PhD and Master's theses
You may need to consult more than one section to accurately represent the source used (eg. number of authors and source descriptions)
Format for in-text citation
In-text citation example
Willis (1997) has shown…
OR
…was found (Willis, 1997).
OR
Willis (1997, p.26) proposes…
Format for reference list
Elements, punctuation & capitalisation
For an unpublished thesis (thesis in print form):
Author, A. A. (Year). Title [Unpublished doctoral dissertation/Master's thesis]. Institution issuing degree.
For a thesis available through a database service, such as ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database, include the name of the database and the accession or order number in the reference:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title (Accession or Order No.)[Doctoral dissertation/Master's thesis, Institution issuing degree]. Name of Database.
For a thesis from an institutional database:
A Author, A. A. (Year). Title [Doctoral dissertation/Master's thesis, Institution issuing degree]. URL (persistent identifier)
For a thesis available on the web:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title [Doctoral dissertation/Master's thesis, Institution issuing degree]. URL
When citing the abstract for a thesis, as from Dissertation Abstracts International:
Author, A. A. (Year). Title. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section. Title of section, Volume(Issue), Number of abstract.
Reference list example
Kilpatrick, H. (2019). Writing with feeling: Practising angers in late-medieval English chronicles. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Melbourne]. http://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/handle/11343/235596
OR
Willis, J. (1997). Women in architecture in Victoria 1905-1955. Their education and professional life. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Melbourne].
Make sure to look at the style notes
Style notes for this reference type
- APA 7 Publication Manual, pp.333–334.
- Italicise the title of the thesis, unless citing only the abstract.
- Capitalisation: Capitalise only the first word of the title and of the subtitle, if any, and any proper nouns.
- If pages are being directly referenced in the text, include the cited page number/s in the in-text citation after the year.
- Print format: Unpublished theses retrieved from the issuing university have the name of the issuing university in the Source part of the reference.
- A dissertation or thesis is considered published when it is available from a database, institutional repository, or archive. Place in square brackets after the title both the type of thesis and the institution awarding the thesis.
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