Are Dissertation Titles Italicized?
MLA describes a dissertation as a finished stand-alone work for citation purposes and gives separate guidance that institutions usually control the formatting of the thesis or dissertation manuscript. The page therefore separates title styling in prose/citations from the document’s own required formatting.
In MLA-style citation/prose, treat a dissertation as a stand-alone work and italicize its title; for the dissertation manuscript itself, follow your school’s formatting rules.
Key details
Important caveats
Scope Boundary
Do not use this as a rule for the dissertation’s title page or manuscript layout; universities commonly impose their own formatting requirements.
Further guidance
Example
MLA-style invented citation context: *Community Cooling in Dense Cities* is italicized as the dissertation title; the author’s own title page follows institutional requirements.
Practical Application
When mentioning or citing a dissertation as a stand-alone work in MLA-style contexts, italicize its title. When formatting the dissertation manuscript itself, follow the degree-granting institution’s rules instead.
Reader Check
Separate citation/prose styling from manuscript formatting. A university template can control the title page even though the dissertation title is italicized when cited elsewhere.
Recommendation
Italicize a dissertation title when treating the dissertation as a stand-alone work in MLA-style prose or citation contexts.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- How do I cite a dissertation in MLA style? (opens in a new tab)Modern Language Association · MLA guidance treating a dissertation as a finished stand-alone work and showing its title as the title of source in a works-cited entry.
- How do I format a thesis or dissertation in MLA style? (opens in a new tab)Modern Language Association · MLA guidance explaining that schools usually set their own thesis/dissertation manuscript-formatting requirements.