On this page
Updated . Example details checked against Purdue University, 2002 (the Purdue OWL dissertation example).
The Chicago format
Pattern
Last name, First name. “Title of Dissertation.” PhD diss., University, Year.
- Quotation marks for the title, because it is unpublished.
- PhD diss. or Master’s thesis.
- Online: add the database name or URL at the end.
A real example
Bibliography entry
Bishop, Karen Lynn. “Documenting Institutional Identity: Strategic Writing in the IUPUI Comprehensive Campaign.” PhD diss., Purdue University, 2002.
First footnote
Karen Lynn Bishop, “Documenting Institutional Identity: Strategic Writing in the IUPUI Comprehensive Campaign” (PhD diss., Purdue University, 2002), 45.
Later footnotes
Bishop, “Documenting Institutional Identity,” 45.
When details are missing
- No database: end with the year.
- From ProQuest or a university repository: add the database or repository name, any document number it shows, and the URL.
- Published as a book later: cite the book, unless you used the dissertation itself.
Common mistakes
- Italic title. Unpublished works take quotation marks in Chicago.
- “Ph.D. diss.” with periods. Chicago 18 writes degrees without periods: PhD diss.
- Leaving out the degree. The note and the entry both say what kind of work it is.
Or let Format do it.
Choose Dissertation or thesis, pick the degree, and fill in the university, year and database or link. Format writes the notes and bibliography in Chicago, exactly as shown above, and builds the bibliography page when you export to Word or PDF. Chicago is part of Pro, $4 a month or $29 a year; MLA and APA are free.
Questions
How do I shorten it?
Bishop, “Documenting Institutional Identity,” 45.
Does it go in the bibliography?
Yes, if you cite it.
What about a DMA or EdD?
Use the degree the title page names, in the same place: EdD diss.
More citation guides
The same source in other styles
Similar sources in Chicago
Every source kind is on the Chicago page, and every style is on How to cite.