PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Dissertation

How to Cite a Dissertation in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for a dissertation gives the author's last name and first name, the dissertation title in italics and title case, the year, then the university and the description doctoral dissertation, like U of Virginia, doctoral dissertation. If you read it in a database or repository, add that name in italics and the DOI or URL. The in-text citation is the author's last name and the page, with no comma: (Harris 45).

MLA cites published and unpublished dissertations the same way. A copy you got straight from the university simply ends after the description.

The format

Last Name, First Name. Title of the Dissertation. Year. Name of University, doctoral dissertation. Database or Repository Name, DOI or URL.

PERRLA MLA Experts ยท Updated October 30, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

If the dissertation has a DOI, paste it into PERRLA's reference search. PERRLA finds it and fills in the author, the year, the title, and the university, and sets it up as a published doctoral dissertation. Check the year and the university against the record, then add the repository's name (like Libra) in Database or Archive Name, because the DOI lookup leaves it blank.

Adding one by hand? Choose Dissertations & Theses. Pick A published dissertation or thesis if you read it in ProQuest or a university repository, or An unpublished dissertation or thesis if your copy came from the university itself. Then choose A doctoral dissertation. Fill in the Title of the Work, the Publication Year, and the Institution Name, plus the Database or Archive Name and the URL or DOI link for a published one. MLA doesn't use ProQuest's publication number, so PERRLA leaves Record Identifier out of your Works Cited entry. PERRLA shortens University to U, adds doctoral dissertation after the university's name, handles the title case, the italics, and the punctuation, and puts the entry on your Works Cited page in alphabetical order.

Look up
Paste a DOI, get the reference

10.18130/V31R6G

Lowe, Marcia A. An Exploratory Study of the Influence of Perceived Organizational Support, Coworker Social Support, the Nursing Practice Environment, and Nurse Demographics on Burnout in Palliative Care Nurses. 2019. U of Alabama at Birmingham, doctoral dissertation. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, www.proquest.com/docview/2311052333.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. Author

Start with the author's last name, a comma, and their first name as the dissertation prints it, with any middle initial. End with a period.

Lowe, Marcia A.

Leave out the dissertation chair and the committee. MLA names only the author.

2. Title

A dissertation is a whole work on its own, so its title goes in italics and title case, even when the dissertation or the database uses sentence case. Keep the subtitle, after a colon. Put a period after the title.

Instructional Leadership Perceptions and Practices of Elementary School Leaders.

MLA italicizes the title whether or not the dissertation was ever published.

3. Year

Give the year the dissertation was completed, as its title page or the database record shows it, followed by a period. If a repository posted it years later, still use the year it was finished.

2014.

4. University and description

Next comes the school that granted the degree, a comma, and the description doctoral dissertation, ending with a period. MLA's own examples shorten University to U, and PERRLA does that for you.

U of Virginia, doctoral dissertation.

U of Alabama at Birmingham, doctoral dissertation.

5. Database or repository

If you read the dissertation online, the database or repository is a container: its name in italics, a comma, and then the DOI or URL, followed by a period. Give a DOI as a full https://doi.org/ link. For any other URL, leave off the https://.

Libra, https://doi.org/10.18130/V31R6G.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, www.proquest.com/docview/2311052333.

A print copy, or a PDF the author or the school sent you, has no container. End the entry after the description.

Examples

A dissertation from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global

Marcia A. Lowe's PhD dissertation on burnout in palliative care nurses, completed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2019 and read in ProQuest. The database is the container, and the entry ends with the dissertation's ProQuest link.

  • In-text citation(Lowe)
  • Narrative citationLowe studied burnout among palliative care nurses.

A dissertation from a university repository, with a DOI

Leslie Harris's Doctor of Education (EdD) dissertation from the University of Virginia, posted in Libra, UVA's online archive of scholarship. The repository gives it a DOI, so the entry names Libra in italics and ends with the DOI.

  • In-text citation(Harris 45)
  • Narrative citationAs Harris notes, … (45).

The same Harris dissertation, as a copy that came straight from the University of Virginia, not from a database or repository. MLA doesn't label it unpublished. The entry just ends after the university and the description. If you read it in Libra, use the entry above instead.

  • In-text citation(Harris 45)
  • Narrative citationAs Harris notes, … (45).

In-text citations

An MLA 9 in-text citation for a dissertation gives the author's last name and the page number, with no comma and no p. between them.

  • With a page: (Harris 45)
  • The whole dissertation, with no page: the name alone: (Lowe)
  • Name in your sentence: give the page alone in parentheses at the end of the sentence: As Harris notes, … (45). Referring to the whole work with the name in your sentence? No parentheses needed.

If you cite two works by the same author, add a short version of the title in italics: (Harris, Instructional Leadership Perceptions 45).

Common mistakes

  • (Harris, 2014)(Harris 45)That's APA. MLA uses the page number, not the year, with no comma after the name.
  • Harris, L. (2014). Instructional leadership perceptions and practices of elementary school leaders [Doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia].Harris, Leslie. Instructional Leadership Perceptions and Practices of Elementary School Leaders. 2014. U of Virginia, doctoral dissertation.MLA spells out the first name, uses title case, puts the year after the title, and drops APA's square brackets for a plain description at the end.
  • Harris, Leslie. "Instructional Leadership Perceptions and Practices of Elementary School Leaders." 2014.Harris, Leslie. Instructional Leadership Perceptions and Practices of Elementary School Leaders. 2014.A dissertation is a whole work, so MLA italicizes its title, like a book's. Quotation marks are for a part of a larger work, like an article or a chapter.
  • Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of VirginiaU of Virginia, doctoral dissertationMLA doesn't split dissertations into published and unpublished. The only difference is whether a database or repository follows.
  • ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, https://www.proquest.com/docview/2311052333.ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, www.proquest.com/docview/2311052333.MLA leaves the https:// off a URL. A DOI is the exception: it keeps https://doi.org/.

Quick checklist

  • Author inverted, full first name as printed
  • Title in italics and title case, even if unpublished
  • Year, then the university and the description: U of Virginia, doctoral dissertation
  • Database or repository in italics, then the DOI or URL
  • A copy from the university ends after the description
  • In the text: name and page, no comma

Questions students ask

Is a dissertation in ProQuest published or unpublished in MLA?

It doesn't matter in MLA. MLA cites published and unpublished dissertations the same way. If you read it in ProQuest, add the database as a container at the end. If you didn't, end after the university and the description.

Do I include the ProQuest publication number?

No. MLA's dissertation examples don't use it. Name the database in italics and give the dissertation's link, and your reader can find it.

Is the dissertation title italicized or in quotation marks?

Italicized. A dissertation is a whole work, so MLA sets its title in italics and title case, like a book.

What if the dissertation was later published as a journal article or a book?

Cite the version you actually read. If you used the journal article or the book, cite it as an article or a book. If you used the dissertation, cite the dissertation.

Rules checked against the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapter 5 (the core elements, containers, and supplemental elements, including 5.113 on dissertations) and appendix 1 (abbreviations), and the MLA Style Center's post on citing dissertations. Example sources verified against each dissertation's ProQuest record, UAB Digital Commons, and UVA's Libra record and DataCite record for its DOI.

PERRLA builds the Works Cited entry for you, with the title, the university, and the database each in the right place.

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