Where to find dissertations and theses?

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A thesis or dissertation is the paper required for completing a diploma.  Theses and dissertations could help us understand the research outcome of the department and senior students, and the analysis of sources and references could help us familiarize ourselves with the development of research in the past.  If you were not sure about what issues your thesis will delve into, what topics you are considering had other students studied, and with what emphasis and precedent research, you may begin with the theses and dissertations written by other students.

Generally, theses and dissertations are not officially published, thus making them difficult to obtain from a typical bookselling platform. They are usually collected in the National Central Library and the library of the university to which the author of the papers belong. One could only access the full text if the author’s thesis or dissertation is authorized. So, which databases can users search for master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation?

 

【National Taiwan University】

  1. NTU Theses and Dissertations Repository (NTUTDR): It collects information and full text of theses and dissertations since 1963 (according to the author’s authorization).
  2. Airiti Library: The database contains the digital version of theses and dissertations, and the collection is called “Chinese E-Theses & Dissertations Service”.
  3. If there is no digital version of the thesis or dissertation, please check NTU Library’s SLIM system to find the printed version.

※ Example: How to find the theses of GMBA?

 

There are several databases of theses and dissertations from other universities, not only in Taiwan but also worldwide.  You can get to NTU Library Database Search, click on “Content Type,” and choose “Dissertations/Theses.”

【Taiwan】

1. National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan (NTLTD in Taiwan, 臺灣博碩士論文知識加值系統): The database is established by the “National Central Library” (國家圖書館). It is the most comprehensive online system of dissertations in Taiwan, and it’s free. You may download theses and dissertations that have been authorized. Remember to register for an account before you start to download the full-text file.

 

2. Airiti Library (華藝線上圖書館), also known as the Chinese E-Theses & Dissertations Service, collects the theses and dissertations from more than 60 universities and colleges in Taiwan. The database provides the abstracts and full texts that have been authorized.


From the search result page on Airiti Library, we may discover that files of papers could be classified into 3 modes.
(1) Papers tagged with an icon of “full-text download” could be downloaded directly.  (If you are not in NTU campus, please set up SSL VPN.)
(2) Some authors do not authorize access to full-text on Airiti Library, but you may get printed papers in National Central Library (NCL) or the corresponding university library.
(3) Some authors decided to make the articles public until a specific date, but you may get printed papers in NCL or the corresponding university library.

 

【The United States and Canada】

  1. PQDT (ProQuest Dissertations & Theses) database is the most extensive abstract of master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation in scale. PQDT has more than 5 million pieces of thesis and dissertation indexes from the USA and Canada. Theses and dissertations published after 1997 allow free browsing for the first 24 pages.
  2. The Digital Dissertation Consortium (DDC) consists of 90 institutes of higher education in Taiwan. The consortium acquires PDF full text of PQDT, arranges them in the DDC database to share with their members, and has more than 200,000 items with full text.

※ User guide: How to Search for Master’s Thesis and Doctoral Dissertation from the USA and Canada

 

【Europe】

  1. DART-Europe E-theses Portal: DART-Europe was founded in 2005 as a partnership of national and university libraries and consortia to improve global access to European research theses. It has free access to theses from about 30 countries and regions in Europe.
  2. EThOS (Electronic Theses Online Service): The British Library provides people with open access to e-theses kept by the Institutions of the Great Britain, and registration for a personal account is required before downloading items.

 

【Australia】

Trove: The National Library of Australia has its library index and the Trove platform for users to search for theses and dissertations, journals and periodicals, books, recalled documents, newspapers, and pictures.

On the Trove platform, choose “Research & Reports” at “Advanced Search”.

In the “Format” column, please choose “Thesis”. And, type target words at “Title” or “Keyword” to search for theses.

※ User guide: How do I find Australian theses?

 

【Asia】

  1. CNKI: Theses and dissertations from China.
  2. RISS (Research Information Sharing Service): Theses and dissertations from universities in Korea.

  3. IRDB (Institutional Repositories DataBase): It provides the theses and dissertations from the universities in Japan.  IRDB is constructed by NII (National Institute of Informatics, Japan). For searching theses, you can choose thesis by resource type in Advanced Search. 4 types of theses are provided as resource type: thesis, bachelor thesis, master thesis, doctoral thesis.

 

【Other regions】

NDLTD (The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations): NDLTD collects the bibliographic information of theses and dissertations (some with full-text) from over 100 universities and institutes. NDLTD could be used to search for theses published by partner institutions.  

If you want to search the thesis or dissertation, you can enter “Global ETD Search” under the “ETD Search” dropdown menu.

In “Global ETD Search“, you can use basic search or click the “advance search tips” to look for a specific piece of information by applying different searching patterns.

The links that provide full-text sources usually direct to the webpage where the articles are stored, like the theses and dissertations repository system built by the corresponding university. The full-text file could be downloaded.

 

【Interlibrary Loan Service】

If users cannot get their needed thesis or dissertation through the websites above, NTU faculty and students can seek for the interlibrary loan services, such as NDDS (Nationwide Document Delivery Service).

 

by Yu-Hung Kao, Yu-Ting Huang & Chih-Lo Chen

 

Further information

 

【中文版文章】學位論文資料哪裏找呢？