Is Your Dissertation Bibliography Formatted Correctly? |The Two Dissertation Moms

The dissertation bibliography or reference list is one of the most technically demanding formatting elements in a doctoral dissertation. Here is exactly how to format it correctly in Turabian, Chicago, APA, and MLA style — and how to avoid the mistakes that get doctoral drafts returned before defense.

After years of research and writing, after hundreds of hours of reading and citing, the dissertation bibliography sits at the very end of your document — and it is one of the last things your committee and graduate school reviewer check before approving your defense. That does not mean it is the least important. A dissertation bibliography with formatting errors, missing entries, inconsistent citations, or incorrect style manual compliance is a revision request waiting to happen.

The dissertation bibliography — or reference list, or works cited page, depending on your style manual — is a comprehensive, precisely formatted record of every source you cited in your dissertation. It must be complete, consistent, and correctly formatted according to your required style manual and your institution's graduate school guidelines.

This comprehensive guide covers exactly how to format a dissertation bibliography in Turabian, Chicago, APA, and MLA style, the key differences between a bibliography and a reference list, the most common bibliography mistakes doctoral students make, and how to check your bibliography for errors before submission.

Bibliography versus Reference List versus Works Cited — What Is the Difference?

The terminology for the final list of sources in a dissertation varies by style manual. Understanding the difference matters because each type of list has different formatting requirements and different rules about what to include.

Bibliography — Turabian and Chicago Notes and Bibliography style:

A bibliography in Turabian and Chicago style lists all sources cited in the footnotes of the dissertation. Some bibliography styles also include sources consulted but not directly cited — called a selected bibliography or a bibliography of works consulted. Check your institutional guidelines to confirm whether your bibliography should include only cited sources or all consulted sources.

Reference list — APA style:

An APA reference list includes only sources that were directly cited in the body of the dissertation through in-text parenthetical citations. Sources that were read but not cited do not appear in the reference list. Every in-text citation must have a corresponding reference list entry and every reference list entry must have a corresponding in-text citation.

Works cited — MLA style:

An MLA works cited list includes only sources that were directly cited in the body of the dissertation through in-text parenthetical citations. Like the APA reference list it is not a comprehensive list of everything read — only what was cited.

The key practical difference:

The bibliography in Turabian and Chicago style may include sources you read and used in developing your argument even if you did not directly cite them. The reference list in APA and works cited in MLA include only directly cited sources.

General Formatting Rules That Apply to All Style Manuals

Before covering the style-specific rules here are the general formatting principles that apply across all four major style manuals:

Page heading:

The bibliography or reference list begins on a new page. The heading — Bibliography, References, or Works Cited — is centered at the top of the page. Most institutions require the heading in ALL CAPS or bold depending on their formatting guidelines. Check your institutional requirements.

Hanging indent:

All four major style manuals require a hanging indent for bibliography and reference list entries. A hanging indent means the first line of each entry is flush with the left margin and all continuation lines are indented half an inch. This is the opposite of paragraph indentation and is one of the most commonly misapplied formatting rules in dissertation bibliographies.

Alphabetical order:

Entries are listed alphabetically by the first element of the entry — typically the author's last name. When a source has no author the entry is alphabetized by the first significant word of the title.

Spacing:

The spacing requirements for bibliography entries vary by style manual. APA and MLA require double spacing throughout the reference list with no extra space between entries. Turabian and Chicago traditionally use single spacing within entries and a blank line between entries — though some institutions require double spacing throughout. Check your institutional guidelines.

How to Format a Dissertation Bibliography in Turabian and Chicago Style

Turabian and Chicago Notes and Bibliography style use a bibliography at the end of the dissertation. Here are the formatting rules and templates for the most common source types:

Page heading:

BIBLIOGRAPHY or Bibliography — centered, following your institutional capitalization requirements.

Spacing:

Single spaced within each entry, one blank line between entries — or double spaced throughout if your institution requires it.

Hanging indent:

Half-inch hanging indent for every entry.

Book:

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book: Subtitle. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Example: Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. New York: Routledge, 2000.

Edited book:

Last Name, First Name, ed. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Chapter in an edited book:

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Chapter." In Title of Book, edited by First Name Last Name, page range. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Journal article:

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Journal Name Volume, no. Issue (Year): page range.

Example: Crenshaw, Kimberlé. "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color." Stanford Law Review 43, no. 6 (1991): 1241–1299.

Website:

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Page." Website Name. Month Day, Year. URL.

Newspaper article:

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Newspaper Name, Month Day, Year.

Government document:

Agency Name. Title of Document. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year.

Dissertation or thesis:

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

Key Turabian and Chicago bibliography rules:

Author names are inverted — last name first — for the first author only. If there are multiple authors only the first author's name is inverted.
Book and journal titles are italicized
Article and chapter titles are in quotation marks and not italicized
Headline capitalization for all titles — all major words capitalized
The place of publication and publisher are included for books — unlike APA 7th edition
Page ranges for journal articles use an en dash not a hyphen

How to Format a Dissertation Reference List in APA Style

APA style uses a reference list — not a bibliography — at the end of the dissertation. Here are the formatting rules and templates:

Page heading:

References — centered and bold. Not in ALL CAPS unless your institutional guidelines require it.

Spacing:

Double spaced throughout with no extra blank lines between entries.

Hanging indent:

Half-inch hanging indent for every entry.

Author names:

All author names are inverted — last name first — and only initials are used for first and middle names. Up to 20 authors are listed. For sources with 21 or more authors list the first 19 authors, add an ellipsis, and list the final author.

Capitalization:

Book and article titles use sentence case — only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns are capitalized. Journal names use headline capitalization — all major words capitalized.

Book:

Last Name, First Initial. Middle Initial. (Year). Title of book in sentence case. Publisher. DOI or URL if applicable.

Example: Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge.

Journal article:

Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title of article in sentence case. Journal Name in Headline Capitalization, Volume(Issue), page range. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Example: Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299.

Edited book chapter:

Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title of chapter in sentence case. In First Initial. Last Name (Ed.), Title of book in sentence case (pp. page range). Publisher.

Website:

Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month Day). Title of page in sentence case. Website Name. URL

Dissertation:

Last Name, First Initial. (Year). Title of dissertation in sentence case [Doctoral dissertation, University Name]. Database Name. URL

Key APA reference list rules:

No place of publication for books — eliminated in the seventh edition
DOIs formatted as https://doi.org/xxxxx — not the older doi: format
Article and chapter titles not italicized and not in quotation marks
Journal names and book titles italicized
Volume number italicized along with the journal name — issue number in parentheses not italicized
Sentence case for book and article titles — headline case for journal names

How to Format a Dissertation Works Cited in MLA Style

MLA style uses a works cited list — not a bibliography or reference list — at the end of the dissertation.

Page heading:

Works Cited — centered, not bold, not in ALL CAPS unless your institution requires it.

Spacing:

Double spaced throughout with no extra blank lines between entries.

Hanging indent:

Half-inch hanging indent for every entry.

MLA uses a container system:

The ninth edition of MLA uses a flexible container system where sources are described in terms of the container or medium they appear in. A journal article is contained in a journal. A book chapter is contained in a book. A website article is contained in a website. Understanding the container system is essential for formatting MLA citations correctly.

Core elements in MLA works cited entries:

Author
Title of source
Title of container
Other contributors
Version
Number
Publisher
Publication date
Location

Not all elements apply to every source type — include only the elements that are relevant.

Book:

Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher, Year.

Example: Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Routledge, 2000.

Journal article:

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Journal Name, vol. number, no. issue, Year, pp. page range.

Website article:

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Article." Website Name, Day Month Year, URL.

Book chapter:

Last Name, First Name. "Title of Chapter." Title of Book, edited by First Name Last Name, Publisher, Year, pp. page range.

Key MLA works cited rules:

No comma between author name and page number in in-text citations — (Collins 45) not (Collins, 45)
No p. or pp. before page numbers in in-text citations
Headline capitalization for all titles
Book and journal titles italicized
Article and chapter titles in quotation marks
Publisher location not required in the ninth edition

How to Create a Hanging Indent in Microsoft Word

The hanging indent is the most commonly misformatted element of dissertation bibliographies. Here is how to apply it correctly in Microsoft Word:

Method 1 — Using Paragraph settings:

Select all the text in your bibliography or reference list
Go to Home tab
Click the small arrow in the Paragraph group to open Paragraph settings
Under Indentation find the Special dropdown
Select Hanging
Set the By value to 0.5" (half an inch)
Click OK

Method 2 — Using the ruler:

Select all the bibliography text
On the ruler drag the First Line Indent marker (the top triangle) to the zero position
Drag the Left Indent marker (the bottom triangle) to the 0.5 inch position
This creates a hanging indent — the first line is flush left and continuation lines are indented

Method 3 — Using a bibliography style in Word:

If you used a reference manager such as Zotero or Mendeley to generate your bibliography the hanging indent may be applied automatically. Check the formatting after inserting and adjust if needed.

The Most Common Dissertation Bibliography Mistakes

Mistake 1 — Wrong indentation type:

Applying a first-line indent instead of a hanging indent is the most common bibliography formatting error. A first-line indent indents the first line and leaves continuation lines flush left — the opposite of what a hanging indent does.

How to fix it: Select all bibliography text, open Paragraph settings, set Special to Hanging and By to 0.5 inches.

Mistake 2 — Missing entries:

A bibliography that is missing entries for sources cited in the text — or an APA reference list with in-text citations that have no corresponding reference list entry — is a citation completeness error.

How to fix it: After completing your dissertation do a systematic check. For Turabian and Chicago compare every footnote citation to the bibliography. For APA compare every in-text citation to the reference list. Every cited source must appear and every bibliography entry must be cited.

Mistake 3 — Incorrect capitalization:

Applying headline capitalization to APA book and article titles in the reference list — or applying sentence case to Turabian and Chicago bibliography entries — is one of the most common capitalization errors.

How to fix it: Know the capitalization rule for your style manual. Turabian, Chicago, and MLA use headline capitalization for all titles. APA uses sentence case for book and article titles and headline case for journal names.

Mistake 4 — Incorrect author name format:

In Turabian and Chicago style only the first author's name is inverted. In APA style all author names are inverted and only initials are used for first names. In MLA style only the first author's name is inverted and full first names are used.

How to fix it: Check the author name format for your style manual and apply it consistently throughout the bibliography.

Mistake 5 — Including publisher location in APA references:

APA 7th edition eliminated the publisher location requirement. Including city and state or city and country in book references is an outdated sixth edition practice that is now a formatting error.

How to fix it: Remove all publisher location information from APA book references. The entry ends with the publisher name followed by the DOI or URL if applicable.

Mistake 6 — Incorrect DOI format:

Using the old doi: prefix format instead of the current https://doi.org/ URL format is an APA 7th edition error.

How to fix it: Replace all doi: prefixes with https://doi.org/ throughout the reference list.

Mistake 7 — Entries not in alphabetical order:

A bibliography that is not in strict alphabetical order by first author last name — or that handles no-author entries incorrectly — is a formatting error.

How to fix it: After completing your bibliography sort all entries alphabetically. In Microsoft Word select all the bibliography text, go to Home tab, click Sort, and sort by paragraph ascending to alphabetize automatically.

Mistake 8 — Inconsistent formatting for the same source type:

Formatting one book citation one way and another book citation a different way within the same bibliography is a consistency error that reviewers catch immediately.

How to fix it: Create a style sheet before formatting your bibliography showing the exact format for every source type you use. Check every entry against the style sheet before submission.

Mistake 9 — Missing DOIs:

APA 7th edition requires DOIs for all journal articles where a DOI is available. Submitting an APA reference list with missing DOIs is a formatting error.

How to fix it: Check every journal article in your reference list for a DOI. Use the DOI lookup tool at doi.org if you do not have the DOI recorded. Add DOIs in the correct https://doi.org/ format.

Mistake 10 — Incorrect spacing:

Double spacing between entries when the style manual requires a blank line between single-spaced entries — or single spacing throughout an APA reference list that should be double spaced — is a spacing error.

How to fix it: Know the spacing requirement for your style manual and apply it consistently. Check your institutional guidelines — they may specify spacing differently from the style manual.

Dissertation Bibliography Checklist

Before submitting your dissertation use this bibliography checklist:

Confirmed the correct type of end list for the style manual — bibliography, reference list, or works cited
Page heading correctly formatted per institutional and style manual requirements
Begins on a new page
Hanging indent applied consistently throughout — half inch
All entries listed alphabetically by first author last name
Spacing correct per style manual and institutional requirements
Every cited source in the dissertation appears in the bibliography
Every bibliography entry corresponds to at least one citation in the dissertation
Author names formatted correctly for the style manual
Titles correctly italicized or in quotation marks throughout
Correct capitalization style applied — headline case for Turabian, Chicago, and MLA, sentence case for APA book and article titles
DOIs present and correctly formatted for all applicable APA entries
No publisher location in APA book entries — eliminated in 7th edition
Consistent formatting for each source type throughout

Getting Your Dissertation Bibliography Right

A correctly formatted dissertation bibliography is the final demonstration of your scholarly rigor and attention to detail. After years of research and hundreds of citations throughout your dissertation the bibliography is where every source comes together in a complete, precise, and consistently formatted record of your scholarly engagement.

At Two Dissertation Moms we provide comprehensive dissertation bibliography review and formatting as part of our professional dissertation editing service. We check every entry in your bibliography or reference list against your required style manual — Turabian, Chicago, APA, or MLA — and correct formatting errors, missing information, incorrect capitalization, wrong indentation, missing DOIs, and inconsistent entry formats throughout. We also check that your bibliography matches your in-text citations or footnotes completely.

We work with doctoral students in all disciplines at universities across the United States and internationally. Whether your dissertation uses Turabian footnotes and a bibliography, APA in-text citations and a reference list, or MLA parenthetical citations and a works cited list we have the expertise to make sure your end list is complete, consistent, and correctly formatted before your committee reviews it.

FAQ Section:

Q: What is the difference between a bibliography and a reference list in a dissertation?

A: A bibliography in Turabian and Chicago style lists all sources cited in the footnotes and may also include sources consulted but not directly cited. A reference list in APA style and a works cited list in MLA style include only sources that were directly cited in the body of the dissertation. Every in-text citation must have a corresponding reference list entry and every entry must correspond to at least one in-text citation.

Q: What is a hanging indent and how do I apply it to my dissertation bibliography?

A: A hanging indent means the first line of each bibliography entry is flush with the left margin and all continuation lines are indented half an inch. To apply it in Word select all bibliography text, open Paragraph settings, set Special to Hanging and By to 0.5 inches, and click OK.

Q: Should dissertation bibliography entries be single spaced or double spaced?

A: Spacing requirements vary by style manual and institution. APA and MLA reference lists are double spaced throughout with no extra lines between entries. Turabian and Chicago bibliographies are traditionally single spaced within entries with a blank line between entries. Always check your institutional guidelines as they may specify different spacing requirements.

Q: Do I need DOIs in my dissertation bibliography?

A: APA 7th edition requires DOIs for all journal articles and other sources where a DOI is available, formatted as https://doi.org/xxxxx. Turabian and Chicago style recommend including DOIs or URLs for online sources. MLA requires a URL or DOI for online sources. Always include DOI information where available and use the current URL format.

Q: What capitalization should I use for titles in my dissertation bibliography?

A: Turabian, Chicago, and MLA use headline capitalization for all titles — all major words capitalized. APA uses sentence case for book and article titles in the reference list — only the first word, the first word after a colon, and proper nouns are capitalized. APA uses headline capitalization for journal names. Applying the wrong capitalization style is one of the most common bibliography formatting errors.

Q: How do I check that my dissertation bibliography matches my citations throughout the document?

A: For Turabian and Chicago dissertations compare every footnote citation to the bibliography systematically — every footnoted source must appear in the bibliography. For APA dissertations compare every in-text parenthetical citation to the reference list — every cited source must have a reference list entry and every reference list entry must correspond to at least one in-text citation. A professional dissertation editor can perform this cross-check systematically across your entire document.

Is Your Dissertation Bibliography Formatted Correctly? Here Is How to Get It Right in Every Style Manual