How to Cite Dissertation Abstracts in APA

When referencing a dissertation in your writing, you should cite the entire text of a dissertation if it is available to you. However, if for some reason you can only access the abstract, the sixth edition of the "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association" allows you to include the abstract in the reference list. Follow the APA guidelines for both abstracts and dissertations to properly format the citation for a dissertation abstract.

Instructions

    • 1

      Begin the citation with the author's last name followed by a comma, then the author's first initial and middle initial, if applicable. Use periods after each initial and a space between the initials. For example, "Smith, A. J."

    • 2

      Give the date of publication in parentheses, followed by a period -- for example, "(2010)."

    • 3

      State the full title of the dissertation. Capitalize only the first word, proper nouns and any word after a colon. For most dissertations, italicize the title and add the words "Doctoral dissertation" within parentheses at the end of the title; for example, "Dissertation title: This is an example (Doctoral dissertation)." However, do not italicize and add "Doctoral dissertation" if the abstract comes from the "Dissertation Abstracts International" database.

    • 4

      Give retrieval information for the abstract. If the abstract comes from the "Dissertation Abstracts International" database, give the section title, volume and issue numbers, and page number. Italicize the title and the volume number. For example, "Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B. Sciences and Engineering, 10(5), 2000."

      Give the name of the database and the identification number for the abstract if it comes from a commercial database. For example, "Abstract available from ProQuest database. (UMI No. 1234567)"

      Give the URL for an abstract retrieved from an institutional database or a website. For example, "Abstract retrieved from http://www.university.edu" If you retrieved the abstract from a website, add the university name in the parentheses after the title -- for example, "Dissertation title: This is an example (Doctoral dissertation, State University)."

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