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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guide will also review the differences between a thesis or dissertation that is published and one that has remained unpublished.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Citing an unpublished thesis or dissertation, citing a published dissertation or thesis from a database, citing a thesis or dissertation published online but not from a database,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Since unpublished theses can usually only be sourced in print form from a university library, the correct citation structure includes the university name where the publisher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 Title in sentence case [Unpublished degree type thesis or dissertation].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plans for the Iowa State College athletic field including the design of a reinforced concrete grandstand and wall [Unpublished bachelor’s thesis].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 It’s similar to the format for an unpublished dissertation/thesis, but with a few differences: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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Thesis - from website

Thesis - from database.

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• Works in non-English scripts, such as Arabic or Chinese

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• Last Updated: Jul 31, 2024 3:29 PM
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APA Style 6th Edition: Citing Your Sources

• Basics of APA Formatting
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Standard Format

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Dissertation or thesis available from a database service:

Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (year of publication).  Title of dissertation or thesis (Doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis).  Retrieved from Name of database.  (Accession or Order No.)

For an unpublished dissertation or thesis:

Author Surname, First Initial. Second Initial. (year of creation).  Title of dissertation or thesis (Unpublished doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis).  Name of Institution, Location.

See Ch 7 pp. 207-208 APA Manual for more examples and formatting rules

Formatting:

• Italicize the title
• Identify whether source is doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis in parentheses after the title
• << Previous: Articles
• Next: Websites >>
• Last Updated: Sep 22, 2022 11:20 AM
• URL: https://libguides.usc.edu/APA-citation-style

Guidelines to APA Style: Home

• Basic principles of citations
• Secondary sources
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• Textual works reference examples
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What is APA?

Why refer to sources.

• APA6 vs. APA7 - main differences

Note: Retrieval date

How to use this guide.

This Library Guide is useful as a learning resource for:

• the beginner - introduction to the APA guidelines
• the advanced - quick overview of rule changes compared to the previous APA edition

The examples of citations in this guide represent the 'ideal' situation, for all exceptions we refer you to  Publication manual of the American Psychological Association: The official guide to the APA style  (2020).

The guidelines in the new edition have been simplified on a number of points and more attention has been paid to online sources.

The APA style is a comprehensive guide to writing scientific texts. APA stands for the American Psychological Association, but the guidelines are also applied in other fields.

An important part of the APA style are the guidelines for literature reference and citations. These are used worldwide by students, teachers and researchers of many colleges and universities, including in the Netherlands. In 2020 the 7th edition of the Publication Manual has been published (APA 7th).

There are also other styles of writing a scientific text. In addition to APA, these are, for example, MLA, Chicago, Harvard and Vancouver.

In this guide, we only focus on the APA reference and citation guidelines.

The APA style uses the so-called author-year method for referencing sources.

When you write a report, you don't just make something up.

You explore your subject, get inspired, and substantiate your choices. You build on ideas, theories, and research of others. It should always be clear what you have come up with yourself and where you use the work of others to support your own arguments.

That's why you should reference every text resource you've used in your work. This includes also images, videos, audio, statistics, diagrams, etc. If you don't, it's plagiarism.

Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own. To prevent unintentional plagiarism SURF has made a quick reference guide on plagiarism .

By citing your sources you:

• you are aware of previous and ongoing research;
• you have studied the subject in-depth, and have consulted reliable and authoritative sources;
• support your argument by referring to 'authorities': respected authors, scientific works;
• enable others to find the sources you have based your work on, for deepening or confirming your interpretation;
• make clear what your own thoughts are and what someone else's (academic integrity);
• respect the intellectual property of the creator.

By using and correctly citing relevant sources, you increase your credibility and thus the quality of your report.

APA6 vs. APA7 - main differences

In-text citations

1. Mutiple authors

• From three authors onwards, only the first author is mentioned in the text, followed by et al. This applies from the first reference.

Reference list

2. Multiple authors

• Up to 20 authors: all names are included in the citation.
• For more than 20 authors, the citation is shortened: the first 19 authors are mentioned, followed by an ellipsis with spaces . . . and then the last name.

3. Book  / ebook

• Only the publisher is mentioned.
• The publisher is also mentioned in a reference of an ebook. The publisher is mentioned before the retrieval date and URL or https://doi.org/xxxx.
• If there are multiple publishers, list all names, separated by semicolons.
• If the organization is the same as the publisher, the publisher's name will be omitted.

4 . Journal article

• The DOI (Digital Object Identifier), a unique code to identify online journal articles and ebooks, is always stated in the format  https://doi.org/xxxx
• The issue number of the journal is always mentioned (if available).
• Provide the name of the website in the source element of the reference (after the title of the webpage), unless the author/organization is the same as the name of the website.

6. Tables and figures 

• Above each table and figure provide the number in bold font. The title appears in italics one double-spaced line below the number.

7. Dissertation or thesis

• For assignments, theses, dissertations and internship reports, the description of the document is placed between square brackets after the title.
• The location of the educational institution will not be provided.

Although according to the 7th edition of APA style the retrieval date for online sources is only mentioned if it is likely that the content of the webpage will be changed (e.g. dictionary entry, Facebook page or map generated by Google Maps), in this guide we strongly recommend to include a retrieval date for all online sources without DOI link.

Therefore all examples of references in this guide contain retrieval dates.

• Chapter in a book
• Journal article
• Newspaper article
• Dissertation and theses
• Grey literature
• Volgende: In-text citations >>
• Laatste update: Jun 24, 2024 2:55 PM
• URL: https://libguides.studiecentra.han.nl/apaguidelines

Citation guides

All you need to know about citations

How to cite a master's thesis in APA

• Google Docs

To cite a master's thesis in a reference entry in APA style 6th edition include the following elements:

• Author(s) of the thesis: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J. D.) of up to seven authors with the last name preceded by an ampersand (&). For eight or more authors include the first six names followed by an ellipsis (…) and add the last author's name.
• Year of publication: Give the year in brackets followed by a full stop.
• Title of the master's thesis: Only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
• URL: Give the full URL where the document can be retrieved from.

Here is the basic format for a reference list entry of a master's thesis in APA style 6th edition:

Author(s) of the thesis . ( Year of publication ). Title of the master's thesis (Master's thesis). Retrieved from URL

If the thesis is available from a database, archive or any online platform use the following template:

• Author(s) of the thesis: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J. D.) of up to 20 authors with the last name preceded by an ampersand (&). For 21 or more authors include the first 19 names followed by an ellipsis (…) and add the last author's name.
• Title of the Master's thesis: Only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
• Publication number: Give the identification number of the thesis, if available.
• Name of the degree awarding institution: Give the name of the institution.
• Name of Platform: Give the name of the database, archive or any platform that holds the thesis.
• URL: If the thesis was found on a database, omit this element.

Here is the basic format for a reference list entry of a master's thesis in APA style 7th edition:

Author(s) of the thesis . ( Year of publication ). Title of the Master's thesis ( Publication number ) [Master's thesis, Name of the degree awarding institution ]. Name of Platform . URL

If the thesis has not been published or is available from a database use the following template:

• Location: Give the location of the institution. If outside the United States also include the country name.

Author(s) of the thesis . ( Year of publication ). Title of the master's thesis (Unpublished master's thesis). Name of the degree awarding institution , Location .

If the thesis is not published, use the following template:

Author(s) of the thesis . ( Year of publication ). Title of the master's thesis [Unpublished master's thesis]. Name of the degree awarding institution .

APA reference list examples

Take a look at our reference list examples that demonstrate the APA style guidelines for a master's thesis citation in action:

A master's thesis found in an online platform

Bauger, L . ( 2011 ). Personality, passion, self-esteem and psychological well-being among junior elite athletes in Norway ( Master's Thesis ). Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/29a9/ef96c34e577211246b83b11813a2585033c5.pdf

Bauger, L . ( 2011 ). Personality, passion, self-esteem and psychological well-being among junior elite athletes in Norway [ Master's Thesis , University of Tromsø ]. Semantic Scholar . https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/29a9/ef96c34e577211246b83b11813a2585033c5.pdf

An unpublished master's thesis

Aube, K. E . ( 2019 ). A comparison of water main failure prediction models in San Luis Obispo, CA ( Unpublished master's thesis ). Cal Poly , San Luis Obispo, CA .

Aube, K. E . ( 2019 ). A comparison of water main failure prediction models in San Luis Obispo, CA [ Unpublished master's thesis ]. Cal Poly .

This citation style guide is based on the official Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association ( 6 th edition).

More useful guides

• APA Referencing: Theses
• Citation Help for APA: Master's Thesis or Project
• APA Thesis, dissertation or exegesis?

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In academia, bibliographies are graded on their accuracy against the official APA rulebook, so it is important for students to ensure their citations are formatted correctly. Special attention should also be given to ensure the entire document (including main body) is structured according to the APA guidelines. Our complete APA format guide has everything you need know to make sure you get it right (including examples and diagrams).

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MyBib supports the following for APA style:

Daniel is a qualified librarian, former teacher, and citation expert. He has been contributing to MyBib since 2018.

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Tips and Examples for Writing Thesis Statements

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Tips for Writing Your Thesis Statement

1. Determine what kind of paper you are writing:

• An analytical paper breaks down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluates the issue or idea, and presents this breakdown and evaluation to the audience.
• An expository (explanatory) paper explains something to the audience.
• An argumentative paper makes a claim about a topic and justifies this claim with specific evidence. The claim could be an opinion, a policy proposal, an evaluation, a cause-and-effect statement, or an interpretation. The goal of the argumentative paper is to convince the audience that the claim is true based on the evidence provided.

If you are writing a text that does not fall under these three categories (e.g., a narrative), a thesis statement somewhere in the first paragraph could still be helpful to your reader.

2. Your thesis statement should be specific—it should cover only what you will discuss in your paper and should be supported with specific evidence.

3. The thesis statement usually appears at the end of the first paragraph of a paper.

4. Your topic may change as you write, so you may need to revise your thesis statement to reflect exactly what you have discussed in the paper.

Thesis Statement Examples

Example of an analytical thesis statement:

The paper that follows should:

• Explain the analysis of the college admission process
• Explain the challenge facing admissions counselors

Example of an expository (explanatory) thesis statement:

• Explain how students spend their time studying, attending class, and socializing with peers

Example of an argumentative thesis statement:

• Present an argument and give evidence to support the claim that students should pursue community projects before entering college

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• Voorbeeld APA-stijl: Thesis, dissertatie of scriptie

Een scriptie citeren in APA-stijl | Format & voorbeelden

Gepubliceerd op 9 april 2021 door Julia Merkus . Bijgewerkt op 13 oktober 2021.

Het APA-format om te verwijzen naar iemand anders’ scriptie of dissertatie (proefschrift) is afhankelijk van de beschikbaarheid: beschikbaar in een database, ergens anders gepubliceerd (zoals in een universiteitsarchief), of ongepubliceerd (alleen in gedrukte versie beschikbaar bij auteur of universiteit).

Inhoudsopgave

Verwijzen naar een dissertatie of scriptie uit een database, verwijzen naar een elders gepubliceerde dissertatie of scriptie, verwijzen naar een ongepubliceerde dissertatie of scriptie.

Om te verwijzen naar een dissertatie of scriptie uit een database, gebruik je het onderstaande APA-format. Tussen de blokhaken specificeer je het type dissertatie of scriptie, en de universiteit. Je vermeldt net als bij andere bronnen uit een database geen URL of DOI .

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Aan de slag

Om te verwijzen naar een dissertatie of scriptie uit een universiteitsarchief (vaak in pdf-vorm ) of op een persoonlijke website , gebruik je een ander format, omdat je geen publicatienummer hoeft te vermelden. In dit geval voeg je wel een raadpleegdatum en URL toe.

Om te verwijzen naar een ongepubliceerde dissertatie of scriptie (die je in gedrukte vorm hebt ontvangen van de auteur of universiteit), voeg je “Ongepubliceerd” toe aan de beschrijving tussen blokhaken. Ook komt de naam van de universiteit buiten de blokhaken te staan op het eind van de bronvermelding.

Citeer dit Scribbr-artikel

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Merkus, J. (2021, 13 oktober). Een scriptie citeren in APA-stijl | Format & voorbeelden. Scribbr. Geraadpleegd op 30 juli 2024, van https://www.scribbr.nl/apa-voorbeelden/scriptie/

Wat vind jij van dit artikel?

Julia Merkus

Andere studenten bekeken ook, voorbeeld apa-stijl: pdf-documenten, voorbeeld apa-stijl: overheidswebsite of -rapport, voorbeeld apa-stijl: rapport of jaarverslag, scribbr apa checker.

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Use 1-inch margins on every side of the page for an APA Style paper.

However, if you are writing a dissertation or thesis , your advisor or institution may specify different margins (e.g., a 1.5-inch left margin to accommodate binding).

Margins are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 2.22 and the Concise Guide Section 1.21

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• No Author, Date, or Title in APA Style | Formats & Examples

No Author, Date, or Title in APA Style | Formats & Examples

Published on November 6, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on January 17, 2024.

Webpage citations in APA Style consist of five components: author, publication date, title, website name, and URL.

Unfortunately, some of these components are sometimes missing. For instance, there may be no author or publication date. This article explains how to handle different kinds and combinations of missing information.

Generate an accurate APA citation for any source now:

Table of contents, basic webpage citation format, no author or date, no author or title, no date or title, no author, date, or title.

You can explore the basic citation format for a webpage using the example generator below.

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Caulfield, J. (2024, January 17). No Author, Date, or Title in APA Style | Formats & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved July 30, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-examples/citing-online-sources-no-author-date-title/

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How to cite ISO standards?

I am currently writing my PhD thesis and several times I cite various ISO standards. I am unsure what the correct way to format the bibliography entry for such documents is.

Currently I am doing something like:

ISO (1997). ISO 4287 Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS) – Surface texture: Profile method – Terms, definitions and surface texture parameters.

I'm using an author-year style so the entries normally look like

Author (year) Title, Journal/publisher

Is there a better way to format this?

• If you are using or plan to use APA Style , you might be interested in my answer to a related question. –  Aleksandr Blekh Commented Oct 16, 2015 at 19:17

4 Answers 4

check out this blog entry on Citing ISO Standards or this site on Bibliographic Citation Standards and Schemes As you can see there is no definitive answer to you question.

Maybe you ask your thesis advisor.

• 7 Please summarize the discussion here as those links may die. –  MichaelChirico Commented Aug 29, 2016 at 21:39
• 1 Do you have an example of BibTex, where the corresponding fields are filled? ... Sry, found one: tex.stackexchange.com/a/278558/31964 –  Tik0 Commented Dec 8, 2017 at 11:13

Depending on how a standard is published, it should be cited either as an article, a book, or a technical report.

If the standard is published as a journal article or has an associated journal article, e.g., then it should be cited as journal article. Example: the BioBricks Assembly Standard.

If the standard is published as a stand-alone book (e.g., being sold by a standards organization), then it should be cited as a book. Example: many ANSI or ISO standards.

If the standard is published through some other archival mechanism, then it should typically be cited as a technical report. Example: IETF standards.

How exactly you format such citations then depends on the citation style that you are being asked to use (e.g., MLA, IEEE, Harvard).

Using the C++ programming language as an example, one can find nearly every citation for the C++ standards in BibTeX format here:

http://ftp.math.utah.edu/pub/tex/bib/isostd.html

For example, here is the reference to the ISO C++98 standard:

You can copy and paste this into your .bib file containing citations for LaTeX, which you should be using instead of Word anyway : ) You can use the natbib package to format it into whichever citation style you like.

You can cite it as follows:

Software engineering – Product quality – Part 4: Quality in use metrics. ISO/IEC TR 9126-4:2004(E), 2004.

Website for the same is: https://www.iso.org/standard/39752.html

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