# Modifying Thesis Citation Format

**URL:** <https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/modifying-thesis-citation-format/1808>\
**Category:** CSL Usage\
**Created:** [April 3, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/modifying-thesis-citation-format/1808 "2023-04-03T15:13:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NGordon](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.citationstyles.org/ngordon/32/340_2.png) [@NGordon](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/NGordon)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/modifying-thesis-citation-format/1808/1 "2023-04-03T15:13:05Z")

</div>

The journal I want to submit to has the following format:  
Stephen Hawking, ‘Properties of Expanding Universes’, unpublished Doctoral thesis (University of Cambridge 1966)

I can’t find any CSL styles that have the words “unpublished Doctoral thesis” outside of the parentheses and I can’t figure out how to change this in a preexisting style. I’m new to CSL styles and tried using the Visual CSL Editor. Is there a way to do this?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Bruce\_D\_Arcus1](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/u/Bruce_D_Arcus1)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2023, 11:35pm UTC](https://discourse.citationstyles.org/t/modifying-thesis-citation-format/1808/2 "2023-04-03T23:35:25Z")

</div>

Hi @NGordon - not sure this is useful, but I just ran a `ripgrep` on the styles directory, which may suggest if not the precise style you need, what that part of the code may look like?

Examples:

```xml
❯ rg -p "unpublished" 
ayer.csl
123: <text variable="genre" prefix="unpublished "/>

european-journal-of-theology.csl
180: <text variable="genre" prefix="unpublished "/>

harvard-dundalk-institute-of-technology.csl
184: <text variable="title" font-style="italic" suffix=" [unpublished]. "/>

journal-of-applied-philosophy.csl
137: <text variable="genre" prefix="unpublished "/>

journal-of-political-philosophy.csl
129: <text variable="genre" prefix="unpublished "/>

modern-humanities-research-association-author-date.csl
121: <text variable="genre" prefix="unpublished "/>

modern-humanities-research-association.csl
233: <text variable="genre" prefix="unpublished "/>

new-harts-rules-the-oxford-style-guide.csl
218: <text variable="genre" prefix="unpublished "/>

oxford-the-university-of-new-south-wales.csl
160: <text variable="genre" prefix="unpublished "/>

medical-history.csl
247: <text variable="genre" prefix="unpublished "/>

journal-of-the-indian-law-institute.csl
93: <text variable="genre" prefix="unpublished "/>

```