Learn How to Cite a Thesis From Genuine Experts

How to Cite a Thesis

OK, why would you want to learn how to cite a thesis? If you are working on an academic paper, you will most definitely need to use the information found in other publications. In most cases, you will use information and data obtained by other scholars in their theses or dissertations. Because you can’t simply take the information and include it in your writing like it’s your own, you must learn how to cite a thesis.

You must give credit where credit is due to avoid having your paper rejected for plagiarism (or worse). The good news is that citing a thesis is not overly complicated. Once you get the hang of it, creating a citation and adding the resource to the Bibliography or Reference List section shouldn’t take you more than a minute.

Stand why it is so important to learn how to cite a thesis. These same students make the huge mistake of taking information from specific sources and using it in their own writing without mentioning the source anywhere. This is something any professor would penalize – quite harshly. Here are some of the things you need to keep in mind:

Knowing How to Cite a PhD Thesis Is Important

Most students don’t really understand why it is so important to learn how to cite a thesis. These same students make the huge mistake of taking information from specific sources and using it in their own writing without mentioning the source anywhere. This is something any professor would penalize – quite harshly. Here are some of the things you need to keep in mind:

  • Knowing how to cite someone’s thesis is important because it gives credit to the people who have worked on obtaining the information you need. It’s only fair to give them credit, don’t you agree?
  • Not citing your sources will lead to severe penalties. Keep in mind that copying something from a source constitutes plagiarism. You can avoid having your thesis rejected if you cite your sources.
  • All schools require you to list your sources somewhere in your academic paper. Many schools have specific requirements, such as a minimum number of references. Don’t worry, learning how to cite PhD thesis is not difficult.
  • Citing your sources enables people reading your paper to locate the theses or dissertations quickly. These people may need additional information; information that is not included in your paper.
  • The supervisor or the thesis committee may want to fact-check your work. Without proper sources, this would be impossible. As you can imagine, your professors won’t appreciate the lack of references.

How to Cite a Master’s Thesis: A Short Guide

OK, so how do you cite a thesis? Is there something you need to know? Yes, the truth is that citing other peoples’ works is a very specific process. Each academic style (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.) has its own format. Would you like to know how to cite a PhD thesis in APA format? Here is how such a citation would look like:

Author’s last name, initials. (the year the thesis was published). The title of the thesis in italics (type of thesis, institution, location). Retrieved from … An example: Peers, N. R. (2020). The use of AI in computer-assisted learning (Doctoral dissertation, University of Computer Sciences, New York, USA). Retrieved from www.websitegoeshere.com.

As you can see, it’s easy to learn how to cite a doctoral thesis. Keep in mind that you can retrieve the paper from a database. To reflect this, just change the “Retrieved from www” to “Retrieved from Name Of Database” and then add the accession. For example: Retrieved from The Scientific Works Database. (AAT NR55423)

Citing a Thesis: Tips and Tricks

Even though you can quickly learn how to cite a master’s thesis, it doesn’t mean you will be an ace. You can still make mistakes. If you are unsure how to cite thesis paper, you should always read the style guide. All academic writing styles have guides, and most of them are public information. These guides list all the various types of citations you can use and how to create them.

When you cite a master’s thesis, you need to be careful where you get it from. It is always a good idea to reference a database or an.EDU website. Your sources need to be credible, so make sure you search for the original location where the work was published.

If you cite PhD thesis and don’t know when it was published, write “n.d.” where the year would be. This is an abbreviation for “no date” and indicates that you were unable to find the year the paper was published.

But what if you want to cite a thesis and can’t find a credible source? This is a tricky problem, but there is a simple solution. Cite the paper as personal communication. You do this by including the following in the References section of your thesis: (C. C. Communicator, personal communication, month day, year).

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQ

Do you get penalized for citing a thesis the wrong way?

Yes, and penalties can be quite harsh. Learn how to cite a senior thesis or get some help from a professional because you can have your thesis rejected for multiple violations of citation guidelines.

How to cite unpublished thesis correctly?

Replace “type of thesis” with “Unpublished type of thesis”. Write the name of the institution and its location instead of the “Retrieved from … ” part. Example: Peers, N. R. (2020). The use of AI in computer-assisted learning (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Computer Sciences, New York, USA.

Can you cite a thesis proposal?

I know how to cite a thesis paper, but can I cite a thesis proposal? In short, no. A thesis proposal is not peer-reviewed. In fact, it is not even an academic paper (yet). The source would not be credible enough to warrant a citation.

Are there any tools that can help with thesis citation?

If you don’t know how to cite an undergraduate thesis, you can find several tools online that will format the citation and the References entry for you. However, we advise you to get in touch with one of our expert ENL writers.

Are there any style constraints to citing a master’s thesis?

Can you cite a thesis in any writing style? Yes, all writing styles have detailed information about how to format a citation.