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Guide to Locating Dissertations and Theses

This guide was created to help you find theses and dissertations related to education and the social sciences from UIUC and around the world. For further assistance, stop in the Education and Social Science Library (room 100, Main Library) or Ask-A-Librarian.

Searching Databases :: Obtaining Dissertations :: Browsing UIUC Call Numbers

Searching for Theses and Dissertations

Dissertation Abstracts (via Proquest's Digital Dissertations)

Citations (1861-present), abstracts (1980-present), and full-text (1997-present) for doctoral dissertations from accredited American and Canadian universities, as well as selected British and European universities. Selected masters theses are also included.

Most dissertations submitted from 1997 forward are available for free full-text download in pdf format from Dissertation Abstracts. After performing your search, look for the "Free Download" button on the left-hand side of the "Search Results" screen. You will then be prompted for your email address, and a link to the dissertation download location will be emailed to you shortly thereafter.

If a dissertation is not available for download, the Interlibrary Loan office can help you in acquiring a copy--see the instructions below.

Theses Canada Portal

Theses Canada Portal provides a searchable catalog of all Canadian thesis published since 1965, many of which are available in full text electronic versions which can be downloaded free by students, scholars, and the public.

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations

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.

Obtaining Dissertations and Theses

UIUC Online Catalog

The UIUC Library should have at least one copy of all theses and dissertations granted at UIUC. The UIUC Library may also have selected theses and dissertations from other institutions, so the online catalog is a good place to look first. Copies of dissertations deposited at UIUC from 1978 to the present are accessible by author and title through the I-Share Catalog. Beginning with 1983, archival copies can also be searched by department and year. (See browsing section below for instructions on how to do this.)

Interlibrary Loan

UIUC's Interlibrary Loan Office can help you obtain theses and dissertations not owned by the UIUC and not available in pdf format through Dissertation Abstracts. They provide 2 options:

  1. Place a standard online ILL request using the "Request a Book" form. If they can't find a free copy, they will email you and give you the option of placing an order through the Dissertation Express service (via the Interlibrary Loan Office), described immediately below.
  2. Dissertation Express (via the Interlibrary Loan Office) is a fee-based service that obtains dissertations in 4-5 business days. The Library will pay for the item, but you are responsible for a $15 shipping charge.

Dissertation Express (direct via ProQuest)

If you quickly need a print copy of a dissertation that is not available for download and don't mind paying the full cost yourself, you can order it directly from Proquest's Dissertation Express as an individual. Otherwise, use one of the Interlibrary loan options described above.

Browsing Thesis Call Numbers for Degrees Granted at UIUC in Education and the Social Sciences

Theses and dissertations completed at UIUC in the areas of education and the social sciences are located in the Main Stacks and on microfilm in the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library (246 Library).

Beginning in 1993, theses completed in the academic departments served by the Education and Social Science Library were assigned the following generic call numbers:

Q.150 Psychology Q.320 Political Science
Q.301 Sociology Q.350 Public Administration
Q. 302.224 Speech Communication Q.360 Social Work
Q.306 Anthropology Q.370 Education

 

For theses cataloged 1993-1999, the second line of the call number begins with TA, for doctoral dissertations, or TAM, for master's theses, which is then followed by the year of the granted degree and the first letter(s) of the author's surname. Starting with the year 2000, the second line of the call number now begins with TB or TBM.

For Example:

Doctoral dissertation record:

Q.150
Tb00b737		 Braswell, Gregory S.
Early mother-child interactions during symbolic production
Subject (Other): Theses--UIUC--2000--Psychology

 

Masters thesis record:

Q.150
Tbm00on4		 Onishi, Kristine H.
Effects of typicality on word order in sentence production
Subject (Other): Theses--UIUC--2000--Psychology

 

To browse the online catalog for theses or dissertations, select "Browse Call Number" under the Search By options on the Basic Search screen. When typing in the call number range to browse, do not include the Q. prefix, but do include the TA, TAM, TB, or TBM suffixes. For instance, to look for pre-2000 UIUC masters theses in education, your search string would be 370tam

For instructions on searching for UIUC dissertations in the online catalog, see the guide to Finding Dissertations created by Central Reference. This guide also includes information about keeping track of dissertations in your field with RSS feeds.