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APA Style 7th Edition: Citing Your Sources

Provide guidance on APA format style based on the 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual.

Standard Format

Unpublished Dissertations and Theses

Who

When

What

Where

Author, A. A.

 

 (year).

Title of dissertation/thesis: Use sentence case [Unpublished doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis].

 

Name of Institution Awarding the Degree

Published Dissertations and Theses

 

Where

Who

When

What

Database or archive name

URL

Author, A. A.

 

(year).

Title of dissertation: Use sentence case [Doctoral dissertation, Name of Institution Awarding the Degree].

Title of thesis.  [Master’s thesis, Name of Institution Awarding the Degree].

 

Database Name. 

Archive Name.

https://xxxx...

 

Adapted from American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed).  https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

Formatting Rules

Formatting:

  • Italicize the title
  • Identify whether source is doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis in parentheses after the title

Various Examples

 

Thesis, from a commercial database

Lope, M. D. (2014). Perceptions of global mindedness in the international baccalaureate middle years programme: The relationship to student academic performance and teacher characteristics (Order No. 3682837) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. 

Dissertation, from an institutional database

Andrea, H. (2014). Effective networked nonprofit organizations: Defining the behavior and creating an instrument for measurement (Doctoral dissertation). https://etd.ohiolink.edu/

Unpublished master’s thesis

Curry, J.  (2016).  A guide to educating single mothers about early gang intervention and prevention (Unpublished master’s thesis).  Pacific Oaks College.

See Ch. 10 pp. 313-352 of APA Manual for more examples and formatting rules