{"id":43,"date":"2013-04-25T07:00:53","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T11:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.juniusinstitute.org\/blog\/?p=43"},"modified":"2013-04-24T18:21:20","modified_gmt":"2013-04-24T22:21:20","slug":"electronic-theses-and-dissertations-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juniusinstitute.org\/blog\/electronic-theses-and-dissertations-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
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Dissertations are often a rich source for specialized research. Recent dissertations may provide a useful survey of secondary literature and typically contain an up-to-date bibliography. Sometimes the focus of the dissertation requires sustained attention to a particular text, in which case the author may include a translation of a primary source unavailable elsewhere.<\/p>\n

However, dissertations are also among the more neglected sources. In the past there were good reasons for this. One reason was simply a lack of easy access. Dissertations were difficult to obtain until they became available on microfilm. Twenty years ago, due to the impact of University Microfilms International<\/a>\u00a0on the availability of microfilm dissertations, Bradley and Muller observed:<\/p>\n

We are in the midst of a bibliographical revolution that has as much to do with unpublished as with published materials. Those of us who went through graduate school in the early 1970s used many scholarly books that failed to refer to a single dissertation. But because of the publication program of University Microfilms International, this is becoming less and less true. Good books and good contemporary dissertations will almost always refer to at least a half dozen dissertations.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, as educational institutions make digitized dissertations available in PDF format, many dissertations\u2014recent dissertations in particular\u2014are instantly accessible. Today the scholar has no excuse for ignoring unpublished dissertations.<\/p>\n

A variety of services provide access to downloadable PDFs of dissertations. Of course the most complete commercial service is\u00a0ProQuest Dissertations & Theses<\/a>, which contains full-text for dissertations published since 1997 as well as many published earlier, but it is only available at subscribing institutions. Many dissertations are also freely available. Some of the best databases for finding electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) include:<\/p>\n