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WISER Finding Stuff: Theses and Dissertations

WISER Finding Stuff: Theses and Dissertations. Angela Carritt and Sue Bird. What will you learn in this session. How to find Oxford theses How to find theses from other Universities How to obtain copies of theses from other Universities. Oxford theses. Finding tools for Oxford theses.

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WISER Finding Stuff: Theses and Dissertations

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  1. WISER Finding Stuff: Theses and Dissertations Angela Carritt and Sue Bird

  2. What will you learn in this session • How to find Oxford theses • How to find theses from other Universities • How to obtain copies of theses from other Universities

  3. Oxford theses

  4. Finding tools for 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….

  5. Where are Oxford theses kept? • 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.

  6. Searching SOLO: Author / Title

  7. Searching SOLO: Author

  8. Searching SOLO: Subject

  9. Searching SOLO by Faculty / Dept

  10. Searching SOLO for supervisors

  11. UK and Irish theses

  12. Index to 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!

  13. Index to theses - searching Use boolean operators to combine terms e.g. OR for synonyms AND to find both terms“quotation marks” for phrases* For alternative word endings

  14. 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

  15. Finding full text • 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

  16. Theses from outside the UK and Ireland

  17. Proquest’s “Dissertations & Theses” • 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...

  18. Dissertations and Theses – searching Use “quotation marks” for phrases * for alternative endings If you get too many results limit by field. Abstract particularly good for subject searching Limit by date if appropriate Limit by degree

  19. Dissertations and Theses – results page Set up alerts for new theses matching your criteria Email, print, export to reference management etc Options for viewing / ordering Narrow down your search by subject, author, school (institution), date etc

  20. Other options for non UK theses • 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)

  21. Other options for finding 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

  22. Ask a Librarian • Ask your subject librarian for advice

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