A dissertation is an important academic paper. It’s a stand-alone, complex, and finished document, and you need to understand how to cite a dissertation to earn your master’s or doctoral degree. There are different citation styles to choose from, including MLA, APA, Chicago, or Turabian, and they all have their unique guidelines. Stick to the format that your professors require. How to cite a dissertation? Include these basic details to find the right answer to this common question:
- Author’s name,
- Titles,
- Publication date or year.
How to Cite a Thesis or Dissertation
Many teachers require students to use the 6th edition of APA citation style for citing the sources they use in academic papers. It requires you to answer a few basic questions. Every citation in this format will contain details about who and when created sources, what their titles are, and where you found them. How to cite a thesis or dissertation? Rules for published and unpublished dissertations differ.
Citing Published Dissertations
To cite a published dissertation, there are certain steps that you should take:
- Provide the author,
- Add a publication year,
- Include its full title,
- Indicate where you assessed it,
- Proofread each citation.
Provide the Author
To format your piece of writing correctly, keep in mind that the first part of any citation should list the author’s full name. What if there are many authors? List them according to a cover page order, separate their names with commas, and use an ampersand before last names. Make sure that your reference list contains all the sources you used in your academic paper in their alphabetical order by the last names of authors.
How to Add a Publication Year?
A publication year in parenthesis is the next part of a citation (don’t forget to place a period after closing parenthesis). This step is easy to take for most students.
Include a Full Title
Dissertation titles tend to be lengthy, and you should remember that when formatting all references in your academic paper. Include a full title in italics in your reference list. You also need to duplicate the author’s punctuation and capitalize it, just like a standard sentence (it means that the first word must be capitalized). This is also helpful for your literature review writing.
Indicate Where You Assessed a Dissertation
If dissertations are written for degree-granting institutions, they are available on their web page or in any academic database. Search for them in commercial databases. Start citing with putting their titles in parenthesis, then add a period, and finish by adding their accession number in parenthesis. If you retrieved sources from the sites of degree-granting institutions, the main difference is that you need to include their URL.
Why Proofread Citations?
After completing the task of citing, make sure that you format everything correctly and the information you use is 100% accurate. Otherwise, there’s a high risk of missing costly mistakes.
Citing Unpublished Dissertations
To cite an unpublished dissertation, follow these important guidelines:
- Give the author’s name,
- Provide the year it was written,
- Type a full title,
- Include the institution and its location.
- Double-check everything.
Give the Author’s Name
The first part of citation is the author’s last name and middle initials (make sure that you write them correctly). Separate many authors with commas and ampersands. Include all of your sources in a reference list and organize them in their alphabetical order by the author’s last name.
Provide the Year it Was Written
If dissertations are unpublished, it’s impossible to provide their publication year, but it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t answer the when question. Check a cover page for the date they’re written.
Type a Full Title
To write it correctly, use sentence-style capitalization, and it means that it’s necessary to capitalize only the first word. Write a full title in italics. Close this part with a period.
Include the Institution and Its Location
Since dissertations are unpublished, it’s quite likely that you find them at universities, and that’s why you should look for their names. If institutions have more than one location, don’t forget to add commas after their names and write the correct one. Skip this step if they have one location.
Double-Check Complete Citations
After completing the process, allocate sufficient time for proofreading all entries carefully to ensure that information is accurate and your format is proper. This step is paramount for earning high grades.
How to Write In-Text Citations in Dissertations
To complete this task successfully, it’s necessary to do the following:
- List the author’s name,
- Integrate it in your text,
- Provide publication year,
- Include page numbers.
Start with the author’s last name without including initials. Separate names with commas and ampersands. To provide a publication year (or the year dissertations were written), put a comma after the author’s last name before typing this information.
Including page numbers is a must. Integrate the author’s name in your text if appropriate to make your arguments and supporting facts flow logically (don’t follow up with parenthesis). Don’t forget to proofread everything after completing this task.
Final Thoughts
After reading the above-mentioned guidelines and rules, it will be easy for you to cite a dissertation and impress teachers with your skills. In some cases, you may still have certain difficulties because you lack enough time or need to prepare for important exams. How to find an effective solution?
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