How To Cite A Doctoral Thesis In The APA Format Correctly


The APA format is one of the most extended set of rules and conventions that American Psychologist Association created for documenting. Nowadays, there is a lot of information regarding this style on the Internet. Taking a look at examples is one of the most useful tools in order to understand how the citation works in this format. However, it could be tricky to find information about citing certain works. In this situation you should check the Publication Manual of the APA. In this article, we focus on how to cite a doctoral thesis in this format.


How to cite dissertations


The elements in this kind of references are: author, date of publication, title and institution. You should also include the database accession number if you have found the publication from a certain collection. The same condition applies to a UMI number if there is such information at your disposal. In other words, apart from the information about the work, you should include the references to let anyone consult the same source without much effort.

There is no much difference whenever you cite a work by one or several authors. The latter requires citation of the authors separated by commas. However, it is not common to cite more than two authors. Keep in mind that the last name should be placed in the first place. In addition, the first letter of the name in the second place for each author, as the APA style requires.


How to cite reports and papers


When you create a reference about this kind of works, you should include these elements: author(s), date of publication, title, place of publication and name of publisher. Furthermore, you should include any number that is assigned to the work which you refer to. In some cases, the issuing organization provides this kind of reference numbers. You should also include the URL whenever you cite an online accessed publication.


Benefits of the APA style


As you can see, this format provides quite a few benefits regarding the standard of citations. Despite being useful, it could be troublesome for beginners to adapt to the requirements of the references in the APA format but you will profit in the long term. For instance, it will be much easier to track your sources and compare the references in your bibliography if you use these guidelines.