how many references for a 12000 word dissertation
Dispelling some fixed but erroneous ideas about dissertations might come in handy here: [Page 6]
It is hugely long : Yes, it is a lengthy piece of written work, but this does not mean that every dissertation is of the same length. Depending on its purpose it might be 8,000 words in length (which might be typical for a dissertation which reflects upon a student’s placement learning experience), or 10,000–12,000 words (which could be fairly standard for an undergraduate dissertation in the final year of study) or up to 20,000 – 30,000 words, which would work well as a postgraduate dissertation.