Dissertation Research Librarian
Citation
The library's format requirements are designed to work with a variety of scholarly conventions and citation styles across the disciplines. Check with your degree program, advisor, or dissertation committee to find out if a particular citation style is required for theses or dissertations.
Citation Styles
- AAA Style GuideAs of September 2015, the American Anthropological Association now adheres to the Chicago Style (Author-Date).
- American Chemical Society (ACS) Style Quick Guide"The ACS Style Guide is the definitive source for all information needed to write, review, submit, and edit scholarly and scientific manuscripts."
- American Institute of Physics (AIP) PublishingManuscript preparation guidelines for authors, including information on equations, notations, and references.
- American Mathematical Society (AMS) Author Handbook"The Author Handbook contains guidelines for preparing AMS-LaTeX files for submission to the AMS for publication."
- American Political Science Association (APSA) Style ManualLatest edition is rev. 2006, currently under revision as of 2017. Includes grammar, usage, citation style for submiting to APSA journals.
- APA Style OnlineThe full APA style guide is available in print and ebook formats. This supplementary site from APA includes quick reference materials and updates.
- ASA Guide OnlineFrom Purdue's online writing lab, an outline of style guide basics from the American Sociological Association. The full ASA style guide is available in print book format only.
- Chicago Manual of Style Online
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Full text of the 17th and 18th editions of the Chicago Manual of Style, including quick guide, questions and answers, and additional tools.
- CMOS Shop Talk Blog"With these pages and posts, the editors and staff of the Manual hope to bring clarity, education, and amusement to anyone who works with words."
- Harvard Referencing (Cite Them Right)There are different versions of the Harvard referencing style, and this guide is a quick introduction to the commonly-used Cite Them Right version.
- Modern Language Association (MLA) Style CenterThe full MLA Style manual is not available online, but this is a useful distillation of the most common concerns.
- Scientific Style and Format Online
- This link opens in a new window
Now in its eighth edition, the indispensable reference for authors, editors, publishers, students, and translators in all areas of science and related fields has been fully revised by the Council of Science Editors to reflect today’s best practices in scientific publishing.
- SAA Style Guide for American AntiquityThe SAA has released an updated version of its “Editorial Policy, Information for Authors, and Style Guide for American Antiquity, Latin American Antiquity, and Advances in Archaeological Practice” / “Normas Editoriales, Información para los Autores y Guía Estilística para American Antiquity, Latin American Antiquity y Advances in Archaeological Practice” in both English and Spanish. This document serves as both a policy guide for the Society and its editors and a traditional style guide serving authors and editors in preparing manuscripts for final publication.
Citation Managers
When doing research at the graduate level, it is important to be diligent about keeping track of your sources. This can be done with pen and paper in a dedicated notebook or on index cards. Or, you might just keep an Excel spreadsheet of all of the materials you are consulting for a project.
Citation managers like Zotero, RefWorks, and Mendeley help automate the process by working with your web browser to grab the information about a source (author, title, publication, etc.) with the click of a button. They can even be integrated into word processing software to automatically generate properly formatted citations and bibliographies.
- Zotero
This link opens in a new window
Saves and helps you to organize citations to articles, books, webpages, and more. Works with Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari. Install the Zotero Word plug-in to quickly create bibliographies and add citations to papers.
- Zotero HelpShort video tutorials and a userguide
- Refworks
This link opens in a new window
Online citation management licensed for all CUNY campuses. Generate footnotes and bibliography in any writing style; organize citations and notes in your private library. 25 MB limit on individual file size; 5 GB individual account limit. Group Code: RWGradC
There is a new interface available for RefWorks; see the library guide Citation Managers & Style Guides for more information.
How to Cite a Dissertation or Thesis
APA (7th ed)
A dissertation or thesis is considered published when it is available from a database such as ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global or PDQT Open, an institutional repository, or an archive. Include a publication number after the title, if available. Use bracketed text with "Doctoral dissertation" or "Master's Thesis" (without quotes) and degree-granting institution, separated with a comma. Include the database or repository name. Only include a URL if no login is required. Read more on APA Style Online.
Doctoral dissertation with ProQuest publication number:
Kabir, J. M. (2016). Factors influencing customer satisfaction at a fast food hamburger chain: The relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Publication No. 10169573) [Doctoral dissertation, Wilmington University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
Doctoral dissertation in an institutional repository:
Zambrano-Vazquez, L. (2016). The interaction of state and trait worry on response monitoring in those with worry and obsessive-compulsive symptoms [Doctoral dissertation, University of Arizona]. UA Campus Repository. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/620615
Chicago (17th Ed. Notes & Bibliography)
Titles of theses and dissertations appear in quotation marks—not in italics; otherwise, they are 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. Only include a URL if there is no login required. If retrieved from a database, include the database title and publication number, if available. Read more at CMOS 17 Online, 14.215: Theses and Dissertations.
Note:
Shortened note:
Bibliography entry: