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Angela Carritt and Sue Bird
WISER Finding Stuff: Theses and Dissertations
How to find Oxford theses How to find theses from other Universities How to obtain copies of theses from other
Universities
What will you learn in this session
Oxford theses
SOLO @ http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk Printed copies from c mid/late 1970s- Digital copies of theses on ORA (Oxford’s research
repository)
ORA @ http://ora.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ Digital copies of (mainly recent theses) – small collection at
the moment
If you can’t find a thesis – ask your subject librarian….
Finding tools for Oxford theses
• Science theses (D.Phil. and M.Sc.)1976/7- : Radcliffe Science Library
• Law theses : Bodleian Law Library• Sub-Saharan Africa and Commonwealth (except South Asia) :
Commonwealth and African Studies (Rhodes House) Library• United States : Vere Harmswoth Library• Economics M.Phils 2000- : Social Science Library• Everything else : Bodleian Library (consult in Duke Humphrey)
incld: non-science D.Phil. Theses 1917-; M.Litt./B.Litt. 1953- M.Phil. 1977- B.Phil. and B.D.
Where are Oxford theses kept?
Searching SOLO: Author / Title
Searching SOLO: Author
Searching SOLO: Subject
Searching SOLO by Faculty / Dept
Searching SOLO for supervisors
UK and Irish theses
Catalogue of theses accepted for higher degrees by universities in Great Britain and Ireland since 1716
Access via SOLO or Oxlip+ (search for Index to Theses)
For each thesis: Bibliographic details: author, title, university, year etc Abstract Sometimes a link to full text
Via eThos Via University research repository If no link to full text doesn’t mean its not available!
Index to Theses
Index to theses - searching
Use boolean operators to combine terms e.g. OR for synonymsAND to find both terms“quotation marks” for phrases* For alternative word endings
Index to Theses - finding full text from the abstract
Check for full text using British Libraries EThOS service
Find URL for “institutional repository” – worth checking this for full text, if no full text available via EThoS
Check SOLO – we do have some “non Oxford” theses
Check EThOS (http://ethos.bl.uk) Other options (in no particular order)
Find out if the awarding University has a research repository – particularly worthwhile for recent theses
Ask your subject librarian about an inter library loan...but most universities don’t lend theses
Pay for eThOS to digitise the thesis Arrange to visit the awarding University to read the
thesis Contact the author
Finding full text
Theses from outside the UK and Ireland
2.7 million dissertations and theses from around the World but especially the US
Access via SOLO or Oxlip+ (search for “Dissertations and Theses”)
Options for obtaining full text Electronic full text available for many Social Sciences
and Humanities theses. If not… Speak to your subject librarian about obtaining a
copy Purchase a copy Contact the author...
Proquest’s “Dissertations & Theses”
Dissertations and Theses – searching
If you get too many results limit by field. Abstract particularly good for subject searching
Limit by date if appropriate
Limit by degree
Use “quotation marks” for phrases * for alternative endings
Dissertations and Theses – results page
Narrow down your search by subject, author, school (institution), date etc
Options for viewing / ordering
Email, print, export to reference management etc
Set up alerts for new theses matching your criteria
Specialist theses databases (Oxlip+ - Subjects – Theses) esp: Dart – Europe e-thesis portal Australasian Digital thesis program Database of African Theses and Dissertations Theses Canada Theses completed and in progress (Institute for
Historial Research)
Other options for non UK theses
Check specialist bibliographic databases for your subject
Check library catalogues Worldcat (http://www.worldcat.org/) and Karlsruher
Virtueller Katalog (http://www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/kvk.html ) –Library catalogues from acround the World
COPAC (www.copac.ac.uk) –UK research libraries Catalogues of National Libraries Sudoc (www.sudoc.abes.fr) – French academic
libraries
Other options for finding theses
Ask your subject librarian for advice
Ask a Librarian