Locating Theses
Theses and Dissertations are the written documents produced by students for a higher degree or as part of their undergraduate studies. British theses are not usually published documents, so the author holds the copyright.
There are 3 main groups of theses and dissertations.
1. Undergraduate Dissertations
Many undergraduate students write a dissertation but these are not normally held in university libraries. They may be held in the appropriate university department, but most are not available for consultation or loan. The only way of acquiring a copy may be through direct contact with the student.
2. Taught Course Theses/Dissertations
Many taught postgraduate degrees (masters) with nomenclature of MA, MSc and MBA require the submission of a dissertation in support of their work. Some university libraries hold copies of these and others keep them in their departments. Recording is not systematic but some are listed in the Index to theses. Most are not available for Interlending but some may be consulted in the awarding university's library or appropriate department. Enquires should be made to the awarding university.
3. Research Theses
These are completed for doctoral and some masters degrees. The nomenclature is usually PhD, DPhil, MD or MPhil. They make an original contribution to knowledge and are important sources of primary research. Bibliographical records of these theses are available in the Index to Theses and this also contains a sub collection of theses from Ireland. For more information look at: www.theses.com.
Policy on the lending of theses varies between universities. Some universities require a user to sign a Copyright Declaration Form before consulting a thesis and these vary in accordance with the awarding university's regulations. Most theses may only be borrowed for reference use and there are limitations on how much can be copied or quoted. Many university libraries will make photocopies of their theses for the full cost but there are variations in policy as to whether the author's permission must be sought in advance.
The British Library's Thesis Service gives access to the full text of more than 170,000 doctoral theses, mainly from the 1970s to the present day. Almost all UK universities make their theses available through the service. Theses are microfilmed on demand and libraries may borrow the microfilm or purchase a paper copy. A number of universities require the user to complete and sign a Thesis Declaration Form (TDF) before borrowing the microfilmed thesis. This is reflected in the order number on the record of the British Library's Integrated Catalogue. Those preceded by D require one and those preceded by DX do not.
For more information on the British Library's Thesis Service look at: www.bl.uk/reshelp/atyourdesk/docsupply/productsservices/theses/
Some theses may contain material that is commercially or politically sensitive. These may not be available for loan. Enquiries should be made to the awarding university's library.
For information on the lending and copying of paper theses by higher education institutions in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Eire, please see the FIL publication 'Lending Paper Theses' (PDF file, 255KB, 15 pages).
International Theses
The British Library collection contains more than 475,000 US doctoral theses acquired from UMI (now ProQuest) in microform and several hundred Canadian doctoral theses. Since September 2001 the British Library stopped acquiring these. Paper copies of many North American theses can be purchased on-line from ProQuest Digital Dissertations with a credit card at: www.il.proquest.com/products_umi/dissertations.
Alternatively, applications for overseas theses not held at the British Library can be made direct to the awarding university, or through the British Library's Worldwide Searches service.
The IFLA Voucher Scheme of reusable plastic cards is widely acceptable for direct international loans and can be used instead of paying by invoice. Costs are at €8 for each full voucher or €4 for each half voucher. More information is available at the IFLA website at: www.ifla.org/VI/2/p1/voucher-scheme.htm.
Electronic Theses
Launched in January 2009, the EThOS service offers researchers across the world a single point of access to UK doctoral theses, showcasing the breadth and quality of UK research. Delivered through an open access website, the service has over 44,000 theses available for immediate download (as of January 2011). The service is being extended in 2011 to focus on the harvesting of e-theses. More information can be found at: www.ethos.ac.uk.
At International level considerable progress has been made and an example of this is the global 'Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations' (NDLTD). More information can be found at: www.ndltd.org.
ADT is the Australasian Digital Thesis Program to establish a distributed database of digital versions of theses produced by the postgraduate research students of Australian universities. For more information look on: adt.caul.edu.au.
