How to put your thesis or dissertation on a CV
Put the thesis under its degree with the title, supervisor and status, such as defended, submitted or awaiting defence. An academic CV adds research detail; an industry resume turns the thesis into a project with methods and results.1
Written 13 October 2026. CitedCV. How we write our guides
Decide who will read the thesis line
The same thesis is written two different ways. The University of Colorado Boulder's career services describe the academic CV as a comprehensive record of scholarship and the industry resume as a document tailored to one job. On the resume, they suggest moving education lower when your experience is stronger and leaving the advisor and dissertation details off.
- Faculty post, postdoc, PhD place, fellowship or grant: the full academic entry below.
- Research job in industry, think tank or lab: a short education line plus a project entry that shows methods.
- Job unrelated to the topic: one line under the degree, or nothing beyond the degree name.
Keep a master version
Harvard's graduate career guide recommends an archival CV, for your eyes only, that lists everything you have done, and tailoring every application from it. Write the thesis entry once in full there, with committee names, dates and abstract, and cut it down per application.
Where the thesis sits on an academic CV
Texas Tech's career center template, written for academic and research CVs in any field, puts the thesis inside the Education section, one bullet under each degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy, major, university, city, dates, with "(awaiting defense)" if it applies.
- A bullet with the dissertation title and the names of the supervisor and committee members.
- A bullet with the comprehensive or preliminary exam fields.
- For a master's degree, the thesis title and supervisor.
The same template adds a Research Interests section of one or two paragraphs and says the dissertation abstract can be its starting point, and a Research Experience section that lists doctoral thesis work among research positions in reverse chronological order.
Wording the status before the degree is awarded
| Where you are | Words on the CV | Source of the wording |
|---|---|---|
| Writing, defence date set | PhD, Sociology, expected June 2027 (defence scheduled May 2027) | Harvard's cover letter model: "expected degree [or defense] in [Month, Year]" |
| Thesis submitted, waiting | PhD, Sociology, 2021 to present (awaiting defense) | Texas Tech template |
| Defended, degree not yet conferred | PhD, Sociology, defended May 2027, degree conferral expected July 2027 | Our wording: two facts, two dates |
| Awarded | PhD, Sociology, 2027 | The year on the diploma |
Citing the thesis in a reference list
APA Style separates published and unpublished theses. A thesis in a database or repository is cited with its publication number if there is one, the description "[Doctoral dissertation, University]" or "[Master's thesis, University]", then the database or archive and a URL that resolves. An unpublished one gets "[Unpublished doctoral dissertation]" or "[Unpublished master's thesis]" with the institution as the source. APA says the same format can be adapted for undergraduate theses, for example "Undergraduate honors thesis".
Four thesis entries, written out
All four belong to invented people. The structure is what to copy.
| Use | Entry | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Academic CV, PhD in progress | PhD, Environmental Engineering, University of Leeds, 2023 to present (awaiting defense) | Dissertation: "Microplastic transport in estuarine sediments" | Supervisor: Prof. A. Hale; committee: Dr B. Osei, Dr C. Varga | Status, title and committee in the order the Texas Tech template gives |
| Academic CV, master's | MSc Data Science, Middle East Technical University, 2022 | Thesis: "Forecasting hourly electricity demand with gradient boosting" | Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. D. Kaya | Title and supervisor only; the PhD entry carries the detail |
| Industry resume, same master's | Thesis project, Middle East Technical University (2021 to 2022) | Built a gradient-boosting model on 3 years of hourly grid data; cut mean absolute error 18% against the utility's baseline; wrote the pipeline in Python and SQL | Methods, data size and result instead of title and advisor |
| APA reference, published | Kaya, E. (2022). Forecasting hourly electricity demand with gradient boosting [Master's thesis, Middle East Technical University]. YÖK Ulusal Tez Merkezi. | APA's pattern: bracketed description, institution, then the archive |
Names, titles and numbers above are examples, not real theses. The 18% figure is only there to show the form a result takes; use the result your own thesis reports.
Turning a thesis into resume bullets
CU Boulder's guide makes the central point: most people reading an industry resume have not done academic research, so a position name alone tells them little. Explain what you did in terms of the job you want, which skills you used and what changed because of it. Binghamton's career tools add that a thesis can sit in the experience section when you have no professional work experience, written as bullets that answer who, what, why, how, how many and with what result.
Translate the research vocabulary
- Instead of "investigated", name the method: survey of 412 respondents, regression model, lab protocol, field interviews.
- Instead of the theory, name the output: a dataset, a model, a prototype, a report used by a partner.
- Give the scale: months, sample size, number of experiments, lines of code if relevant.
- Keep the title only if it contains words from the job posting.
Advisor and committee on a resume
Leave them off unless the advisor is known in that industry or the job is in a lab that will recognise the name. CU Boulder's comparison lists "advisor/dissertation" among the things a resume can drop.
Sources, read on 13 October 2026
- Texas Tech University Career Center, CV Template: Academic Careers (updated 2026): education entry with dissertation title, supervisor and committee; awaiting defense; research interests from the abstract.
- Harvard FAS Mignone Center, GSAS CVs and Cover Letters (2025): archival CV; expected degree or defense in the cover letter.
- University of Colorado Boulder Career Services, Academic CVs to Industry Resume: what to drop and how to translate research.
- Binghamton University Career Tools, Format and layout of resumes for academics: thesis as experience.
- APA Style, published and unpublished dissertation or thesis references (7th edition pages).
What this page does not cover
- Articles drawn from the thesis: they belong in a publications section, with their own status labels; see the publications guide.
- Research statements and cover letters for faculty jobs: the faculty CV page covers the application package.
- Thesis grades and how they enter a GPA: the GPA guide.
Theses in Türkiye
Turkish master's and doctoral theses are archived in YÖK's National Thesis Center, and the Turkish version of this page explains the stages, the graduation date rule and how to check that your thesis appears there.
Next steps
Write the full entry once in your master CV, then make two cuts: the academic one with committee and status, and the industry one with method, scale and result.
CitedCV's interview asks students which project, thesis or internship task maps closest to the job they want and what they personally built, analysed or wrote. It writes the entry from those answers, so give it the real method and the real numbers.
Questions people ask
Should I put my thesis on my resume?
Yes, when it shows skills the job needs. On an industry resume write it as a project with methods and results; on an academic CV put the title and supervisor under the degree.
How do I list my dissertation on my CV before I defend?
Add the status to the degree line, such as "awaiting defense" as in Texas Tech's template, or an expected month and year for the degree or the defence.
Should I include my thesis advisor on my CV?
Yes on an academic CV, together with the committee members, as Texas Tech's template does. On an industry resume CU Boulder suggests the advisor can be left off.
How do I cite my master's thesis in APA?
Author, year, title, then "[Master's thesis, University]" and the database or archive with a working URL. If it was never published, use "[Unpublished master's thesis]" and the university.
Can I put my undergraduate thesis on my CV?
Yes, under the bachelor's degree with its title, and as a project entry if it relates to the job. APA adapts its thesis format with a description such as "Undergraduate honors thesis".
Where does a thesis go on a resume for an industry job?
Usually in a projects or research experience entry with bullets, and briefly under education. Binghamton notes a thesis can count as experience when you have no professional work history.
Is my thesis a publication?
Only in a limited sense: APA treats a thesis in a database or repository as published. On a CV it normally stays under education, and papers drawn from it go in the publications list.
Sources
- Texas Tech University Career Center: CV Template, Academic Careers (PDF, 2026)www.depts.ttu.edu/careercenter/International_resources/AcademicCV_Updated_2026.pdf
- Harvard FAS Mignone Center for Career Success: GSAS CVs and Cover Letters (PDF, 2025)cdn-careerservices.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/161/2025/08/gsas-cvs-and-cover-letters-2025.pdf
- University of Colorado Boulder Career Services: Academic CVs to Industry Resumewww.colorado.edu/career/graduate-students/careers-industry/resumes/academic-cvs-industry-resume
- Binghamton University Career Tools: Format and layout of resumes for academicscareertools.binghamton.edu/resources/format-and-layout-of-resumes-for-academics/
- APA Style: Published dissertation or thesis referencesapastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/published-dissertation-references
- APA Style: Unpublished dissertation or thesis referencesapastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/unpublished-dissertation-references