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guide will also review the differences between a thesis or dissertation that is published and one that has remained unpublished.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Citing an unpublished thesis or dissertation, citing a published dissertation or thesis from a database, citing a thesis or dissertation published online but not from a database,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Since unpublished theses can usually only be sourced in print form from a university library, the correct citation structure includes the university name where the publisher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 Title in sentence case [Unpublished degree type thesis or dissertation].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plans for the Iowa State College athletic field including the design of a reinforced concrete grandstand and wall [Unpublished bachelor’s thesis].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 It’s similar to the format for an unpublished dissertation/thesis, but with a few differences: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

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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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APA Style 6th Edition: Citing Your Sources

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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
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Terminology - Thesis, dissertation or exegesis?

Published theses and dissertations, unpublished theses and dissertations.

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Thesis and dissertation can mean different things depending on where the degree is awarded. Always check the title page, or subsequent pages, to determine exactly what the work is and use the information for your reference. ​

Auckland University of Technology (and other NZ universities)

• Thesis is either for a doctoral or a master's degree.
• Dissertation is either for a master's or a bachelor's degree with honours.
• Exegesis is the written component of a practice-based thesis where the major output is a creative work;  e.g., a film, artwork, novel.

Other parts of the world

• In North America and some other countries, dissertation is used for a doctoral degree and thesis for a master's degree.

Theses available in a database, a university archive or from a personal website.

Reference format

Theses published online (e.g. in institutional repositories), theses from proquest dissertations and theses global.

Find how to cite in text on the  In-text citation  page.

 Unpublished thesis or dissertations are usually sourced directly from the university in print form.

 Reference format

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How to cite a PhD thesis in APA

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To cite a PhD 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 PhD 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 PhD thesis in APA style 6th edition:

Author(s) of the thesis . ( Year of publication ). Title of the PhD thesis (PhD 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.
• 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 PhD thesis in APA style 7th edition:

Author(s) of the thesis . ( Year of publication ). Title of the PhD thesis ( Publication number ) [PhD 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 PhD thesis (Unpublished PhD 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 PhD thesis [Unpublished PhD 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 PhD thesis citation in action:

A PhD thesis found in an online platform

Confait, M. F . ( 2018 ). Maximising the contributions of PhD graduates to national development: The case of the Seychelles ( PhD thesis ). Retrieved from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2060

Confait, M. F . ( 2018 ). Maximising the contributions of PHD graduates to national development: The case of the Seychelles [ PhD thesis , Edith Cowan University ]. Edith Cowan Online Repository . Retrieved from https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2060

An unpublished PhD thesis

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

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

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
• How do I reference a PhD dissertation or MA thesis in APA style?
• APA Citation Style: Theses and Dissertations

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Theses & Dissertations

Citing a published thesis, citing an unpublished thesis, citing a thesis in online database or repository.

• CMS 14.224: Theses and dissertations

Titles of unpublished works appear in "quotation marks"—not in italics . This treatment extends to theses and dissertations, which are otherwise cited like books.

The kind of thesis, the academic institution, and the date follow the title. Like the publication data of a book, these are enclosed in parentheses in a note but not in a bibliography.

If the document was consulted online, include a URL or, for documents retrieved from a commercial database, give the name of the database and, in parentheses, any identification number supplied or recommended by the database.

For dissertations issued on microfilm, see 14.120 . For published abstracts of dissertations, see 14.197 .

Note-Bibliography

First-name Last-name, "Title of Thesis: Subtitle," (Publisher, Year).

      Mihwa Choi, “Contesting Imaginaires in Death Rituals during the Northern Song Dynasty,” PhD diss., (University of Chicago, 2008).

Short Note:

Last-name, "Title of Thesis."

Choi. “Contesting Imaginaires ."

Bibliography Entry:

Last-name, First-name. "Title of Thesis: Subtitle." Year.

Choi, Mihwa. “Contesting Imaginaires in Death Rituals during the Northern Song Dynasty.” PhD diss. University      of Chicago, 2008.

Author-Date

Text Citation:

(Last-name Year)

(Mihwa 2008)

Reference Entry:

Last-name, First-name. Year. "Title of Thesis: Subtitle."

Choi, Mihwa. 2008. “Contesting  Imaginaires  in Death Rituals during the Northern Song Dynasty.”  PhD diss.       University of Chicago.

Note -Bibliography

Note #. First-name Last-name, "Title of Thesis: Subtitle," Unpublished thesis type, University. Year.

Barry C. Hosking, "The Control of Gastro-intestinal Nematodes in Sheep with the Amino-acetonitrile Derivative, Monepantel with a Particular Focus on Australia and New Zealand," PhD diss., (Ghent University, 2010).

Note #. Last-name,"Title of Thesis."

Barry C. Hosking, "The Control of Gastro-intestinal Nematodes."

Bibliography:

Last-name, First-name. "Title of Thesis: Subtitle." Unpublished thesis type. University. Year.

Hosking, Barry C. "The Control of Gastro-intestinal Nematodes in Sheep with the Amino-acetonitrile Derivative, Monepantel with a Particular Focus on Australia and New Zealand." PhD diss., Ghent University, 2010.

(Hosking 2010)

Last-name, First-name.  Year.  "Title of Thesis: Subtitle." Unpublished thesis type. University.

Hosking, Barry C.    2010.  "The Control of Gastro-intestinal Nematodes in Sheep with the Amino-acetonitrile Derivative, Monepantel with a Particular Focus on Australia and New Zealand." PhD diss., Ghent University.

Note #. First-name Last-name, "Title of Thesis: Subtitle," Database Name (Identifier if given), Year, Internet address.

      12. Meredith Stewart, "An Investigation into Aspects of the Replication of Jembrana Disease Virus, " Australasian Digital Theses Program (WMU2005.1222), 2005, http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20051222.104106.

Note #. Last-name, "Title of Thesis."

21. Stewart, "An Investigation into Aspects."

Last-name, First-name. "Title of Thesis: Subtitle." Database Name (Identifier if given), Year. Internet address.

Stewart, Meredith. "An Investigation into Aspects of the Replication of Jembrana Disease Virus ." Australasian Digital Theses Program (WMU2005.1222),  2005. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20051222.104106.

(Stewart 2005)

Last-name, First-name. Year. "Title of Thesis: Subtitle."  Database Name  (Identifier if given), Internet address.

Stewart, Meredith. 2005. "An Investigation into Aspects of the Replication of Jembrana Disease Virus ." Australasian Digital Theses Program  (WMU2005.1222),    http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20051222.104106.

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Citation styles

A citation style provides a standardized system to format bibliographic references within the text and in the bibliography at the end of the essay. In particular, the style defines which elements to cite, in what order to cite them and with what punctuation.

There isn’t an official citation style used in Bocconi University. Since there are different citation styles, you will need to choose which one is right for you, taking into account the subject area and what you supervisor might suggest.

Some styles commonly used internationally are:

The APA style is an “author-date” citation system, with the author and date of the cited source appearing in the body of the text. You will need to add a bibliography at the end of the essay, with the full references alphabetically ordered by author’s name. It is mainly used in the social sciences.

The Chicago style uses two systems: "author-date" in the body of the text and bibliography at the end of the paper, or footnotes with bibliography.

To learn more about this style you can visit the official website with tutorials, webinars, examples and exercises accessible for free.

The Harvard style is an “author-date” citation, with the author and date of the cited source appearing in the body of the text. You must include a bibliography at the end of the text, with the full references alphabetically ordered by author’s name. It is used in the social sciences.

To learn more about this style you can visit the dedicated section of the Guides on citation styles prepared by Harvard Library staff.

The MLA style, developed by the Modern language Association, is an “author-page number” citation system appearing in the body of the text. You must include a bibliography at the end of the text, with the full references alphabetically ordered by author’s name. It is used in the social sciences and humanities.

The Oscola style, acronym for Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities, is a citation system using footnotes and bibliography. It is used in law studies.

To learn more about this style you can read:

Faculty of Law, University of Oxford (2012) (ed.). OSCOLA. Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (4. ed.)

OSCOLA Quick Reference Guide

The Bluebook style is a citation system used in the United States in a professional setting to cite legal sources.

To learn more about this style, we suggest you read the manual, in particular the Whitepages section, dedicated to academic citations and the Quick Style Guide where you will find examples of citations from non-US legal sources.

Here are some print books that you can find in the Library:

RefWorks is the bibliographic management tool (citation manager) supported by the Library. It helps you with keeping track of your sources as you search, with citing them correctly and creating a bibliography.

Further information on RefWorks .

Would you like to know more? The Library regularly organizes RefWorks workshops for students. Check the calendar on the yoU@B Student Diary (Library section) and sign up!

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APA Formatting and Style Guide (7th Edition)

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

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Thesis Preparation: Bibliography & Referencing

• Books about writing a thesis
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What is a bibliography

A bibliography, sometimes known as a “Reference List” is a list of all of the sources you have used (whether referenced or not) in the process of researching your work. In general, a bibliography should include:

• the authors' names
• the titles of the works
• the names of the publishers who published your sources and where they were published.
• the dates your sources were published
• the page numbers of your sources (if they are part of multi-source volumes)

When preparing your thesis, be aware of rules around using copyright restricted material in your submission. The library can advise you on these matters and in relation specifically to publishing and necessary embargoes that should be considered when you prepare your final document.

What is EndNote Online?

EndNote Online  (formerly called EndNote Web) is available to all UL staff and students. It allows you to access your EndNote library from any PC with an Internet connection, to create bibliographies in Word and to share your library with group members.

Creating an EndNote Online account

When you first access EndNote Online you  MUST Register. Please follow the instruction in the box opposite to ensure you register for EndNote Online correctly. If you do not register correctly you will not  be able to access the Harvard UL referencing style.

Once you have created your account you will be able to use EndNote from anywhere once you have a PC with Internet access. 

EndNote Online Cite While You Write plug-in for Word

To download the Cite While You Write (CWYW) plug-in for Microsoft Word go to the  Downloads tab  in EndNote Online.

If you experience any difficulties installing the EndNote CWYW plug-in, you can download and install this  alternative version .

Cite it Right; an introduction to Referencing

Cite It Right 4th Edition

The Glucksman Library wrote a guide called Cite it Right: Guide to Harvard Referencing Style . To access the 4th edition of  Cite It Right go to  https://libguides.ul.ie/citeitright . A PDF version of the 4th edition can be accessed below:

• Cite It Right 4th Edition - Print optimised version This version of the Cite It Right 4th edition has been optimised for printing. For best results and to only use 13 sheets of paper: Print 2 pages per sheet; Print page border; Print on both sides of paper (i.e. double-sided); Flip on short edge.

Academic Writing and Referencing

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How to Cite a Thesis or Dissertation in IEEE Referencing

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• 24th March 2021

Did you know you can cite someone else’s thesis or dissertation in your own work? In this post, we’ll explain how this works in IEEE referencing .

Citing a Thesis or Dissertation in IEEE Referencing

In-text citations in IEEE referencing use numbers in square brackets:

Reactive forensics focuses on an incident after it has occurred [1].

These numbers point to sources in the reference list, with sources numbered in the order you cite them (i.e., the first source is always [1], the second is [2], and so on).

For more on citing sources IEEE style, see our blog post on the subject .

Adding a Thesis or Dissertation in an IEEE Reference List

In an IEEE reference list, the basic format for a thesis or dissertation is:

[#] INITIAL (S). Surname, “Title of thesis or dissertation,” Qualification Type, Department Name, University Name, City of University, State/Country, Year.

If possible, you should abbreviate any commonly used terms from this list in the entry (e.g., “University” is usually abbreviated to just “Univ.”).

You can see how this might look in practice below:

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[1] C. P. Clark, “A digital forensic management framework,” MSc Dissertation, Dept. of Comput. Sci., Univ. of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, 2020.

Make sure to include the hanging indent in all references as well.

Theses and Dissertations Accessed Online

If you accessed a thesis or dissertation online, give either a URL or DOI at the end of the reference. The exact format depends on which you give:

• For a URL (i.e., a regular web address), include “[Online]” and the URL itself with no final punctuation at the end of the reference.
• For a DOI , add the DOI after a comma and end the reference with a period.

You can see examples of both styles below:

[1] C. P. Clark, “A digital forensic management framework,” MSc Dissertation, Dept. of Comput. Sci., Univ. of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, 2020. [Online]. Available: http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/1923/

[2] B. S. Bello, “Reverse engineering the behaviour of Twitter bots,” PhD Thesis, School of Informatics, Univ. of Leicester, Leicester, UK, Year, doi: 10.25392/leicester.data.12662456.v1.

Otherwise, though, the reference format is the same as shown above.

Expert IEEE Proofreading

Hopefully, you now feel confident citing a thesis or a dissertation in IEEE style. If you’d like further help checking your references, why not submit a free sample document and select IEEE referencing on upload to see how our experts work?

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Guide to Writing Your Thesis in LaTeX

The bibliography and list of references.

The Graduate School requires a Bibliography which includes all the literature cited for the complete thesis or dissertation. Quoting from the Graduate School’s Guidelines for the Format of Theses and Dissertations :

“Every thesis in Standard Format must contain a Bibliography which lists all the sources used or consulted in writing the entire thesis and is placed at the very end of the work. The complete citations are arranged alphabetically by last name of the author. Individual citations are not numbered. No abbreviations in titles of published works will be accepted. The full title of a book, journal, website, proceedings, or any other published work must be italicized or underlined. Citations must follow standards set by the style manual that the student is using. The bibliography for URI theses is not broken into categories.”

The List of References is not required by the Graduate School, but is the style commonly used in Engineering, Mathematics, and many of the Sciences. It consists of a numbered list of the sources used or consulted in writing the thesis in the order that they are referenced in the text. There can be either one List of References for the entire thesis, or a List of References at the end of each chapter.

Both the Bibliography and the List of References will be generated by the urithesis LaTeX class. All you need to do is add information about your sources to the references.bib file, which is a database containing all of the necessary information about the references, then cite the reference in your thesis using the \cite{} command.

Generating the Bibliography and References

The bibliography and list of references are generated by running BibTeX. To generate the bibliography, load the file thesisbib.tex into your editor, then run BibTeX on it.

If each chapter has its own list of references, you will need to run BibTeX on each chapter to update its list of references. If there is one list of references for the whole thesis (because you used the oneref option, you will only need to run BibTeX on the top level file thesis.tex .

How to Add a Bibliography Entry

When we want to refer to a source in the thesis, we place an entry for that source in the file references.bib , then cite the source in the thesis with the \cite{LABEL} command. The syntax for an entry in the references.bib file is of the form:

ENTRYTYPE is the type of bibliographic entry such as Book , Article , or TechReport , that this entry describes. At the end of this page is a list of all possible entry types .

LABEL is a unique string that is used to refer to this entry in the body of the thesis when using the \cite{LABEL} command.

The FIELDNAMEn entries are the fields that describe this entry, (ie. author, title, pages, year, etc.). Each entry type has certain required fields and optional fields. See the list of all entry types for a description of the available fields.

As an example, suppose we have a paper from a conference proceedings that we want to cite. First we make an entry in the our references.bib file of the form:

We then cite this source in the text of our thesis with the command \cite{re:toolan:as03} . This will generate a Bibliography entry that looks something like:

and a List of References entry that looks something like:

Types of List of References

The Graduate School requires that the bibliography is always at the end of the thesis and sorted alphabetically by author, therefore there is no options that affect it. The list of references is optional, therefore there are a few different ways that it can created.

By default a separate list of references appears at the end of each chapter, and are sorted by the order that they are cited in that chapter. The option oneref (see options ) will create a single list of references for the whole thesis, which due to the requirements of the Graduate School, will appear after the last chapter and before any appendices.

The option aparefs will cite references using the APA style, which is the last name of the author and year of publication, such as (Toolan, 2006), instead of the default IEEE style, which is a number, such as [1]. This option will also sort the references alphabetically by author, instead of in order of citation. The options oneref and aparefs can be used together to create a single list of references using the APA style.

Supported Bibliography Entry Types

The following is a list of all the entry types that can be used. Click on the desired type to see a detailed description of how to use that type.

• Article – An article from a journal or magazine
• Book – A book with an explicit publisher
• InBook – A part of a book, such as a chapter or selected page(s)
• InCollection – A part of a book having its own title
• Booklet – Printed and bound works that are not formally published
• Manual – Technical documentation
• InProceedings – An article in a conference proceedings
• Proceedings – The entire proceedings of a conference
• MastersThesis – A Master’s thesis
• PhDThesis – A Ph.D. dissertation
• TechReport – A report published by a school or other institution
• Unpublished – A document that has not been formally published
• Electronic – An internet reference like a web page
• Patent – A patent or patent application
• Periodical – A magazine or journal
• Standard – Formally published standard
• Misc – For use when nothing else fits

Articles that have not yet been published can be handled as a misc type with a note. Sometimes it is desirable to put extra information into the month field such as the day, or additional months. This is accomplished by using the BIBTEX concatenation operator “#“:

Example .bib using this type:

Books may have authors, editors or both. Example .bib using this type:

Inbook is used to reference a part of a book, such as a chapter or selected page(s). The type field can be used to override the word chapter (for which IEEE uses the abbreviation “ch.”) when the book uses parts, sections, etc., instead of chapters

Incollection is used to reference part of a book having its own title. Like book , incollection supports the series, chapter and pages fields. Also, the type field can be used to override the word chapter.

Booklet is used for printed and bound works that are not formally published. A primary difference between booklet and unpublished is that the former is/was distributed by some means. Booklet is rarely used in bibliographies.

Technical documentation is handled by the manual entry type.

References of papers in conference proceedings are handled by the inproceedings or conference entry type. These two types are functionally identical and can be used interchangeably. Example .bib using this type:

It is rare to need to reference an entire conference proceedings, but, if necessary, the proceedings entry type can be used to do so.

Master’s (or minor) theses can be handled with the mastersthesis entry type. The optional type field can be used to override the words “Master’s thesis” if a different designation is desired:

The phdthesis entry type is used for Ph.D. dissertations (major theses). Like mastersthesis , the type field can be used to override the default designation. Example .bib using this type:

Techreport is used for technical reports. The optional type field can be used to override the default designation “Tech. Rep.” Example .bib using this type:

The unpublished entry type is used for documents that have not been formally published. IEEE typically just uses “unpublished” for the required note field.

The electronic entry type is for internet references. IEEE formats electronic references differently by not using italics or quotes and separating fields with periods rather than commas. Also, the date is enclosed within parentheses and is placed closer to the title. This is probably done to emphasize that electronic references may not remain valid on the rapidly changing internet. Note also the liberal use of the howpublished field to describe the form or category of the entries. The organization and address fields may also be used. Example .bib using this type:

The nationality field provides a means to handle patents from different countries

The nationality should be capitalized. The assignee and address (of the assignee) fields are not used, however, they are provided. The type field provides a way to override the “patent” description with other patent related descriptions such as “patent application” or “patent request”:

The periodical entry type is used for journals and magazines.

The standard entry type is used for formally published standards. Alternatively, the misc entry type, along with its howpublished field, can be used to create references of standards.

Misc is the most flexible type and can be used when none of the other entry types are applicable. The howpublished field can be used to describe what exactly (or in what form) the reference is (or appears as). Possible applications include technical-report-like entries that lack an institution, white papers and data sheets.

Additional Comments

Because we are effectively creating multiple bibliographies, (one for the actual bibliography, and one for each list of references), the two LATEX commands \bibliographystyle{} and \bibliography{} are not used. They have been redefined to do nothing, and the equivalent of these commands are done automatically when necessary.

When there is a reference that should be included in the bibliography, but does not need to be explicitly referenced in the thesis, use the \nocite{} command. This command works like the \cite{} command, except it does not put the citation in the list of references, only in the bibliography. The \nocite{} command must appear after the first \newchapter{} command, or it will be ignored.

When using the option aparefs , and a citation does not have an author, (such as often occurs with a web page), the key field can be used to specify what to use in the citation instead of the author’s name.

About the Bibliography Format

The bibliography format used by the urithesis class is based on the IEEE format. See the article “How to Use the IEEEtran BIBTEX Style” by Michael Shell for more details.

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Citation generators are programs that can help you craft citations quickly and easily.  They are not as robust as full citation managers like Zotero and RefWorks, but can help make quick work of shorter bibliography needs.  Choose a citation style and enter the bibliographic details of the works consulted (author, title, publication date, etc.) to automatically create citations. 

It is important to note that you must enter data accurately and carefully check the automatically generated citations for errors.  As noted in the Purdue OWL's guide to Using Citation Generators Responsibly (linked below), " relying entirely on citation generators rather than on one’s judgment as a writer can lead to errors."

• Using Citation Generators Responsibly - Purdue OWL A helpful guide from the Purdue Online Writing Lab describing how citation generator apps work and showing what’s happening when a writer uses one. It also offers a few “best practices” for using citation generators.
• ZoteroBib ZoteroBib helps you build a bibliography instantly from any computer or device, without creating an account or installing any software. It’s brought to you by the team behind Zotero.
• BibMe Create MLA, APA, or Chicago style citations with ISBN, author, title. Format web sites, journals, videos, newspapers, and “other.” Save bibliography online then paste into a research paper.
• Citation Machine Formats citations in APA, MLA, Turabian or Chicago writing style.
• EasyBib EasyBib includes guides to MLA, APA, Chicago, and Harvard styles. Create a free account to use the MLA citation generator. Purchase a subscription to generate citations in other styles.
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• How to Cite a Website | MLA, APA & Chicago Examples

How to Cite a Website | MLA, APA & Chicago Examples

Published on March 5, 2021 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on January 17, 2024.

To cite a page from a website, you need a short in-text citation and a corresponding reference stating the author’s name, the date of publication, the title of the page, the website name, and the URL.

This information is presented differently in different citation styles. APA , MLA , and Chicago are the most commonly used styles.

Use the interactive example generator below to explore APA and MLA website citations.

Note that the format is slightly different for citing YouTube and other online video platforms, or for citing an image .

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Table of contents

Citing a website in mla style, citing a website in apa style, citing a website in chicago style, frequently asked questions about citations.

An MLA Works Cited entry for a webpage lists the author’s name , the title of the page (in quotation marks), the name of the site (in italics), the date of publication, and the URL.

The in-text citation usually just lists the author’s name. For a long page, you may specify a (shortened) section heading to locate the specific passage. Don’t use paragraph numbers unless they’re specifically numbered on the page.

The same format is used for blog posts and online articles from newspapers and magazines.

You can also use our free MLA Citation Generator to generate your website citations.

Generate accurate MLA citations with Scribbr

Citing a whole website.

When you cite an entire website rather than a specific page, include the author if one can be identified for the whole site (e.g. for a single-authored blog). Otherwise, just start with the site name.

List the copyright date displayed on the site; if there isn’t one, provide an access date after the URL.

Webpages with no author or date

When no author is listed, cite the organization as author only if it differs from the website name.

If the organization name is also the website name, start the Works Cited entry with the title instead, and use a shortened version of the title in the in-text citation.

When no publication date is listed, leave it out and include an access date at the end instead.

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An APA reference for a webpage lists the author’s last name and initials, the full date of publication, the title of the page (in italics), the website name (in plain text), and the URL.

The in-text citation lists the author’s last name and the year. If it’s a long page, you may include a locator to identify the quote or paraphrase (e.g. a paragraph number and/or section title).

Note that a general reference to an entire website doesn’t require a citation in APA Style; just include the URL in parentheses after you mention the site.

You can also use our free APA Citation Generator to create your webpage citations. Search for a URL to retrieve the details.

Generate accurate APA citations with Scribbr

Blog posts and online articles.

Blog posts follow a slightly different format: the title of the post is not italicized, and the name of the blog is.

The same format is used for online newspaper and magazine articles—but not for articles from news sites like Reuters and BBC News (see the previous example).

When a page has no author specified, list the name of the organization that created it instead (and omit it later if it’s the same as the website name).

When it doesn’t list a date of publication, use “n.d.” in place of the date. You can also include an access date if the page seems likely to change over time.

In Chicago notes and bibliography style, footnotes are used to cite sources. They refer to a bibliography at the end that lists all your sources in full.

A Chicago bibliography entry for a website lists the author’s name, the page title (in quotation marks), the website name, the publication date, and the URL.

Chicago also has an alternative author-date citation style . Examples of website citations in this style can be found here .

For blog posts and online articles from newspapers, the name of the publication is italicized. For a blog post, you should also add the word “blog” in parentheses, unless it’s already part of the blog’s name.

When a web source doesn’t list an author , you can usually begin your bibliography entry and short note with the name of the organization responsible. Don’t repeat it later if it’s also the name of the website. A full note should begin with the title instead.

When no publication or revision date is shown, include an access date instead in your bibliography entry.

The main elements included in website citations across APA , MLA , and Chicago style are the author, the date of publication, the page title, the website name, and the URL. The information is presented differently in each style.

In APA , MLA , and Chicago style citations for sources that don’t list a specific author (e.g. many websites ), you can usually list the organization responsible for the source as the author.

If the organization is the same as the website or publisher, you shouldn’t repeat it twice in your reference:

• In APA and Chicago, omit the website or publisher name later in the reference.
• In MLA, omit the author element at the start of the reference, and cite the source title instead.

If there’s no appropriate organization to list as author, you will usually have to begin the citation and reference entry with the title of the source instead.

When you want to cite a specific passage in a source without page numbers (e.g. an e-book or website ), all the main citation styles recommend using an alternate locator in your in-text citation . You might use a heading or chapter number, e.g. (Smith, 2016, ch. 1)

In APA Style , you can count the paragraph numbers in a text to identify a location by paragraph number. MLA and Chicago recommend that you only use paragraph numbers if they’re explicitly marked in the text.

For audiovisual sources (e.g. videos ), all styles recommend using a timestamp to show a specific point in the video when relevant.

Check if your university or course guidelines specify which citation style to use. If the choice is left up to you, consider which style is most commonly used in your field.

• APA Style is the most popular citation style, widely used in the social and behavioral sciences.
• MLA style is the second most popular, used mainly in the humanities.
• Chicago notes and bibliography style is also popular in the humanities, especially history.
• Chicago author-date style tends to be used in the sciences.

Other more specialized styles exist for certain fields, such as Bluebook and OSCOLA for law.

The most important thing is to choose one style and use it consistently throughout your text.

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 Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2024, January 17). How to Cite a Website | MLA, APA & Chicago Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved April 2, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/citing-sources/cite-a-website/

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Mathematical Physics

Title: study on a quantization condition and the solvability of schrödinger-type equations.

Abstract: In this thesis, we study a quantization condition in relation to the solvability of Schrödinger equations. This quantization condition is called the SWKB (supersymmetric Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin) quantization condition and has been known in the context of supersymmetric quantum mechanics for decades. The main contents of this thesis are recapitulated as follows: the foundation and the application of the SWKB quantization condition. The first half of this thesis aims to understand the fundamental implications of this condition based on extensive case studies. It turns out that the exactness of the SWKB quantization condition indicates the exact solvability of a system via the classical orthogonal polynomials. The SWKB quantization condition provides quantizations of energy, which we call the direct problem of the SWKB. We formulate the inverse problem of the SWKB: the problem of determining the superpotential from a given energy spectrum. The formulation successfully reconstructs all conventional shape-invariant potentials from the given energy spectra. We further construct novel solvable potentials, which are classical-orthogonal-polynomially quasi-exactly solvable, by this formulation. We further demonstrate several explicit solutions of the Schrödinger equations with the classical-orthogonal-polynomially quasi-exactly solvable potentials, whose family is referred to as a harmonic oscillator with singularity functions in this thesis. In one case, the energy spectra become isospectral, with several additional eigenstates, to the ordinary harmonic oscillator for special choices of a parameter. By virtue of this, we formulate a systematic way of constructing infinitely many potentials that are strictly isospectral to the ordinary harmonic oscillator.

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