PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Master's thesis

How to Cite a Master's Thesis in APA 7

An APA 7 master's thesis reference lists the author, the year in parentheses, the thesis title in italics and sentence case, the publication number in parentheses when the database assigns one, the description [Master's thesis, Name of University] in square brackets, the name of the database or repository, and the DOI or URL when readers can open it. The in-text citation is the author's last name and the year: (Teeter, 2014).

A thesis you got straight from the university, not from a database or repository, is unpublished: write [Unpublished master's thesis] after the title and end with the university's name.

The format

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of the thesis (Publication No. 1234567) [Master's thesis, Name of University]. Database or Repository Name. https://xxxx

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Choose Dissertations & Theses from the reference types. Pick A published dissertation or thesis if you found it in ProQuest or a university repository, or An unpublished dissertation or thesis if the copy came from the university itself. Then choose A master's thesis. Fill in the Title of the Work, the Publication Year, and the Institution Name. For a published thesis, add the Database or Archive Name, and the URL when anyone can open it. For a ProQuest thesis, type the whole label in Record Identifier, like Publication No. 1567760. If the title is in title case, PERRLA points it out and offers to put it in sentence case. PERRLA adds the italics, the parentheses, and the square brackets, and it places the university inside the brackets or at the end, whichever the reference needs.

Looking a thesis up by its DOI? PERRLA finds it, but DOI records don't say what degree the work earned, so PERRLA sets it up as a doctoral dissertation. Switch the kind to A master's thesis, add the repository's name, and check the year and the university's name against the thesis record before you add it. Pasting a repository link instead? If PERRLA offers it as a webpage, skip that result and use Dissertations & Theses.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. Author

Start with the author's last name, a comma, and their initials. A thesis has one author. Leave out the thesis advisor and committee chair, even though the repository lists them.

Teeter, K.

2. Year

Put the year the thesis was completed in parentheses, followed by a period. Use the year on the title page or in the record's date of award, never the date it was uploaded.

(2014).

Watch this with older theses. Sherri Shinn's thesis is from 1993, but SJSU ScholarWorks posted it in 2010. The year is 1993.

3. Title

Write the title in italics and in sentence case: capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns. Repositories and ProQuest often show titles in title case, so lower-case the rest.

Relationship between job satisfaction and nurse to patient ratio with nurse burnout

4. Publication number

If the thesis came from ProQuest, put its publication number in parentheses right after the title, with Publication No. in front of it and no italics. University repositories rarely assign one, so most repository theses skip this part.

(Publication No. 1567760)

Use the publication number, not the longer document ID in the ProQuest link. Teeter's thesis has the link ending /docview/1630100018 and the publication number 1567760.

5. Description in square brackets

Describe the work in square brackets after the title and any publication number. For a published thesis, write Master's thesis, a comma, and the university that awarded the degree. Capitalize only Master's, keep the apostrophe, and don't italicize anything in the brackets.

[Master's thesis, Gardner-Webb University].

For an unpublished thesis, the bracket says [Unpublished master's thesis], and the university moves to the end of the reference as the source.

Use the same description for an MSN, MEd, MPH, MA, or MS thesis. The degree name doesn't go in the reference.

6. Database or repository

For a published thesis, give the name of the database or repository where you found it, then a period. Use the name the site gives itself. For ProQuest, APA writes both ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, so either works.

Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University.

Theses are works of limited circulation, so APA 7 asks for the database name here, including ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. That's different from journal articles, where you leave the database out.

7. URL or DOI

End with the DOI or URL if anyone can open it. Repository theses usually have a working link, and some have a DOI. Don't put a period after it.

https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/nursing_etd/39

A ProQuest link that needs a library login doesn't belong in the reference. End with the database name instead.

Examples

A master's thesis from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global

Kayla Teeter's MSN thesis on burnout among home health nurses, completed at Gardner-Webb University in 2014. ProQuest gives it publication number 1567760, and its ProQuest page needs a library login, so the reference ends with the database name.

  • Parenthetical citation(Teeter, 2014)
  • Narrative citationTeeter (2014)

A master's thesis from a university repository

The same Teeter thesis, read in Gardner-Webb's own repository instead of ProQuest. The repository has no publication number, so that part drops out, and the free link goes at the end. Cite whichever version you actually used.

  • Parenthetical citation(Teeter, 2014)
  • Narrative citationTeeter (2014)

An older thesis posted online later, with a DOI

Sherri E. Shinn's 1993 master's thesis in nursing at San Jose State University, on clinical judgment in three types of nursing students. SJSU ScholarWorks posted it in 2010 and gave it a DOI. The year is still 1993, and the reference ends with the DOI.

  • Parenthetical citation(Shinn, 1993)
  • Narrative citationShinn (1993)

In-text citations

An APA 7 in-text citation for a master's thesis gives the author's last name and the year. Add a page number when you quote, or when you point to one specific passage.

  • Parenthetical: (Teeter, 2014)
  • Narrative: Shinn (1993) compared clinical judgment across three types of nursing students.
  • A quote: add the page number printed on the thesis after the year: (Author, Year, p. #).
  • Published or unpublished: the in-text citation is the same either way. Only the reference changes.

Common mistakes

  • [Masters thesis, Gardner-Webb University][Master's thesis, Gardner-Webb University]Master's takes an apostrophe. The same goes for the unpublished version: [Unpublished master's thesis].
  • [Master's Thesis, Gardner-Webb University][Master's thesis, Gardner-Webb University]Only the first word in the brackets is capitalized, plus the university's name.
  • Teeter, K. (2015, November 12). Relationship between job satisfaction and nurse to patient ratio with nurse burnout. Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University.Teeter, K. (2014). Relationship between job satisfaction and nurse to patient ratio with nurse burnout [Master's thesis, Gardner-Webb University]. Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University. https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/nursing_etd/39A thesis in a repository is still a thesis, not a webpage. Use the year it was completed, not the date it was posted, and add the bracketed description and the link.
  • [Doctoral dissertation, San Jose State University][Master's thesis, San Jose State University]DOI records don't say what degree a thesis earned, so a reference built from a DOI can call a master's thesis a doctoral dissertation. Check the degree in the repository record.
  • [Unpublished master's thesis]. Gardner-Webb University. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.(Publication No. 1567760) [Master's thesis, Gardner-Webb University]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.A thesis in ProQuest is published. Unpublished is only for a copy you got from the university itself, and an unpublished reference never names a database.

Quick checklist

  • The author only, not the advisor
  • The year the thesis was completed, not the year it was posted
  • Title in italics and sentence case
  • Publication No. in parentheses for a ProQuest thesis
  • [Master's thesis, University] for published, [Unpublished master's thesis] plus the university for unpublished
  • The database or repository name, then a DOI or URL readers can open

Questions students ask

Is a master's thesis cited differently from a dissertation in APA 7?

Only in the bracketed description. A thesis says [Master's thesis, Name of University] where a dissertation says [Doctoral dissertation, Name of University]. Everything else, from the italic title to the database name, follows the same format.

Is a thesis in ProQuest or a university repository published?

Yes. APA 7 treats a thesis in a database, repository, or archive as published. Call it unpublished only when the copy came from the university itself, like a bound copy on the library shelf, and then end the reference with the university's name.

Do I write the degree, like MSN or MEd, in the reference?

No. The bracket says Master's thesis for every master's degree. The degree name doesn't appear anywhere in the reference.

What year do I use for a thesis that was posted online years later?

The year the thesis was completed, shown on its title page or as the date of award in the repository record. Repositories that scan older theses often show a much later posting date. That date doesn't go in the reference.

How do I cite a master's project or capstone instead of a thesis?

APA 7 lets you adapt the words in the brackets so they describe the work as it is, the same way it adapts them for undergraduate honors theses. Use the format on this page and check with your faculty on the exact wording your program uses.

Can I cite my own master's thesis?

Yes. Cite it like any other thesis, with your name as the author. If it's in your school's repository or ProQuest, use the published format with that name and its link.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.10–8.11, 9.7–9.37 (especially 9.30 on database and archive sources and 9.34–9.36 on DOIs and URLs), and 10.6, and the APA Style website's published and unpublished dissertation and thesis pages and its database information page. Example sources verified against each thesis's ProQuest record, Digital Commons @ Gardner-Webb University, and SJSU ScholarWorks with its DOI.

PERRLA puts every part of a master's thesis reference in the right place, from the italic title to the square brackets.

Try PERRLA free for 7 days