APA Format: Unpublished Dissertations

The Center for Writing Studies, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

An entry for an unpublished doctoral dissertation available on microfilm and listed in Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI) appears as follows:

Bower, D. L. (1993). Employee assistant programs supervisory referrals: Characteristics of referring and nonreferring supervisors. Dissertation Abstracts International, 54 (01), 534B. (UMI No. 9315947)

This entry style should be used if you read the dissertation on microfilm. In such a case, provide the DAI volume and page numbers and the UMI microfilm number. Make sure to differentiate between the two series of DAI: humanities (series A) or sciences (series B). This split into two series begins with volume 27. As of volume 30, Dissertation Abstracts becomes Dissertation Abstracts International.

If you used a printed source obtained from a university rather than microfilm, use the following format:

Lee, J. S. (1991). A study of sleep deprivation and its effects on teenagers (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska-Omaha, 1990). Dissertation Abstracts International, 50, 4615B.

Include the name of the university, year of the dissertation, and the DAI volume and page numbers.

An entry for an unpublished doctoral dissertation which is not listed in DAI appears as follows:

Simpson, H. B. (1988). Manic-depressive behavior in early childhood. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

For more specific information, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (Fifth Edition) or see the APA style website.