Citelle · Library
Chicago 18 author-date: cite a doctoral dissertation
Cite a repository copy of a doctoral dissertation in Chicago 18 author-date style, with PhD diss., the university and the URL.
How the dissertation entry is built
A doctoral dissertation in this author-date entry has its title in quotation marks, not italics, followed by PhD diss. and the awarding university. The link to the copy you read comes last, followed by a period. This page checks the reference-list entry only; it does not cover a variant that adds a database publication number.
Maya Stone's dissertation gives this author-date entry: Stone, Maya. 2024. “A Sample Dissertation.” PhD diss., Example University. https://example.org/dissertation.
Workbench settings
The workbench supports doctoral dissertations only, so Document designation has a single choice. A repository copy must be entered as an Online version with a Source URL; choosing Print version for a dissertation marked as published in a repository is treated as conflicting and shows Version consulted: review this source detail.
- Choose Chicago 18 author-date reference and Doctoral dissertation.
- Set Version consulted to Online version and Dissertation publication status to Published in a repository or archive.
- Enter Maya Stone, the title A sample dissertation with the title-case form A Sample Dissertation, and 2024.
- Type Example University as the Awarding or responsible institution and https://example.org/dissertation as the Source URL.
- Press Create reference.
What this Chicago entry leaves out
The page lists Example Repository as where the dissertation is held. The workbench does not require a repository name for Chicago, and even when you type one, along with an assigned publication number, this author-date entry shows neither. The Chicago entry does not print the city, London, either. Keep those details in your record for your own reference, or for a style that prints them.
The dissertation in the Citelle app
The app's Thesis type takes the University / institution and a URL or DOI. Its Chicago entry always writes PhD diss., because the app has no field for the degree, so check that label against the document if the work is not a doctoral dissertation. Copy in-text gives (Stone 2024).
If the dissertation has a DOI, the app's entry ends with the https://doi.org/ link instead of the repository URL, because a DOI is always preferred as the visible link.
Dissertation pitfalls
- Putting the repository's name where the university belongs.
- Italicizing the title as if the dissertation were a published book.
- Citing the dissertation when you read the book later based on it.
- Using the date you downloaded it instead of the year of the degree.
- Typing the department into the university field; the Reviewed department citation label is used only by the IEEE form.
Gather the source details
- Verify the author, title and completion year.
- Record the awarding institution and actual document designation.
- Distinguish an unpublished institutional copy from a repository publication.
- Keep any repository name, publication number or source location required for that version.
- Author
- Maya Stone
- Title as supplied
- A sample dissertation
- Publication year
- 2024
- Containing work or site
- Example Repository
- Awarding or responsible institution
- Example University
- Publication place
- London
- Source location
- https://example.org/dissertation
Tools
Sources
Next guide: Chicago 18 bibliography: cite a doctoral dissertation