How To Cite Unpublished Dissertation In The Chicago Style: A Detailed Guide


In higher learning institutions, there are different styles of writing which a student is expected to pursue among them is the Chicago style. When it is time to craft your final paper, this is an aspect which should always be taken into serious consideration because you don’t want to write and only to be told you failed to follow the requisite rules that define a given academic writing style. In dissertation writing, it is therefore paramount to stick to the rules of writing which your college recommends while ensuring that every bits and bytes of the same are given preference. Further, there is no day you will do a piece of academic paper and call it done without including references or the section which shows your cited works. The question however is; what about situations whereby you have no option but to cite unpolished works? To someone who is going to cite such works for the first time, it can be a big hurdle and the possibility of doing it wrongly cannot be overruled. Therefore, a little guidance on how to do it just rightly is important and this is what this article discusses hereafter.

Use of quotations

Well, when your academic writing pursues the Chicago style, the use of quotations makes is always phenomenal when referencing unpublished thesis. Make no mistake of using italics. The name of the unpublished work is what should appear in quotations. This is then followed by the name of the institution of higher learning and then the date. These are always enclosed by a parenthesis in note form but not in bibliographic referencing.

What about reference list?

In crafting an academic paper where giving attribution to unpublished works is part of writing, in text citation becomes more pronounced than having a bibliographic reference at the end of your writing. In this regard, you are supposed to have your sources including the authors names fully included in the text rather than under bibliographic information.

The order of citation

When citing unpolished sources in your writing, it means you are referencing to majorly primary sources of information which can otherwise be referred to as raw data. The name of the unpublished work will always come first and in which case should appear as italicized and followed by the name of higher learning institution such as university or college. The author’s name will always come last and the option of having all names indicated is never a mistake.


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