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Chicago Style

How to Cite a Dissertation or Thesis in Chicago Style

Chicago cites a dissertation or thesis as an unpublished book-length work: the title stays in quotation marks, not italics, and the degree type, university, and year stand in for publisher data. This guide follows the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition (2024), §14.113, plus the live Notes-Bibliography and Author-Date Quick Guide samples opened on 15 September 2026. It is the Chicago dissertation page, not the APA dissertation or Chicago book tutorial.

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How to Cite a Dissertation in Chicago: Quick Answer

Put the title in quotation marks and headline-style capitalization. Name the kind of thesis, the degree-granting university, and the year. In a note those three facts sit in parentheses; in the bibliography they do not. If you read the file online, add one locator: a URL, DOI, or handle — or, for a commercial database, the database name and its identification number. The live CMOS 18 Quick Guide now puts that ProQuest number on the first note, not only on the bibliography line.

CMOS 18 templates

Notes-Bibliography first note:

First Name Last Name, "Title of Dissertation" (PhD diss., University Name, Year), Page.

Notes-Bibliography first note from ProQuest:

First Name Last Name, "Title of Dissertation" (PhD diss., University Name, Year), Page, ProQuest (ID).

Notes-Bibliography shortened note:

Last Name, "Shortened Title," Page.

Notes-Bibliography bibliography:

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Dissertation." PhD diss., University Name, Year.

Author-Date in-text:

(Last Name Year, Page)

Author-Date reference:

Last Name, First Name. Year. "Title of Dissertation." PhD diss., University Name.

Official CMOS 18 §14.113 wording

Titles of theses and dissertations appear in quotation marks, not italics.
The kind of thesis, the academic institution, and the date follow the title. Like the publication data of a book, these are enclosed in parentheses in a note but not in a bibliography.
If the document was consulted online, include a URL or, for documents retrieved from a commercial database, the name of the database and, in parentheses, any identification number supplied or recommended by the database (14.113).
For dissertations consulted via ProQuest; include the identification number in parenthesis.

The first sentence is the University of Lethbridge CMOS 18 thesis page reprint of §14.113, last updated 13 August 2026. The next two sentences are the University of Queensland CMOS 18 theses page reprint of the same paragraph. The fourth sentence is the live Author-Date Quick Guide line, punctuation included. The atomic how-to-cite page shows one formatted dissertation; this guide is the workflow around it: which system, which copy you read, and when a later book replaces the thesis.

Which Chicago System to Use

Chicago is one manual with two documentation systems. History, literature, art history, and most other humanities programs expect Notes-Bibliography: a numbered footnote or endnote on first mention, a shortened note after that, and a bibliography. Sociology, education, political science, and some social-science journals expect Author-Date: a parenthetical citation in the sentence and a reference list. Turabian, the student handbook built on Chicago, uses the same dissertation pattern in both systems. If your department has not named a system, match the syllabus or the journal you are writing for — do not mix footnotes with author-date citations in one paper.

Typical Chicago system by field when you are citing a dissertation
FieldUsual systemWhy it fits dissertations
History, literature, art historyNotes-BibliographyNotes can carry archival detail, page ranges, and a short comment without breaking the sentence.
Religious studies, philosophy, musicologyNotes-BibliographyHumanities readers expect a bibliography of unpublished as well as published work.
Sociology, political science, educationAuthor-DateThe year sits next to the name, which matters when you are comparing recent graduate research.
Student papers using TurabianThe system your instructor namesTurabian 9th still follows CMOS 17, but the dissertation punctuation — quotation marks, degree label, university, year — is the same pattern CMOS 18 kept.

Official CMOS Sample: Yuna Blajer de la Garza

The live Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide's "Thesis or dissertation" sample, pointed at CMOS 14.113, is no longer Cynthia Lillian Rutz's 2013 King Lear dissertation. On 15 September 2026 both Quick Guides use Yuna Blajer de la Garza's 2019 University of Chicago political-science dissertation. The Notes-Bibliography first note now includes ProQuest (13865986). That publication number is on the ProQuest record. UChicago Knowledge also hosts the file as an open dissertation with DOI 10.6082/uchicago.1853. Cite the copy you opened: ProQuest number if you used ProQuest; the DOI if you used the repository.

CMOS Quick Guide dissertation sample (Notes-Bibliography)

First note:

1. Yuna Blajer de la Garza, "A House Is Not a Home: Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Democracies" (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2019), 66–67, ProQuest (13865986).

Shortened note:

2. Blajer de la Garza, "House," 93.

Bibliography:

Blajer de la Garza, Yuna. "A House Is Not a Home: Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Democracies." PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2019. ProQuest (13865986).

CMOS Quick Guide dissertation sample (Author-Date)

In-text:

(Blajer de la Garza 2019, 66–67)

Reference list:

Blajer de la Garza, Yuna. 2019. "A House Is Not a Home: Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Democracies." PhD diss., University of Chicago. ProQuest (13865986).

Keep the compound surname in every shortened form: Blajer de la Garza, not Blajer and not de la Garza alone. The official shortened title is the first distinctive word, "House," not a four-word chop of the subtitle. If you used the repository PDF instead of ProQuest, swap the locator and keep everything else:

Same dissertation, UChicago Knowledge copy

Note, repository copy:

3. Yuna Blajer de la Garza, "A House Is Not a Home: Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Democracies" (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2019), 66–67, https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.1853.

Bibliography, repository copy:

Blajer de la Garza, Yuna. "A House Is Not a Home: Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Democracies." PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2019. https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.1853.

Notes-Bibliography Format

A first note gives the author in normal order, the title in quotation marks, then the degree label, university, and year in parentheses. A page number follows the closing parenthesis when you are quoting or pointing to a passage. If you used a commercial database, the database name and identification number come after the page. Later notes drop to the author's last name — or the full compound surname — a shortened title, and the page. CMOS 18 prefers that shortened form over ibid.: the abbreviation can hide which source you mean, especially when notes are read one at a time online.

Master's thesis (print or unlabeled file)

Write master's thesis, not "MA thesis" or "M.A. dissertation," unless the awarding university uses a different official label that you need to preserve. CMOS keeps the word thesis for master's work and the abbreviation diss. for most U.S. doctorates. The University of Lethbridge's CMOS 18 teaching example is Lindsey Bingley's 2006 history thesis, which exists as a filed M.A. in the university's OPUS repository.

ULethbridge CMOS 18 print example

Note:

1. Lindsey Bingley, "From Overalls to Aprons? The Paid and Unpaid Labour of Southern Alberta Women, 1939-1959" (master's thesis, University of Lethbridge, 2006), 58.

Bibliography:

Bingley, Lindsey. "From Overalls to Aprons? The Paid and Unpaid Labour of Southern Alberta Women, 1939-1959." Master's thesis, University of Lethbridge, 2006.

If you read the repository PDF rather than a print copy, add the handle. One locator is enough; do not stack a handle and a DOI for the same file.

Note, repository copy:

2. Lindsey Bingley, "From Overalls to Aprons? The Paid and Unpaid Labour of Southern Alberta Women, 1939-1959" (master's thesis, University of Lethbridge, 2006), 58, https://hdl.handle.net/10133/339.

Bibliography, repository copy:

Bingley, Lindsey. "From Overalls to Aprons? The Paid and Unpaid Labour of Southern Alberta Women, 1939-1959." Master's thesis, University of Lethbridge, 2006. https://hdl.handle.net/10133/339.

ProQuest or another commercial database

Most North American dissertations that you open through a library proxy come from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. CMOS does not want a "Retrieved from" line. It wants the database name and the identification number the record displays — often labeled publication number, document ID, or AAT. Put that number in parentheses after the database name. Do not invent a number if the record does not give one; the database name alone is enough. Do not paste a proxied https://www.proquest.com/... session URL; those expire.

ULethbridge CMOS 18 ProQuest example

Note:

3. Libra Rose Hilde, "Worth a Dozen Men: Women, Nursing, and Medical Care during the American Civil War" (PhD diss., Harvard University, 2003), 295, ProQuest (3091579).

Shortened note:

4. Hilde, "Worth a Dozen Men," 295.

Bibliography:

Hilde, Libra Rose. "Worth a Dozen Men: Women, Nursing, and Medical Care during the American Civil War." PhD diss., Harvard University, 2003. ProQuest (3091579).

Copy the identifier as printed. Older CMOS 16 and 17 classroom reprints still use Mihwa Choi's Chicago dissertation with the AAT number on that record. The live Author-Date Quick Guide is explicit that a ProQuest consultation includes the identification number in parentheses. Either number form is correct if that is what the record prints.

Choi ProQuest AAT teaching example (older CMOS reprints)

Note:

5. Mihwa Choi, "Contesting Imaginaires in Death Rituals during the Northern Song Dynasty" (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2008), 22, ProQuest (AAT 3300426).

Shortened note:

6. Choi, "Contesting Imaginaires," 22.

Bibliography:

Choi, Mihwa. "Contesting Imaginaires in Death Rituals during the Northern Song Dynasty." PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2008. ProQuest (AAT 3300426).

Institutional repository, handle, or DOI

Open-access copies in a university repository are cited with a stable URL. Prefer a handle, DOI, or PURL over the HTML page you landed on. Ivan Edward Sutherland's 1963 MIT dissertation is a clean case: the author, title, degree, university, and year are unambiguous, and MIT Libraries still serve the file at hdl.handle.net/1721.1/14979. The catalog title is Sketchpad, a man-machine graphical communication system; CMOS headline-style capitalization keeps the comma from the title page.

Note:

7. Ivan Edward Sutherland, "Sketchpad, a Man-Machine Graphical Communication System" (PhD diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1963), 27, https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/14979.

Shortened note:

8. Sutherland, "Sketchpad," 41.

Bibliography:

Sutherland, Ivan Edward. "Sketchpad, a Man-Machine Graphical Communication System." PhD diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1963. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/14979.

ULethbridge's 13 August 2026 CMOS 18 page now also reprints Hiroshi Ishida's 1966 Auckland dissertation as its institutional-repository example. The thesis is real and still lives at hdl.handle.net/2292/2489. Their note puts a period inside the title quotes; CMOS does not. Use the handle, and keep the period after the closing parenthesis of the degree data, not inside the title.

ULethbridge repository example, CMOS punctuation

Note:

9. Hiroshi Ishida, "A Geography of Contemporary Maori Agriculture" (PhD diss., University of Auckland, 1966), 110–16, https://hdl.handle.net/2292/2489.

Bibliography:

Ishida, Hiroshi. "A Geography of Contemporary Maori Agriculture." PhD diss., University of Auckland, 1966. https://hdl.handle.net/2292/2489.

If the repository also mints a DOI, CMOS is comfortable with the https://doi.org/ form. Give one locator, not both a DOI and a handle. Cite the file you used: a ProQuest PDF and a repository PDF are the same dissertation, but the locator should match the copy in your notes.

Author-Date Format

Author-Date moves the year to sit beside the author's name and drops footnotes. The parenthetical citation is (Last Name Year, Page). The reference-list entry keeps quotation marks around the title and still names the degree and university — it simply places the year after the author instead of at the end. There is no comma after the name and no p. before the page.

Author-Date templates

In-text citation:

(Last Name Year, Page)

Reference list:

Last Name, First Name. Year. "Title of Dissertation." PhD diss., University Name.

Reference from a database:

Last Name, First Name. Year. "Title of Dissertation." PhD diss., University Name. Database Name (ID).

Worked Author-Date examples

Official Quick Guide in-text:

(Blajer de la Garza 2019, 66–67)

Official Quick Guide reference:

Blajer de la Garza, Yuna. 2019. "A House Is Not a Home: Citizenship and Belonging in Contemporary Democracies." PhD diss., University of Chicago. ProQuest (13865986).

In-text:

(Hilde 2003, 295)

Reference list:

Hilde, Libra Rose. 2003. "Worth a Dozen Men: Women, Nursing, and Medical Care during the American Civil War." PhD diss., Harvard University. ProQuest (3091579).

In-text:

(Choi 2008, 22)

Reference list:

Choi, Mihwa. 2008. "Contesting Imaginaires in Death Rituals during the Northern Song Dynasty." PhD diss., University of Chicago. ProQuest (AAT 3300426).

A narrative citation reads naturally as "Blajer de la Garza (2019, 66–67) argues…" — the year stays with the name, and the page still follows a comma. Do not add a comma between the name and the year inside the parentheses: (Blajer de la Garza, 2019) is APA, not Chicago.

Chicago Compared with APA and MLA

Students who already know APA dissertation citations often italicize a Chicago title by habit. That is the single most common error on this source type. Chicago is also stricter about naming the degree in running text (PhD diss., master's thesis) and looser about calling a database copy "published." APA 7 treats a ProQuest or repository file as published and an unbound print copy as unpublished; Chicago uses one dissertation pattern for both and lets the locator show how you retrieved it.

How the three major student styles treat the same dissertation
ElementChicago 18APA 7MLA 9
TitleQuotation marks, headline-style capitalizationItalics, sentence caseQuotation marks, headline-style capitalization
Degree and universityPhD diss., University Name, Year[Doctoral dissertation, University Name]Dissertation. University Name, Year.
Database copyProQuest (ID number) on the note and the bibliographyDatabase name and URL or DOI; publication number only if printedDatabase name in the container slot
In-text formNote, or (Author Year, Page)(Author, Year, p. Page)(Author Page)

Chicago's Author-Date system looks superficially like APA, but the punctuation is different: no comma after the author, no p. before the page, and a title that stays in roman type with quotation marks. If you are converting a paper from APA to Chicago, fix those three things before you touch anything else.

Cite the Published Book When One Exists

Graduate research is often revised, peer-reviewed, and issued as a monograph. Cite that book if you used the book. Hilde's dissertation later appeared as Worth a Dozen Men: Women and Nursing in the Civil War South from the University of Virginia Press in March 2012. The book citation follows ordinary Chicago book rules. CMOS 18 no longer asks for the city of publication. Use the name form printed on the book — here Libra R. Hilde — even if the dissertation title page used a fuller middle name.

Note for the later book:

10. Libra R. Hilde, Worth a Dozen Men: Women and Nursing in the Civil War South (University of Virginia Press, 2012).

Bibliography for the later book:

Hilde, Libra R. Worth a Dozen Men: Women and Nursing in the Civil War South. University of Virginia Press, 2012.

Blajer de la Garza's dissertation is the opposite case. Her site lists A House Is Not a Home as under contract with Oxford University Press. That is not a published book. Do not invent a year, a city, or an ISBN for a contract. Until a title page exists, cite the 2019 dissertation — ProQuest or the UChicago Knowledge DOI, matching the file you read.

Use the dissertation citation only when you actually read the dissertation — because you need a chapter that never entered the book, because the book is not yet out, or because you are writing about the dissertation as a document. Do not cite a dissertation "repr." as a book unless you have a genuine reprint edition in hand. And do not cite a later book as if it were still an unpublished thesis: italics and a publisher replace quotation marks and PhD diss.

Title Treatment and Degree Labels

  • Use headline-style capitalization inside the quotation marks: capitalize principal words, not every article or short preposition.
  • Keep the title in roman type. Italics are for the published book, not for the thesis.
  • Write PhD diss. for a U.S. Doctor of Philosophy. CMOS uses that abbreviation in notes and bibliographies; writing "doctoral dissertation" in full is not the house style.
  • Write master's thesis for master's work. Keep the apostrophe.
  • Use the local official label when it is the name of the degree: DPhil thesis at Oxford, EdD diss. or DMA diss. for those doctorates, doctorat or tesis doctoral when you are citing the document under the term the university printed on the title page.
  • Give the university's official name, not a nickname: "University of California, Berkeley," not "UC Berkeley"; "Massachusetts Institute of Technology," not "MIT," unless the official name is the abbreviation.
  • Keep a compound surname intact in notes, bibliographies, and author-date parentheses: Blajer de la Garza, not a shortened first element.
  • Do not add the country after the university unless two institutions would otherwise be indistinguishable.

The Older Rutz Print-Style Sample

Campus LibGuides still reprint Cynthia Lillian Rutz, "King Lear and Its Folktale Analogues," the CMOS 17 and early CMOS 18 Quick Guide sample. The dissertation is real: University of Chicago, Committee on Social Thought, 2013, ProQuest publication number 3568423. The older classroom copy is a print-style entry with no database locator. If your instructor's handout still shows Rutz, you may use that form for a print or unlabeled file. If you opened the ProQuest record, add ProQuest (3568423) the way the live Quick Guide now treats Blajer de la Garza.

Older Quick Guide print-style sample still on campus guides

First note:

1. Cynthia Lillian Rutz, "King Lear and Its Folktale Analogues" (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2013), 99–100.

Shortened note:

2. Rutz, "King Lear," 158.

Bibliography:

Rutz, Cynthia Lillian. "King Lear and Its Folktale Analogues." PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2013.

Turabian 9 and CMOS 18

Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers, 9th edition (2018), is still the live student handbook. It follows CMOS 17, not CMOS 18. A tenth Turabian is announced for late 2026 — booksellers currently list 24 November 2026, and some catalog records say 8 October 2026; both are preorder dates, not a book you can cite as published. The dissertation pattern itself — quotation marks, degree label, university, year, optional database or URL — did not change between CMOS 17 §14.215 and CMOS 18 §14.113. What did change around this source type is the later book: CMOS 18 dropped the city of publication, and the official Quick Guide now puts the ProQuest number on the first note. Until your instructor names Turabian 10, write the thesis as CMOS 18 shows it and read Turabian vs Chicago for paper-format differences.

Common Mistakes

Check these before you submit

  • Italicized thesis title — Chicago uses quotation marks until the work is a published book.
  • APA leftovers in Author-Date: (Blajer de la Garza, 2019, p. 66) should be (Blajer de la Garza 2019, 66–67).
  • Shortening a compound surname to Blajer or de la Garza. The official shortened note keeps Blajer de la Garza.
  • Ibid. after a dissertation note — CMOS 18 wants a shortened note instead.
  • A ProQuest permalink or proxy URL instead of ProQuest (13865986) or ProQuest (3091579).
  • Citing Blajer de la Garza's OUP book before it has a title page. Under contract is not a publication fact.
  • "PhD thesis" for a U.S. doctorate, or "master's dissertation" for a master's degree, unless that is the institution's own term.
  • City of publication on a later book — CMOS 18 dropped it.
  • Citing WorldCat, Google Scholar, or a library catalog as the source. Those are finding aids. Cite ProQuest, the repository, or the print copy you used.
  • Listing the advisor or committee in the citation. Chicago names the author of the dissertation, not the readers. Blajer de la Garza's UChicago Knowledge record lists Harcourt and Slater as advisors; they do not enter the citation.

Where to Find the Details You Need

A complete Chicago entry needs six facts: author, title, degree type, university, year, and a locator if you read an online file. The title page of the PDF is the authority for the first five. The database record is the authority for the identification number.

WorldCat and Google Scholar are useful for seeing whether a dissertation was later published as a book. They are not citation targets. If the only record you can find is a catalog abstract, say so in your prose and keep looking for a readable copy before you lean on an abstract-only citation.

Special Cases

No stable page numbers

If the PDF you read has no fixed pagination — a scanned file with only sheet images, or a repository download that reflows — omit the locator rather than inventing a PDF-reader page. CMOS treats a missing page the way it treats an unpaginated ebook: cite a chapter or section title in the note if one exists, or give the entry without a page. Do not use the progress percentage from a viewer.

Undergraduate honors thesis

CMOS 18 §14.113 is written for theses and dissertations as a class. An undergraduate honors thesis uses the same quotation-mark pattern; only the degree label changes. The next block is a labelled template, not a real thesis — fill it from the title page you actually have.

Template, not a real source

Note:

First Name Last Name, "Title of Thesis" (undergraduate honors thesis, University Name, Year), Page.

Bibliography:

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Thesis." Undergraduate honors thesis, University Name, Year.

International degree names

Keep the designation printed on the title page when it is the name of the degree. An Oxford DPhil is a DPhil thesis, not a "PhD diss." that you translated for the reader's convenience. A French thèse de doctorat can stay in French or be rendered as PhD diss. if your editor wants English-only documentation — pick one convention and use it for every non-U.S. degree in the paper. You do not need to add the country in parentheses after the university.

Embargoed or unfinished work

Chicago has no special diss. in progress template, and an embargoed file that readers cannot obtain is a poor source. If the author has already published an article from the project, cite the article. If you were given a draft privately, treat it as an unpublished manuscript or a personal communication and follow your instructor on whether it belongs in the bibliography at all. Do not invent an "expected 2027" dissertation citation for a project that has not been filed, and do not cite a book that is only under contract.

A specific chapter or page range

Cite the dissertation as a whole, then put the chapter pages in the note or the parenthetical citation. Chicago does not build a separate "chapter in an unpublished dissertation" entry the way it does for a chapter in an edited book. "Sutherland, "Sketchpad," 41–48" is enough in a later note. If the chapter title matters to your argument, name it in your prose.

A title in another language

Give the title as it appears on the title page, still in quotation marks. CMOS allows an English translation in square brackets afterward if your readers will need it. Do not italicize the original, and do not replace the original title with your translation.

Generate a Chicago dissertation citation

Use the Notes-Bibliography or Author-Date generator for a full Chicago entry, or the thesis tool when you already have the author, title, degree, university, and year.

Frequently asked questions

How do you cite a dissertation in Chicago style?
In Notes-Bibliography: First Name Last Name, "Title of Dissertation" (PhD diss., University Name, Year), Page. The bibliography reverses the author name and removes the parentheses: Last Name, First Name. "Title of Dissertation." PhD diss., University Name, Year. Add a URL, DOI, handle, or ProQuest (ID) when you read an online copy. The live CMOS 18 Quick Guide sample is Blajer de la Garza 2019 with ProQuest (13865986) on the first note. See CMOS 18 §14.113.
Are dissertation titles italicized in Chicago style?
No. CMOS 18 puts thesis and dissertation titles in quotation marks. Italics are for the published book if the dissertation was later revised and issued by a press. Mixing the two — italic title plus PhD diss. — is the usual tell that the entry was converted from APA and not finished.
How do I cite a ProQuest dissertation in Chicago?
Cite it as a dissertation, then add the database and the record's identification number: ProQuest (13865986), ProQuest (3091579), or ProQuest (AAT 3300426). Do not paste a proxied ProQuest URL. The Author-Date Quick Guide says to include the identification number in parenthesis; CMOS 18 §14.113 asks for the database name and the number the database itself recommends. The live Notes-Bibliography sample now puts that number on the first note as well as the bibliography.
What is the Chicago author-date format for a thesis?
In the text, use (Last Name Year, Page) with no comma after the name. The official sample is (Blajer de la Garza 2019, 66–67). In the reference list: Last Name, First Name. Year. "Title of Dissertation." PhD diss., University Name. Database or URL if you used one. The title treatment is the same as in Notes-Bibliography.
Should I cite the dissertation or the later book?
Cite the version you read. If you used the published book, cite it as a book and drop PhD diss. If you used the dissertation because a chapter never made it into the book, or because no book exists, cite the dissertation. Hilde's 2003 dissertation and 2012 UVA Press book are the same research in two citable forms. Blajer de la Garza's OUP book is still under contract, so the citable source is the 2019 dissertation.
Does Turabian cite dissertations the same way as Chicago?
The pattern is the same: quotation marks, degree label, university, year, optional database or URL. Turabian 9th still follows CMOS 17 for the rest of the paper. CMOS 18 did not rewrite the dissertation formula. A tenth Turabian is announced for late 2026; use the ninth until your instructor names the tenth.
Do I need a URL or DOI in a Chicago dissertation citation?
Only if you consulted an online copy. A print copy you used in the library does not need a URL. For a repository file, prefer a DOI or handle — Blajer de la Garza's UChicago Knowledge DOI is 10.6082/uchicago.1853. For ProQuest, prefer the database name and identification number over a URL.
What does "PhD diss." mean in a Chicago citation?
It is CMOS's abbreviation for a Doctor of Philosophy dissertation. Pair it with the university and year: (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2019). Use master's thesis for master's work, and use DPhil, EdD, or DMA when that is the degree on the title page.
Can I use ibid. when I cite the same dissertation twice?
CMOS 18 discourages ibid. Use a shortened note instead: Blajer de la Garza, "House," 93. Keep a compound surname intact. The shortened title is usually the first distinctive word, not a mechanical four-word chop.
How is a Chicago dissertation citation different from APA?
APA italicizes the title, uses sentence case, and puts the degree in square brackets. Chicago uses quotation marks, headline-style capitalization, and PhD diss. in the publication slot. APA 7 treats a database copy as published and does not always require a ProQuest number; Chicago wants that number when it is how readers will retrieve the file. See the APA dissertation guide if you are switching styles.