cite a master thesis bibtex

Guide to BibTeX Type MasterThesis

BibTeX is a reference management tool that is commonly used in LaTeX documents. The “mastersthesis” BibTeX type is used for master’s theses. In this guide, we will explain the required and optional fields for the “mastersthesis” BibTeX type.

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Required Fields

The “mastersthesis” BibTeX type requires the following fields:

• author : The author of the thesis.
• title : The title of the thesis.
• school : The name of the institution that awarded the degree.
• year : The year the degree was awarded.

Optional Fields

In addition to the required fields, the “mastersthesis” BibTeX type also has a number of optional fields that can be used to provide additional information. These fields include:

• type : The type of the thesis, such as “Master’s thesis”.
• address : The location of the institution.
• month : The month the thesis was submitted.
• note : Any additional information about the thesis.

Here is an example of how to use the “mastersthesis” BibTeX type:

In this example, the BibTeX entry defines a master’s thesis authored by Jane Doe titled “A Study of Example”. The degree was awarded in 2022 by the University of Example, and the thesis was submitted in June in Example City, CA. The type of the thesis is specified as “Master’s thesis”, and a note is included that provides a URL for the thesis.

The 14 BibTeX entry types

Possibly the most difficult aspect of using BibTeX to manage bibliographies is deciding what entry type to use for a reference source. We list all the 14 BibTeX entry types including their description on when to use.

An article from a journal, magazine, newspaper, or periodical.

A book where the publisher is clearly identifiable.

A printed work that is bound, but does not have a clearly identifiable publisher or supporting institution.

An article that has been included in conference proceedings. See inproceedings for details.

A section, such as a chapter, or a page range within a book.

• incollection

A titled section of a book. Such as a short story within the larger collection of short stories that make up the book.

• inproceedings

A paper that has been published in conference proceedings. The usage of conference and inproceedings is the same. The conference entry was included for Scribe compatibility.

A technical manual for a machine software such as would come with a purchase to explain operation to the new owner.

• mastersthesis

A thesis written for the Master’s level degree.

Used if none of the other entry types quite match the source. Frequently used to cite web pages, but can be anything from lecture slides to personal notes.

A thesis written for the PhD level degree.

• proceedings

A conference proceeding.

An institutionally published report such as a report from a school, a government organization, an organization, or a company. This entry type is also frequently used for white papers and working papers.

• unpublished

A document that has not been officially published such as a paper draft or manuscript in preparation.

Thesis item type

• adamsmith March 11, 2019 The type of thesis. "PhD Thesis" "Doctoral Dissertation" "MA Thesis" etc.
• psycoperl March 11, 2019 Thanks! That is what I thought but wanted to confirm.
• leahperl August 20, 2022 the Thesis type gets printed out as "Ph.D. Dissertation" in my bibliography, but I want to cite an undergraduate thesis. Which Type should I use?
• adamsmith August 20, 2022 Which citation style? This may be hardcoded in the style.
• leahperl August 22, 2022 Sorry my last post was vague. This is when exporting to a .bib file. More specifically, here are the reproduction steps: 1. In the Zotero UI, select "Thesis" in the dropdown menu for my item type. 2. Export it to the .bib file. 3a. Expected: it shows as "@thesis" in the .bib file. 3b. Actual: it shows as "@phdthesis" in the .bib file. 4. Construct a bibliography from that .bib file in latex using "\bibliographystyle{ACM-Reference-Format}" (the reference format required by my venue), and the citation says "Ph.D. Dissertation".
• bwiernik August 22, 2022 If you are writing with LaTeX, you should install the BetterBibTeX plugin and using its Better BibTeX or BetterBibLaTeX format. It has more sophisticated export of the myriad types of .bib theses
• emilianoeheyns August 22, 2022 Is an undergraduate thesis different from a bachelor thesis?
• bwiernik August 22, 2022 No those are the same. Sometimes they have additional qualifiers like “Honors thesis”
• emilianoeheyns August 22, 2022 But honors could be Ba or Ma, right? I've added undergrad as an alias for a bach thesis.
• leahperl August 25, 2022 edited August 25, 2022 @bwiernik , thanks for the suggestion. To clarify, I already have BetterBibTeX installed. My earlier posts describe the behavior of Zotero with BetterBibTeX. It sounds like you are hinting at some feature of BetterBibTeX that would enable me to differentiate between different kinds of theses? If so, could you please give me more detailed instructions on how to configure my export settings so I can create an item that will be exported to .bib with the type "@thesis"? Thanks!
• warwickmm August 25, 2022 This seems related: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/comment/398735/#Comment_398735
• emilianoeheyns August 25, 2022 @warwickmm is right. Set the Item Type to "Thesis" and then enter the thesis type in the Type field.

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BibTeX Reference Formatting

B ib T E X references are formatted in the following style:

@type { unique_identifier ,    field1 = "value",    field2 = "value",    field3 = "value",     ... }

Field values can either be enclosed in quotes, as above, or in curly braces (e.g.  field1 = {value} )

The  @type  field identifies the type of resource. Common types include:

• @conference (or @proceedings )
• @inbook (book chapter/section)
• @mastersthesis
• @misc (outside the normal categories, used for websites)

Various fields are available to use. Standard ones include:

• author (i.e. city)
• address  

BibTeX Basics

B ib T E X is the bibliographic side of L A T E X.  Technically speaking, B ib T E X is a specific program which  processes bibliographic data and interfaces between . tex  and .bib files.  However, it is used as a catch-all term for a number of L A T E X  bibliographic tools with  similar functionality. Collectively, these tools get lumped into the term “B ib T E X.”  In essence “using B ib T E X” has come to mean managing references in a .bib file, rather than doing them by hand.

Every B ib T E X citation needs a unique identifier. This is the first item after the opening curly brace, as shown in the example to the left. A best practice is to use a standard system for assigning identifiers, such as the author's last name and year (e.g. sackson1969 ).

Though they all work similarly, each bibliographic tool in  L A T E X has its own syntax. The UPenn dissertation template  uses the  natbib  package, in which the standard citation command is \citep{ identifier } . As an example, suppose you want to cite the following reference:

@book{  engel1961,    author = "Leonard Engel",    title = "Medicine Makers of Kalamazoo",    publisher = "McGraw-Hill",    address = "New York",    year = "1961" }

In your .tex file, use the command \citep{ engel1961 } . By default, the citation will be display as [Engel, 1961] . If you are using the UPenn dissertation template, the citations are pre-formatted, so it will instead display as (Engel, 1961) .

In order to use natbib , you must first add the proper commands to your .tex file. ( NOTE: If you are using the UPenn dissertation template, these commands are already included, so you can skip this step. ) There are three standard commands. The first two go in the preamble:

\usepackage{ natbib } \bibliographystyle{ plainnat }

And the last one goes just before the \end{ document }  command:

\bibliography{ filename }

Note that the filename does not include the .bib  extension.

There are various ways to customize your references and citations. Ample documentation can be found on Overleaf and elsewhere.

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Helpful Links

• Overleaf (natbib) Overleaf's information about bibliography management with natbib.
• Linking Overleaf to Mendeley/Zotero Overleaf's information about linking to citation management programs.
• UPenn Dissertation Template The official UPenn dissertation template.
• LaTeX LibGuide Penn Libraries' LibGuide about using LaTeX.
• Penn Libraries LaTeX Instruction A series of instructional videos demonstrating how to use LaTeX.
• << Previous: Style Manuals and Citation Guides
• Last Updated: Oct 30, 2024 1:21 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.upenn.edu/citationmgmt