Uncover and Discover #3: The Graduate Student Toolkit  Tags: savvy_researcher workshops cite time_management  

The Illinois library should have at least one copy of all dissertations deposited at the University of Illinois that will show up in our online catalog. A non-circulating archival copy is held in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, but a circulating copy can often be located in other libraries. To begin searching for dissertations, use the Advanced Search in our online catalog to search by author, title, subject or department. Here is an example of a subject search for psychology dissertations written in 2003:

1. Use the Advanced Search in the online catalog.
2. Type Theses in the first search box and Psychology in the second.
3. In the "Search by:" dropdown menu at the right, select Subject Words. If you want to limit by a certain year, type the year in the third search box and select Subject Words in the dropdown menu.
4. Click on the Search button.

Following the above directions, the search screen should look like this:

Digital Dissertations: Digital Dissertations is a database that contains dissertation citations back to 1861, abstracts back to 1980, and the full text of many dissertations from 1997 (and sometimes earlier) to present. Masters theses have been selectively indexed since 1962. Almost all dissertations written at UIUC from 1997 forward are available as a free full-text download in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format. Here is an example of a subject search for education dissertations written at UIUC between 2000 and 2004:

1. In the first search box, type Education and select Subject (SU) from the dropdown menu at the right.
2. In the second search box, type University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and select School (SC) from the dropdown menu at the right. (Note: The full name of the school needs to be typed out, so "University of Illinois" or "UIUC" will not work.)
3. To limit by year, type in the years 2000 to 2004 in the Degree Date from boxes.
4. Click the Search button.

Following the above directions, the search screen should look like this:

After performing your search and locating a dissertation of interest, you'll see a Free Download button at the left of the dissertation record if a full-text download is available, as seen below. If you click that button, you will be prompted for your email address and a link to the dissertation will be emailed to you shortly thereafter.

If the full text is not available for download, a print copy of the dissertation should be available in the Illinois library--just do a search in the online catalog for the dissertation title to determine its location.

Abstracts for pre-1980 dissertations are available in Dissertation Abstracts, the print version of Digital Dissertations. You can view it in the Reference Library on the first northwest index table (call number: 013 M583).

If you're having trouble finding what you need, please Ask A Librarian for additional assistance.

• Digital Dissertations: If no copy is found at Illinois, use Digital Dissertations to obtain a citation for the dissertation. Most American and Canadian universities are represented in Digital Dissertations, as well as selected British and European universities. Dissertations completed at many major U.S. universities during the past 10 years (and sometimes earlier) are available as free full-text downloads. For instructions on how to search and download items from Digital Dissertations, click here. If the full text of a dissertation is not available through this database, you can fill out a standard interlibrary loan request.
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations: Networked Digital Library Theses and Dissertations is a collection of over 200,000 theses and dissertations from around the world. Many items, including those dating back to the early 1900s, are available in full text for free. For those not available in full text, fill out a standard interlibrary loan request.
• Theses Canada Portal: Theses Canada Portal is the central access point for Canadian theses. At this site, you can search AMICUS, Canada's national online catalogue, for records of all theses in the National Library of Canada's theses collection, which was established in 1965. You can also access and search for free the full text electronic versions of Canadian theses and dissertations that were published from the beginning of 1998 to August 31, 2002. To request a Canadian thesis not available online in full text, fill out a standard interlibrary loan request.
• Center for Research Libraries' Foreign Doctoral Dissertation Database: Try here when looking for a dissertation outside of the United States and Canada. This database includes 20,000 cataloged foreign doctoral dissertations. New records are no longer being added to this database, so if you're not finding what you need here, please check the CRL catalog to view or search current foreign dissertations. Because UIUC is a member of CRL, loans to the UIUC community are provided free of charge - just fill out a standard interlibrary loan request and put "Item held by CRL" in the notes field.
• Index to Theses: Search a comprehensive list of theses accepted for higher degrees by universities in Great Britain and Ireland since 1716. Index to Theses includes records for over 490,000 theses, with 44,000 abstracts added in PDF format for the period 1970 to 1986. From 1986 onwards, almost all entries include abstracts. To request a thesis, fill out a standard interlibrary loan request.

If the dissertation you need is unavailable at Illinois and not available through Digital Dissertations, try I-Share and/or Interlibrary Loan.

• Go to the Interlibrary Loan website
• Login to your account with your NetID and password
• Select "Request a Book" and fill out the form.

See the video below for more information on requesting items unavailable at Illinois.

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