Harvard Referencing — Theses & Dissertations

Harvard Citation Generator for Theses and Dissertations

Reference master's theses and doctoral dissertations in Harvard style. Handles published (ProQuest, repository) and unpublished versions with correct access dates.

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How to cite a thesis or dissertation in Harvard

Search for the thesis or dissertation

Paste a DOI, URL, ISBN, title, or author name to find the exact source record.

Check the Harvard formatting fields

Verify author, year, title, container, and publication details before copying the final citation.

Copy the formatted result

Get the complete Harvard citation plus the matching in-text citation or footnote format.

Harvard Format for Theses and Dissertations

Published (repository):

Author, A.A. (Year) 'Title of the thesis'. Level thesis. University Name. Available at: URL (Accessed: date)

Published (ProQuest):

Author, A.A. (Year) 'Title of the thesis'. PhD thesis. University Name. Available at: ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (Accessed: date)

Unpublished:

Author, A.A. (Year) 'Title of the work'. Level thesis. University Name.

Harvard Thesis Reference Examples

Published doctoral dissertation (repository)

Lastname, F.I. (2023) 'Title of the doctoral dissertation'. PhD thesis. University Name. Available at: https://repository.university.edu/example-id (Accessed: 15 March 2024).

Paste the repository URL to auto-fill metadata

Published dissertation (ProQuest)

Lastname, F.I. (2022) 'Title of the dissertation'. PhD thesis. University Name. Available at: ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (Accessed: 10 February 2024).

ProQuest is the "publisher" for the citation

Master's thesis (published)

Lastname, F.I. (2024) 'Title of the master's thesis'. Master's thesis. University Name. Available at: https://repository.university.edu/example-id (Accessed: 5 April 2024).

Use "Master's thesis" or specific MA/MSc label

Unpublished dissertation

Lastname, F.I. (2021) 'Title of the unpublished dissertation'. PhD thesis. University Name.

No URL, no access date

Examples formatted in Harvard style

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you reference a thesis in Harvard style?

Harvard template: Author, A.A. (Year) 'Title of the thesis'. Level thesis. Institution. Available at: URL (Accessed: date). Example: Lastname, F.I. (2023) 'Title of the doctoral dissertation'. PhD thesis. University of Example. Available at: https://repository.example.edu/example (Accessed: 15 March 2024).

What's the difference between published and unpublished theses in Harvard?

Published (deposited in a public repository, ProQuest, or institutional archive): include the "Available at: URL" and access date. Unpublished (only the institution archives a copy): omit URL and access date — the reference ends with the institution name.

How do I cite a ProQuest dissertation in Harvard?

Template: Author, A.A. (Year) 'Title of the dissertation'. PhD thesis. University Name. Available at: ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (Accessed: date). Some guides also request the ProQuest Publication Number — add it in parentheses after the title if your department requires.

Should the title be italicized in Harvard?

Harvard referencing is less standardized than APA — there are several variants (Cite Them Right, OSCOLA-Harvard, Leeds Harvard). Most use single quotation marks around the thesis title and italicize the institution or leave it plain. CiteMe follows the Cite Them Right convention (single quotes on title, plain institution).

What level labels does Harvard use?

"PhD thesis", "DPhil thesis", "MA thesis", "MSc thesis", "MPhil thesis", "Master's thesis" (generic), "Bachelor's thesis" or "Undergraduate dissertation". Use the specific label your department or institution uses.

How do I format the in-text citation for a thesis?

Harvard uses standard author-date format: (Lastname, Year) parenthetical, or narrative "Lastname (Year) argued...". No special rule for theses — the reference-list entry is where the thesis type is flagged.

Do I need an access date for Harvard thesis references?

Yes, when the thesis is retrieved from an online repository or database. Harvard referencing style requires "(Accessed: day month year)" for online sources. For print-only or unpublished theses, the access date is omitted.