, figures, or equations)

When citing a particular part of a source, it is important to indicate the page, chapter, figure, table, or equation.  Remember to always give page numbers for direct quotations (see APA, section 6.19, p. 179). 

Correct abbreviations continue to be used (see APA, sections 4.22 - 4.30).

(National Chocolate Lovers Association, 2007, p.17)

(Jones, 2009, Chapter 8)

Paraphrasing

Paraphrasing is great because it allows you to use your own words and your own voice.  It demonstrates that you truly understand what the author is saying. Word of caution: Avoid changing the author's meaning and/or plagiarizing the author.  Looking up certain words within the thesaurus is not paraphrasing.  It is also important to cite the author while paraphrasing.

Here is an example of paraphrasing:

Original citation:

"With rates of childhood obesity climbing over the last decade, some parents and policy-makers have thought to consider whether the availability of endless soda and junk food in school vending machines might be contributing to the problem—and if banning those foods in schools might help solve it" (Price, 2012).

Paraphrase:

Price discusses the possibility that the availability of unhealthy, sugary snacks and drinks in school vending machines has contributed to the rising epidemic of obesity in children.  In an effort to eliminate the source of the problem, some of have proposed implementing a ban (2012).

Direct Quotes: the Short and Long

Direct quotations are sometimes necessary to truly convey the author's meaning to the reader.  When directly quoting an author(s),  (a) the quote must be relevant to your argument, (b) it needs to smoothly transition between what comes first and move to what comes later, (c), it must fit logically and make grammatical sense, and (d) it should be no longer than absolutely necessary.

When reproducing an author's word directly, it is extremely important to quote and cite.  Direct quotations with citation prevents plagiarism and gives the author credit for his/her work. The parenthetical cite should always contain the author's surname, the publication year of the work, and the page citation or paragraph number (for nonpaginated material).

Direct quotations can vary in length.  Quotes fewer than 40 words should be incorporated into the text of the paragraph.  Quotes comprised of 40 or more words, need to be formatted in block quotes.  (see APA, section 6.03, pp.170 - 173; and APA Style Blog , "How to Cite Direct Quotations" or APA Style Blog , "You Can Quote Me on This").

Short, direct quotes (less than 40 words):

Author and quote separated

Bell and Shank (2007) identify that "[a]t least one survey identified library instruction as the type of collaboration mentioned most frequently by librarians" (p.67).

Article retrieved online (see APA, section 6.05, p.171-172)

Price (2012) notes "[t]he results aren't huge, but apparently these laws have a real—and positive—effect on students' health" (para.4).

Author and quote together

"Design is designed in many ways.  By one definition it is the conscious examination of objects and processes to determine how they can be made better" (Bell & Shank, 2007, p. 23).

" The books, sold in the United States, share a piece of a foreign culture, while profits are put back into the country the story came from" (Anthony, 2012, para. 2).

Long, block quotes (40 words or more):

Formatting rules:

• Indent the block quote five spaces or half an inch. • Do not use quotation marks. • Double space the quote unless your school has a rule about single spacing block quotes. • Do not include any additional lines or spaces before or after the block quote. • Notice that in block quotes, the period goes before the parentheses, not after.

Michelli (2007) uses the coffee chain, Starbucks, as example on how to become extraordinary.  He discusses in detail various principles he discovered during his research on the renowned company.  One of the principles focuses on "making it your own."  He writes,

Like most companies, Starbucks has wrestled with ways to invite its partners to fully engage their passions and talents everyday in every interaction at wor.  Simultaneously, the leadership has to ensure that individual partners' differences are blending into a generally uniform experience for customers.  Finding a balance between these two important, yet somtimes divergent, leadership responsibilities can be awkward.  Yet through its principle of Make It Your Own, Starbucks has succeeded in creating a unique model that encourages partners at all levels to pour their creative energy and dedication into everything they do. (p. 20)

This principle does not only apply to businesses; it can be part of anyone's personal beliefs.

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Is referencing another PhD dissertation or Master's thesis a reasonable practice in a Master's thesis?

Not much literature can be found on what I'm working on and it's all by the people I work with. Am I able to reference their work/text in my thesis or I should just stick to referencing material published in journals and conferences, however remote they might be and just get away with whatever's not published and not back them up?

• research-process

• Also see this question Can you cite other master's theses when writing your own? –  gman Commented May 22, 2015 at 10:21
• 3 Why would you think it wouldn't be okay? If the information is available there, why not use it? –  curiousdannii Commented May 22, 2015 at 13:52
• 3 If you use someone's previous work, you must cite it. No exceptions. It is completely irrelevant whether that previous work appears in a journal, conference proceedings, PhD dissertation, technical report, arXiv preprint, working paper, lecture notes, newspaper article, TED talk, StackExchange comment, or cocktail napkin. –  JeffE Commented May 22, 2015 at 14:42
• 1 I cited three PhD dissertations and two Masters dissertations as part of my Masters dissertation. Reference it like you'd reference any other publication. In fact, I also cited a lecturer's powerpoint slides. Actually, now that I think about it, I cited my own previous work at one point too. Every source is valid so long as you reference it. That's not to say that every source necessarily carries weight, of course. You have to evaluate the source. But from a citation point of view, it's all good. –  Jonathon Cowley-Thom Commented May 22, 2015 at 15:01

5 Answers 5

Yes, you are able to reference their work in your text, as long as you make clear in the bibliography what type of document (master thesis, PhD thesis, Institution) it is.

However, i would not consider it to be ideal if your work critically depends on such references in the sense that a central assumption or starting point in your thesis breaks down if the reference provides false or incomplete results. Particularly in the case of master theses / dissertations it is not generally clear whether and to which extent they are peer-reviewed and what their overall trustworthiness is. With (accepted!) PhD theses things are better, as these normally go through a review process. Furthermore, for PhD theses i would expect that their main points have been published somewhere (conference or journal) and then you clearly should prefer these publications.

• 3 +1. I have cited MSc theses in journal papers and that was not a problem either. As you say it was not something the paper critically depended on ; in my case it was to raise a point in the Discussion section. –  user8458 Commented May 22, 2015 at 6:30
• 6 There's a reasonable argument to be made that it's unwise to depend critically on anything you can't verify - including things in peer-reviewed papers, which have been known to be wrong. Ultimately, peer review is just as much a human activity as anything else, and is prone to error - the best that can be said of a peer-reviewed paper is that it has been checked by somebody of unknown experience for an unknown amount of time. In many cases, people put a lot of effort into peer review, but that's not always the case, and even when it is, errors creep in. You're well-advised to check yourself. –  Stuart Golodetz Commented May 22, 2015 at 8:12

This is really an addendum to the two previous answers, but nevertheless it is still answer-worthy IMO .

It is mostly true that with PhD theses, the crux of the stuff is generally published in journals etc. so that those count as more reliable sources (I dare say primary sources). However, it is not necessarily true that this will always be so. For instance, I am aware that at least in Theoretical Physics, University of Bielefeld is an example of an institution where it is not mandatory to have the stuff written in the thesis published. Theses are judged for what they contain and whether or not that represents an original contribution to the subject. I am using this only as an example, the general statement is - it is possible for a PhD thesis to contain original stuff which is otherwise unpublished. And at any rate, it is possible to have stuff written more elaborately than in the published papers (mine is an example). (Occasionally, this might also be because some letters journals have stringent limits on word counts and/or pages, so people shrink stuff there and feed out many more details in the thesis).

Thus, there is no harm in citing a PhD thesis, provided you mention that it is what it is.

• 1 "not mandatory to have the stuff written in the thesis published" - in particular, all the stuff. In fact, at my university it is mandatory to publish some parts of your research before writing your doctoral thesis, but at the same time, it is also mandatory that the doctoral thesis contains more than just the sum of all previous publications. –  O. R. Mapper Commented May 22, 2015 at 8:03

If others have completed theses or dissertations related to the topic you are studying, I would definitely cite them. While writing my MA thesis, there were very few peer-reviewed publications available in the particular region I was working in but there were a number of recently completed theses and dissertations. Some of these were excellent and provided great data to support my own arguments, while others were of lower quality and were not cited. As long as you're critical of the content and argument of these documents you should be fine.

As with most referencing questions, you have to consider what you're depending on them for. If it's a matter of "further details on the previous experiment", a thesis is likely to go into much more depth than a paper and is the best you're likely to get. If it's "so-and-so proved that..." you should really be looking for something peer-reviewed. Most cases will fall in between, and then you need to use your judgement and be clear what you're citing.

you shouldn't quote a master's Thesis because they are typically not published. only published work should be cited in a research work. If it hasn't been published no one is responsible for the Content

• And if they are published? Your whole argument builds on this (false IMHO) assumption. –  Mayou36 Commented Jul 2, 2019 at 7:06

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