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Q. I am citing a dissertation. Where do I find the publication no.?

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Answer Last Updated: Jun 28, 2023 Views: 12611

When citing dissertations, the publication number is usually preferred, since it is more widely recognized..

• In ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, click the Abstract/Details page
• Look for the Dissertation/thesis  number.
• Use Publication No.  or Order No. in front of the publication/order number when citing the dissertation in APA.

Example citation:

Johnson, E. K. (2003). Word segmentation during infancy: The role of subphonemic cues to word boundaries (Order No.

3080693). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (288178193).

•   Scroll down the article information page to Dissertation/thesis number  and include Publication No.  before the number.

For more information see the APA Style website resource:  Published Dissertation or Thesis References .

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Author last name, first initial. (Year).  Title of dissertation/thesis  (Publication No.) [Doctoral dissertation/Master's thesis, University]. Database. URL

• Author:  List the last name, followed by the first initial (and second initial). See  Authors  for more information.
• Year:  List the year between parentheses, followed by a period.
• Title of dissertation/thesis:  In italics. Capitalize the first word of the title, subtitle, and proper nouns.
• Publication number: Can be found in Dissertations and Theses database, listed in the item record as “Dissertation/thesis number.”
• Doctoral dissertation/Master's thesis:  List whether it is a dissertation or a thesis.
• University:  List the university associated with the dissertation/thesis.
• Database:  List database the dissertation/thesis was found in, if found in a database.
• URL:  List URL if found on the free Web rather than in a database.

See specific examples below.

Dissertations:

Pecore, J. T. (2004). Sounding the spirit of Cambodia: The living tradition of Khmer music and dance-drama in a Washington, DC community  (Publication No. 3114720) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Maryland]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. 

Master's Theses:

Hollander, M. M. (2017). Resitance to authority: Methodological innovations and new lessons from the Milgram experiment   (Publication No. 10289373) [Master's thesis, University of Wisconsin - Madison]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

APA calls for the citation to include a unique identifying number for the dissertation, labeling it “Publication No.” That number can be found in Dissertations and Theses database, listed in the item record as “Dissertation/thesis number.”

Karamanos, X. (2020). The influence of professional development models on student mathematics performance in New Jersey public elementary schools [Doctoral dissertation, Seton Hall University]. Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs). https://scholarship.shu.edu/dissertations/2732

Bordo, V. C. (2011). Making a case for the use of foreign language in the educational activities of nonprofit arts organizations [Master's thesis, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses & Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1311135640

Caprette, C. L. (2005). Conquering the cold shudder: The origin and evolution of snake eyes  [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University].

Angelova, A. N. (2004). Data pruning  [Master's thesis, California Institute of Technology].

See  Publication Manual , 10.6.

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Home / Guides / Citation Guides / APA Format / How to Cite a Thesis or Dissertation in APA

How to Cite a Thesis or Dissertation in APA

In this citation guide, you will learn how to reference and cite an undergraduate thesis, master’s thesis, or doctoral dissertation. This guide will also review the differences between a thesis or dissertation that is published and one that has remained unpublished. The guidelines below come from the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2020a), pages 333 and 334. Please note that the association is not affiliated with this guide.

Alternatively, you can visit EasyBib.com for helpful citation tools to cite your thesis or dissertation .

Guide Overview

Citing an unpublished thesis or dissertation, citing a published dissertation or thesis from a database, citing a thesis or dissertation published online but not from a database, citing a thesis or dissertation: reference overview, what you need.

Since unpublished theses can usually only be sourced in print form from a university library, the correct citation structure includes the university name where the publisher element usually goes.

Author’s last name, F. M. (Year published). Title in sentence case [Unpublished degree type thesis or dissertation]. Name of institution.

Ames, J. H., & Doughty, L. H. (1911). The proposed plans for the Iowa State College athletic field including the design of a reinforced concrete grandstand and wall [Unpublished bachelor’s thesis]. Iowa State University.

In-text citation example:

• Parenthetical :  (Ames & Doughty, 1911)
• Narrative :  Ames & Doughty (1911)

If a thesis or dissertation has been published and is found on a database, then follow the structure below. It’s similar to the format for an unpublished dissertation/thesis, but with a few differences:

• The institution is presented in brackets after the title
• The archive or database name is included

Author’s last name, F. M. (Year published). Title in sentence case (Publication or Document No.) [Degree type thesis or dissertation, Name of institution]. Database name.

Examples 1:

Knight, K. A. (2011). Media epidemics: Viral structures in literature and new media (Accession No. 2013420395) [Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara]. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Trotman, J.B. (2018). New insights into the biochemistry and cell biology of RNA recapping (Document No. osu1523896565730483) [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses & Dissertations Center.

In the example given above, the dissertation is presented with a Document Number (Document No.). Sometimes called a database number or publication number, this is the identifier that is used by the database’s indexing system. If the database you are using provides you with such a number, then include it directly after the work’s title in parentheses.

If you are interested in learning more about how to handle works that were accessed via academic research databases, see Section 9.3 of the Publication Manual.

In-text citation examples :

• Parenthetical citation : (Trotman, 2018)
• Narrative citation : Trotman (2018)

Author’s last name, F. M. (Year Published). Title in sentence case [Degree type thesis or dissertation, Name of institution]. Name of archive or collection. URL

Kim, O. (2019). Soviet tableau: cinema and history under late socialism [Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh]. Institutional Repository at the University of Pittsburgh. https://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/37669/7/Olga%20Kim%20Final%20ETD.pdf

Stiles, T. W. (2001). Doing science: Teachers’ authentic experiences at the Lone Star Dinosaur Field Institute [Master’s thesis, Texas A&M University]. OAKTrust. https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2001-THESIS-S745

It is important to note that not every thesis or dissertation published online will be associated with a specific archive or collection. If the work is published on a private website, provide only the URL as the source element.

In-text citation examples:

• Parenthetical citation : (Kim, 2019)
• Narrative citation : Kim (2019)
• Parenthetical citation : (Stiles, 2001)
• Narrative citation : Stiles (2001)

We hope that the information provided here will serve as an effective guide for your research. If you’re looking for even more citation info, visit EasyBib.com for a comprehensive collection of educational materials covering multiple source types.

If you’re citing a variety of different sources, consider taking the EasyBib citation generator for a spin. It can help you cite easily and offers citation forms for several different kinds of sources.

To start things off, let’s take a look at the different types of literature that are classified under Chapter 10.6 of the Publication Manual :

• Undergraduate thesis
• Master’s thesis
• Doctoral dissertation

You will need to know which type you are citing. You’ll also need to know if it is published or unpublished .

When you decide to cite a dissertation or thesis, you’ll need to look for the following information to use in your citation:

• Author’s last name, and first and middle initials
• Year published
• Title of thesis or dissertation
• If it is unpublished
• Publication or document number (if applicable; for published work)
• Degree type (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral)
• Thesis or dissertation
• Name of institution awarding degree
• DOI (https://doi.org/xxxxx) or URL (if applicable)

Since theses and dissertations are directly linked to educational degrees, it is necessary to list the name of the associated institution; i.e., the college, university, or school that is awarding the associated degree.

To get an idea of the proper form, take a look at the examples below. There are three outlined scenarios:

• Unpublished thesis or dissertation
• Published thesis or dissertation from a database
• Thesis or dissertation published online but not from a database

American Psychological Association. (2020a). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000

American Psychological Association. (2020b). Style-Grammar-Guidelines. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/basic-principles/parenthetical-versus-narrative

Published August 10, 2012. Updated March 24, 2020.

Written and edited by Michele Kirschenbaum and Elise Barbeau. Michele Kirschenbaum is a school library media specialist and the in-house librarian at EasyBib.com. Elise Barbeau is the Citation Specialist at Chegg. She has worked in digital marketing, libraries, and publishing.

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To cite a published thesis in APA style, it is important that you know some basic information such as the author, publication year, title of the thesis, institute name, archive name, and URL (uniform resource locator). The templates for an in-text citation and reference list entry of a thesis, along with examples, are given below:

In-text citation template and example:

Use the author surname and the publication year in the in-text citation.

Author Surname (Publication Year)

Cartmel (2007)

Parenthetical:

(Author Surname, Publication Year)

(Cartmel, 2007)

Reference list entry template and example:

The title of the thesis is set in sentence case and italicized. Enclose the thesis and the institute awarding the degree inside brackets following the publication year. Then add the name of the database followed by the URL.

Author Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Title of the thesis [Master’s thesis, Institute Name]. Name of the Database. URL

Cartmel, J. (2007). Outside school hours care and schools [Master’s thesis, Queensland University of Technology]. EPrints. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/17810/1/Jennifer_Cartmel_Thesis.pdf

To cite an unpublished dissertation in APA style, it is important that you know some basic information such as the author, year, title of the dissertation, and institute name. The templates for in-text citation and reference list entry of an online thesis, along with examples, are given below:

Author Surname (Year)

Averill (2009)

(Author Surname, Year)

(Averill, 2009)

The title of the dissertation is set in sentence case and italicized. Enclose “Unpublished doctoral dissertation” inside brackets following the year. Then add the name of the institution awarding the degree.

Author Surname, F. M. (Publication Year). Title of the dissertation [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Name of the Institute.

Averill, R. (2009). Teacher–student relationships in diverse New Zealand year 10 mathematics classrooms: Teacher care [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Victoria University of Wellington.

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• How to cite a dissertation in APA Style

How to Cite a Dissertation in APA Style | Format & Examples

Published on December 16, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on December 27, 2023.

The format for citing someone else’s dissertation or thesis in APA Style depends on whether the thesis is available from a database, published somewhere else (e.g. on a university archive or personal website), or unpublished (only available in print form directly from the author or university).

To cite a dissertation or thesis from a database, use the following format. In the square brackets, specify the type of dissertation or thesis and the university. As with other database sources, no URL or DOI is included.

Table of contents

Citing a dissertation published elsewhere, citing an unpublished dissertation in apa style.

To cite a dissertation or thesis published in a university archive (often in PDF form ) or on a personal website, the format differs in that no publication number is included, and you do list a URL.

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To cite an unpublished dissertation (one you got directly from the author or university in print form), add “Unpublished” to the bracketed description, and list the university at the end of the reference, outside the square brackets.

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Caulfield, J. (2023, December 27). How to Cite a Dissertation in APA Style | Format & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-examples/dissertation/

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Citation guides

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How to cite a dissertation in APA

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To cite a dissertation in a reference entry in APA style 6th edition include the following elements:

• Author(s) of the dissertation: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J. D.) of up to seven authors with the last name preceded by an ampersand (&). For eight or more authors include the first six names followed by an ellipsis (…) and add the last author's name.
• Year of publication: Give the year in brackets followed by a full stop.
• Title of the dissertation: Only the first letter of the first word and proper nouns are capitalized.
• URL: Give the full URL where the document can be retrieved from.

Here is the basic format for a reference list entry of a dissertation in APA style 6th edition:

Author(s) of the dissertation . ( Year of publication ). Title of the dissertation (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from URL

If the dissertation is available from a database, archive or any online platform use the following template:

• Author(s) of the dissertation: Give the last name and initials (e. g. Watson, J. D.) of up to 20 authors with the last name preceded by an ampersand (&). For 21 or more authors include the first 19 names followed by an ellipsis (…) and add the last author's name.
• Publication number: Give the identification number of the dissertation, if available.
• Name of the degree awarding institution: Give the name of the institution.
• Name of platform: Give the name of the database, archive or any platform that holds the dissertation.
• URL: If the dissertation was found on a database, omit this element.

Here is the basic format for a reference list entry of a dissertation in APA style 7th edition:

Author(s) of the dissertation . ( Year of publication ). Title of the dissertation ( Publication number ) [Doctoral dissertation, Name of the degree awarding institution ]. Name of platform . URL

If the dissertation has not been published or is available from a database use the following template:

• Location: Give the location of the institution. If outside the United States also include the country name.

Author(s) of the dissertation . ( Year of publication ). Title of the dissertation (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Name of the degree awarding institution , Location .

If the dissertation is not published, use the following template:

Author(s) of the dissertation . ( Year of publication ). Title of the dissertation [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Name of the degree awarding institution .

APA reference list examples

Take a look at our reference list examples that demonstrate the APA style guidelines for a dissertation citation in action:

A dissertation found in an online platform

Guo, J . ( 2018 ). Trust-based service management of internet of things systems and its applications ( Doctoral dissertation ). Retrieved from https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/82854

Guo, J . ( 2018 ). Trust-based service management of internet of things systems and its applications [ Doctoral dissertation , Virginia Tech ]. ETDs: Virginia Tech Electronic Theses and Dissertations . https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/82854

An unpublished doctoral dissertation

Neel, B. L . ( 2017 ). Three flute chamber works by Alberto Ginastera: Intertwining elements of art and folk music ( Unpublished doctoral dissertation ). University of Nebraska-Lincoln , NE .

Neel, B. L . ( 2017 ). Three flute chamber works by Alberto Ginastera: Intertwining elements of art and folk music [ Unpublished doctoral dissertation ]. University of Nebraska-Lincoln .

This citation style guide is based on the official Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association ( 6 th edition).

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APA 6th Edition Citation Style

Dissertation / thesis (database).

• APA 6th Edition Guide
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Document Example:

Proper Bibliographic Reference Format:

• Bibliographic references are double-spaced and indented half an inch after the first line.
• Use italics and "sentence-style" capitalization for dissertation / thesis titles.
• Identify the work as a doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis in parentheses after the title.
• If the paper was retrieved through a library database, give the accession or order number at the end of the reference. This can be located within the first pages of the thesis text.

Rashed, D.H. (2008). A case study of international ESL learners’ perceptions of technology use in English language learning (Master’s thesis). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 1456443)

In-Text Citations:

Citations are placed in the context of discussion using the author’s last name and date of publication.

(Rashed, 2008)

Alternatively, you can integrate the citation into the sentence by means of narrative.

Rashed (2008) examines ESL students’ perceptions of technology use in the classroom.

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Published thesis

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of thesis [Type of thesis, Name of institution awarding degree]. Name of archive or site. https://xxxxxx

Stored in a database

Author, A. A. (Year). Title of thesis (Database Publication number, if assigned) [Type of thesis, Name of institution awarding degree]. Database Name.

Taffe, S. (2017).  The Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders: The politics of inter-racial coalition in Australia, 1958–1973  [Doctoral thesis, Monash University]. Bridges.  https://doi.org/10.4225/03/59d4482289ea4

Bozeman, A. Jr. (2007).  Age of onset as predictor of cognitive performance in children with seizure disorders  (Publication No. 3259752) [Doctoral dissertation, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

Unpublished thesis

Author, A. A. (Year).  Title of thesis or dissertation  [Unpublished Doctoral dissertation or Master's thesis]. Name of Institution.

Imber, A. (2003).  Applicant reactions to graduate recruitment and selection  [Unpublished Doctoral dissertation]. Monash University. 

For further guidance, see the APA Style website- Published Dissertation or Thesis , Unpublished Dissertation or Theses .

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Humanities dissertations, foreign dissertations, religion dissertations, dissertations of universities, yale divinity library.

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• Dissertations & Theses @ Walden University The database contains full text of dissertations and theses written by Walden students.
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WorldCat Dissertations and Theses (WorldCatDissertations)

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Why select this database?

This database provides fast and convenient access to the dissertations and theses available in OCLC member libraries. Many theses are available electronically, at no charge, directly from the publishing institution.

Subjects included

All dissertations, theses, and published material based on theses cataloged by OCLC members, on all subjects.

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Index labels and search examples.

Use a colon after an index label (for example, au:) when you are not certain of your search terms. Use an equal sign after an index label (au=) for an exact match search. You can search with an index label from any search screen. The information you type overrides any default menu selections. The following examples show sample rather than actual searches.

Index use and structure

FirstSearch Indexes and USE and STRUCTURE attributes used to access them:

Author Searches

Subject heading searches*, title searches, classification numbers and specific searches, record display information, marc fields.

The MARC records returned from this database will be the OCLC-MARC records as they were input into the system.

This database can have any valid MARC tag in it. Besides the valid MARC tags, the following FirstSearch Locally Defined fields also exist:

Restrictors

The following restrictors should be combined with search strings in WorldCat (using the Boolean operators AND or NOT) in cases where the search results would otherwise be too large and unmanageable.

Refine your results by adding these labels

¹ Use these limits only in combination with another search statement. ² Valid values for the language limiter include both the MARC three-letter language code and the english spelling of a language. For example, Spanish can be searched using ln=spa or ln=spanish . ³ For a list of library symbols, visit the Directory of OCLC members .   4 A number of specific searches are available with the material type index can make an excellent method for limiting records. For a complete list of material type indexes see Material types .   5 For a complete list of codes for the Number of Libraries index, see Number of library holdings .

Search results in the WorldCat database can be sorted by Author (1003) and Title (4).

General punctuation rules

Omit accent marks and diacritics such as ¨ (umlaut) and ¸ (cedilla). Special characters should be replaced by a Romanized form of the character, such as u for hooked u and ss for ß (eszett).

Phrase indexes have no stopwords.

Some indexes will have exceptions to the list of stopwords. These differences are:

• Author, Corporate and Conference Name, and Personal Names have no stopwords.
• Place of Publication, Subjects, Geographic Coverage will not have the following stopwords: an, as, at, be, by, if, in, is, it, on, or, so, to.
• Access Method has the stopwords above as well as http and https as stopwords.  

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Keyword search.

The Keyword index for WorldCat uses attribute number 1016. The Keyword search finds information in the author, title, subject, notes, ISBN, year, year 2 and a few fields specific to the keyword search (034/a,b,d,e,f,g, 052/a,b, 255/a,b,c,d,e).

The Year data is indexed exactly as those indexes index the 008 data (see below). The ISBN is indexed as the data is indexed, without hyphens. However, any keyword search term that meets the characteristics of an ISBN and is entered with hyphens will be automatically concatenated by the search processor.

A geographic field found only in the keyword indexes is 052/a,b. This is a field useful to map catalogers. The 052/a field is indexed alone. Any records containing 052/b also indexes as 052/a concatenated together with 052/b without spaces, as a single word. So, a record with 052 #a 1234 #b P4 #b C2 is searchable as 1234, 1234p4, and 1234c2.

Subject Indexes

The Subject searches have many options. The types of data have been broken down to allow specific searches, such as Geographic Coverage (58) and Genre/form (5655), Named Person (1009), Named Corporation (5610) and Named Conference (5611). The Descriptor search (5650) includes only topical information.

Library Holdings Group

The library holdings group (use attribute 5848) limits a search by the most widely held items. Try using a rangeable search, such as 08, which would include all items held by 100 libraries or more. Different types of material will have different high-end levels for searching. If you searching for highly technical material, 50 libraries holding the item would be a large number. However, serial records and very popular works can be found in the rare "most held" group—31.  

Access Method/Internet Resources

The most direct search of internet resources is the Access Method search (use 5856) which searches the URLs in some WorldCat records. The characters between the punctuation in the URL are the "words" that are searched for. For example, http://www.oclc.org is searched by the "words" www, OCLC, and org. The most distinct term in the string is the most useful on which to search. All the stopwords apply to this index, plus two additional stopwords, "http" and "https".  

Known number indexes

ISBNs (use 7) remove and concatenate all punctuation including hyphens. However, a search can be entered with hyphens and get the appropriate ISBN records. Consider searching the ISBN using the Standard Number index (use 1007) instead of the ISBN only (use 7) index. The index with use 7 includes only data found in the 022 field, while the ISBNs for the electronic item are sometimes included in the 776/z field which is indexed with Standard Number (use 1007). To have all ISBNs included in the index use the Standard Number index. For both of these indexes, ISBNs can be successfully searched with or without hyphens.

LCCN or Library of Congress Control Numbers (use 9) have the numbers indexed without the hyphen. A user can search with the hyphen added or with the zero fill characters that is also used to store the number. So for example, sn92-1234 is indexed as sn921234 and 921234 and can be searched as 92-1234 or 92001234 or sn92-1234 or sn92001234.

The standard number index (use 1007) has ISBNs, ISSNs, LCCNs, and many other standard numbers. For all of these, all punctuation is removed and concatenated. For the LCCNs, only the stored number with the zeros is retained. Further, if there is an alphabetic prefix with three letters it is attached to the number. If there is an alphabetic prefix of one or two letters, it is not attached.  

Update Index

The update index (1012) gives the date on the MARC record as the date last updated in the OCLC WorldCat Cataloging System in the format YYYYMMDD. Since FirstSearch is a day or two behind the cataloging system, please take that into account. So, if a user searched on August 31, 2000 and wanted to retrieve only new or changed records a month later (October 1, 2000) the user would AND the previous search with the update index using "200009*". However, while this would retrieve all of September, to be complete the search "2000083*" would also need to be included.

Copyright information

Copyright © 1978-2018 OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.

OCLC staff occasionally hears from librarians who want to use Z39.50 access to the WorldCat database on the OCLC FirstSearch service for cataloging purposes. While use of Z39.50 for cataloging is available, only a cataloging authorization number can be used to catalog with Z39.50 access within the services agreements. OCLC does provide an extensive range of cataloging and metadata services for libraries, including Web and Z39.50 interfaces for cataloging.

Zotero Item Types and Fields

This page provides general descriptions of Zotero item types and fields. It can be helpful when entering item data into Zotero manually. The page also provides guidance on ways to store information for unusual item types.

Item types in Zotero should be regarded as flexible, broad categories. Item types are generally determined based on how items should be cited. See descriptions of Zotero’s item types below. If you are citing an unusual item type that does not perfectly fit one of the supported categories, choose an item type that is reasonably close with an adequate selection of fields (e.g., Book , Report , or Manuscript can be made to fit most unusual item types well).

You can store more specific information about the type of item (e.g., a novel versus a biography book) in the Type, Format, or Extra fields or using tags .

For additional legal and historical item types, see Legal Citations .

Item Fields

Fields included for various item types in Zotero are described below. Fields are organized into categories based on the kinds of items they are most typically associated with. Some fields (e.g., Volume, Series) may also be present for other types of items. Specific meanings of fields for particular item types are noted where necessary.

Fields marked with an asterisk (*) cannot be used in citations

• General Fields

The following fields exist across multiple item types and have the same purpose for all (or nearly all) types.

• Fields for Books and Periodicals
• Fields Related to When and How Items Were Accessed
• Fields for Reports and Theses
• Fields for Presentations and Performances
• Fields for Recordings and Broadcasts
• Fields for Images, Artwork, and Maps
• Fields for Primary Sources and Personal Communications
• Fields for Websites
• Fields for Software
• Additional Fields
• Fields for Legal Items

For additional and more flexible support for citing legal materials, see Legal Citations .

Legislation and hearings

Legal cases, item creators.

Creator types marked with an asterisk (*) cannot be used in citations.

• Role Labels for Media Creators

For citations to films, recordings, and broadcasts, Zotero currently has limited to support for labeling producers, scriptwriters, and some other Creator roles.

To label directors, leave the main Zotero field blank (or enter the names as Contributor) and enter the director names using Director in Extra. See Citing Fields from Extra below.

All Creator roles (Director, Producer, Scriptwriter, etc.) can also be labelled by entering the names using the default author role for the item ( Performer for Audio Recording, Podcaster for Podcast, and Director for Film, Radio Broadcast, TV Broadcast, and Video Recording) and adding the appropriate labels in parentheses after the authors' first names or last names as appropriate for your citation style—e.g., MacNaughton || Ian (Producer) for APA style. Note that the labels will be rendered verbatim in citations; enter abbreviated terms (e.g., “Prod.”) here as needed.

If the style uses initials for author first/given names, rather than full names (e.g., APA style), if the label contains multiple words (e.g., “Executive Producer” or “Writer & Director”), Zotero will abbreviate the words of the label after the first. To avoid this, type a “Word Joiner” character (Unicode U+2060, printed here between quotes: “⁠”) on either side of each space in the label.

See also Media Creator Roles

Additional Item Types and Fields

• Citeable Item Types not Included in Zotero

These item types are not yet formally supported in Zotero. For citation purposes, you can convert an item of a different type to one of these types by entering them in the Extra field in the following format:

For example:

• Citeable Fields not Included in Zotero

These item fields are not yet formally supported in Zotero. For citation purposes, you can convert an item of a different type to one of these types by entering them in the Extra field in this format:

• Citing Fields from Extra

If a Zotero item type is missing fields that are needed for citations, it is possible to add these fields to the Extra field.

Enter each variable on a separate line at the top of the Extra field in the following format:

With the exception of Item Type (CSL Type ) and Date variables (CSL Issued , etc.), variables entered in Extra will not override corresponding values entered in proper Zotero fields.

Dates entered in Extra will override the date entered in Zotero's Date field. Dates must be entered in ISO format (year-month-day). Date ranges can be entered in this format:

For Creator variables, separate two-field names entered in Extra with two vertical bar characters ('||'), like this:

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