how to cite an unpublished thesis?

Question

How to cite an unpublished thesis (I have not passed my PhD exam yet; so my thesis has not been published yet)?

In BibTex, I tried:

@phdthesis{r2014,
    author = {... ...},
    title = {...},
    school = {...},
    year = {2014}
        %note = {unpublished thesis}
}

however, the last entry is just a "note" and "unpublished" does not show up in the citation output.

On the other hand, if I use @unpublished rather than @phdthesis, the output does not show anything about this work being a phd thesis. any ideas?

Answer 1

I would say this depends on your bibliographic style and personal taste.

Using biblatex and the default style, you can get (code below):

On the other hand, if I use @unpublished rather than @phdthesis, the output does not show anything about this work being a phd thesis. any ideas?

There is something else : the school is not printed, so you have to tweak to add it (as a note, or something else).

Personally, I would definitely choose the @phdthesis for

• This is what this document is,
• It will be easier to update your bib file, as you will just have to comment the unpublished.
• It reflects the fact that this document is "scholar".

---

---

Code :

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[backend=bibtex]{biblatex}
\RequirePackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{bib.bib}
@phdthesis{mephd2014,
author={Myself, Roberto},
title={A great memoir},
school={UCXDX},
year={2014},
note={unpublished thesis}
}
@phdthesis{mepdh2014bis,
author={Myself, Roberto},
title={A great memoir},
school={UCXDX},
year={2014},
addendum={unpublished thesis}
}
@unpublished{meunpub2014,
author={Myself, Roberto},
title={A great memoir},
school={UCXDX},
year={2014},
note={unpublished thesis}
}
@unpublished{meunpub2014bis,
author={Myself, Roberto},
title={A great memoir},
school={UCXDX},
year={2014},
addendum={unpublished thesis}
}
\end{filecontents*}
\addbibresource{bib.bib}
\begin{document}
\noindent
\verb|@phdthesis| with note: \cite{mephd2014}\\
\verb|@phdthesis| with addendum: \cite{mepdh2014bis}\\
\verb|@unpublished| with note: \cite{meunpub2014}\\
\verb|@unpublished| with addendum: \cite{meunpub2014bis}
\printbibliography
\end{document}