Bibliography Styles Handbook     

MLA Format: Citing unpublished dissertations

If you wish to cite a dissertation that has not yet been published, use the following format:

Johnstone, Sue. "Feminism and Pornography: Policing the Boundary between Art and Popular Culture." Diss. Rutgers U. 1993.

Begin with the author's name, followed by the dissertation title in quotation marks, the abbreviation "Diss.," the name of the institution, and the year.