dissertation and published

Open Access Theses and Dissertations

Thursday, April 18, 8:20am (EDT): Searching is temporarily offline. We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to bring searching back up as quickly as possible.

Advanced research and scholarship. Theses and dissertations, free to find, free to use.

Advanced search options

Browse by author name (“Author name starts with…”).

Find ETDs with:

Written in any language English Portuguese French German Spanish Swedish Lithuanian Dutch Italian Chinese Finnish Greek Published in any country US or Canada Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Bolivia Brazil Canada Chile China Colombia Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Ireland Italy Japan Latvia Lithuania Malaysia Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Peru Portugal Russia Singapore South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand UK US Earliest date Latest date

Sorted by Relevance Author University Date

Only ETDs with Creative Commons licenses

Results per page: 30 60 100

October 3, 2022. OATD is dealing with a number of misbehaved crawlers and robots, and is currently taking some steps to minimize their impact on the system. This may require you to click through some security screen. Our apologies for any inconvenience.

Recent Additions

See all of this week’s new additions.

About OATD.org

OATD.org aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions . OATD currently indexes 7,225,126 theses and dissertations.

About OATD (our FAQ) .

Visual OATD.org

We’re happy to present several data visualizations to give an overall sense of the OATD.org collection by county of publication, language, and field of study.

You may also want to consult these sites to search for other theses:

• Google Scholar
• NDLTD , the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations. NDLTD provides information and a search engine for electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), whether they are open access or not.
• Proquest Theses and Dissertations (PQDT), a database of dissertations and theses, whether they were published electronically or in print, and mostly available for purchase. Access to PQDT may be limited; consult your local library for access information.

• Enroll & Pay

Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD)

OATD.org provides open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions. OATD currently indexes 6,654,285 theses and dissertations.

Open Access Theses and Dissertations

Direct Link

• Harvard Library
• Research Guides
• Harvard Graduate School of Design - Frances Loeb Library

Write and Cite

• Theses and Dissertations
• Academic Integrity
• Using Sources and AI
• Academic Writing
• From Research to Writing
• GSD Writing Services
• Grants and Fellowships
• Reading, Notetaking, and Time Management

What is a thesis?

What is a dissertation, getting started, staying on track.

A thesis is a long-term project that you work on over the course of a semester or a year. Theses have a very wide variety of styles and content, so we encourage you to look at prior examples and work closely with faculty to develop yours. 

Before you begin, make sure that you are familiar with the dissertation genre—what it is for and what it looks like.

Generally speaking, a dissertation’s purpose is to prove that you have the expertise necessary to fulfill your doctoral-degree requirements by showing depth of knowledge and independent thinking.

The form of a dissertation may vary by discipline. Be sure to follow the specific guidelines of your department.

• PhD This site directs candidates to the GSAS website about dissertations , with links to checklists,  planning, formatting, acknowledgments, submission, and publishing options. There is also a link to guidelines for the prospectus . Consult with your committee chair about specific requirements and standards for your dissertation.
• DDES This document covers planning, patent filing, submission guidelines, publishing options, formatting guidelines, sample pages, citation guidelines, and a list of common errors to avoid. There is also a link to guidelines for the prospectus .
• Scholarly Pursuits (GSAS) This searchable booklet from Harvard GSAS is a comprehensive guide to writing dissertations, dissertation-fellowship applications, academic journal articles, and academic job documents.

Finding an original topic can be a daunting and overwhelming task. These key concepts can help you focus and save time.

Finding a topic for your thesis or dissertation should start with a research question that excites or at least interests you. A rigorous, engaging, and original project will require continuous curiosity about your topic, about your own thoughts on the topic, and about what other scholars have said on your topic. Avoid getting boxed in by thinking you know what you want to say from the beginning; let your research and your writing evolve as you explore and fine-tune your focus through constant questioning and exploration.

Get a sense of the broader picture before you narrow your focus and attempt to frame an argument. Read, skim, and otherwise familiarize yourself with what other scholars have done in areas related to your proposed topic. Briefly explore topics tangentially related to yours to broaden your perspective and increase your chance of finding a unique angle to pursue.

Critical Reading

Critical reading is the opposite of passive reading. Instead of merely reading for information to absorb, critical reading also involves careful, sustained thinking about what you are reading. This process may include analyzing the author’s motives and assumptions, asking what might be left out of the discussion, considering what you agree with or disagree with in the author’s statements and why you agree or disagree, and exploring connections or contradictions between scholarly arguments. Here is a resource to help hone your critical-reading skills:

http://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/criticalread.pdf

Conversation

Your thesis or dissertation will incorporate some ideas from other scholars whose work you researched. By reading critically and following your curiosity, you will develop your own ideas and claims, and these contributions are the core of your project. You will also acknowledge the work of scholars who came before you, and you must accurately and fairly attribute this work and define your place within the larger discussion. Make sure that you know how to quote, summarize, paraphrase ,  integrate , and cite secondary sources to avoid plagiarism and to show the depth and breadth of your knowledge.

A thesis is a long-term, large project that involves both research and writing; it is easy to lose focus, motivation, and momentum. Here are suggestions for achieving the result you want in the time you have.

The dissertation is probably the largest project you have undertaken, and a lot of the work is self-directed. The project can feel daunting or even overwhelming unless you break it down into manageable pieces and create a timeline for completing each smaller task. Be realistic but also challenge yourself, and be forgiving of yourself if you miss a self-imposed deadline here and there.

Your program will also have specific deadlines for different requirements, including establishing a committee, submitting a prospectus, completing the dissertation, defending the dissertation, and submitting your work. Consult your department’s website for these dates and incorporate them into the timeline for your work.

Accountability

Sometimes self-imposed deadlines do not feel urgent unless there is accountability to someone beyond yourself. To increase your motivation to complete tasks on schedule, set dates with your committee chair to submit pre-determined pieces of a chapter. You can also arrange with a fellow doctoral student to check on each other’s progress. Research and writing can be lonely, so it is also nice to share that journey with someone and support each other through the process.

Common Pitfalls

The most common challenges for students writing a dissertation are writer’s block, information-overload, and the compulsion to keep researching forever.

There are many strategies for avoiding writer’s block, such as freewriting, outlining, taking a walk, starting in the middle, and creating an ideal work environment for your particular learning style. Pay attention to what helps you and try different things until you find what works.

Efficient researching techniques are essential to avoiding information-overload. Here are a couple of resources about strategies for finding sources and quickly obtaining essential information from them.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_in_literature_detailed_discussion/reading_criticism.html

https://students.dartmouth.edu/academic-skills/learning-resources/learning-strategies/reading-techniques

Finally, remember that there is always more to learn and your dissertation cannot incorporate everything. Follow your curiosity but also set limits on the scope of your work. It helps to create a folder entitled “future projects” for topics and sources that interest you but that do not fit neatly into the dissertation. Also remember that future scholars will build off of your work, so leave something for them to do.

Browsing through theses and dissertations of the past can help to get a sense of your options and gain inspiration but be careful to use current guidelines and refer to your committee instead of relying on these examples for form or formatting.

DASH Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard.

HOLLIS Harvard Library’s catalog provides access to ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global .

MIT Architecture has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

Rhode Island School of Design has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

University of South Florida has a list of their graduates’ dissertations and theses.

Harvard GSD has a list of projects, including theses and professors’ research.

• << Previous: Reading, Notetaking, and Time Management
• Next: Publishing >>
• Last Updated: Sep 5, 2024 7:21 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/gsd/write

Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

How to find resources by format

Why use a dissertation or a thesis.

A dissertation is the final large research paper, based on original research, for many disciplines to be able to complete a PhD degree. The thesis is the same idea but for a masters degree.

They are often considered scholarly sources since they are closely supervised by a committee, are directed at an academic audience, are extensively researched, follow research methodology, and are cited in other scholarly work. Often the research is newer or answering questions that are more recent, and can help push scholarship in new directions. 

Search for dissertations and theses

Locating dissertations and theses.

The Proquest Dissertations and Theses Global database includes doctoral dissertations and selected masters theses from major universities worldwide.

• Searchable by subject, author, advisor, title, school, date, etc.
• More information about full text access and requesting through Interlibrary Loan

NDLTD – Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations provides free online access to a over a million theses and dissertations from all over the world.

WorldCat Dissertations and Theses searches library catalogs from across the U.S. and worldwide.

Locating University of Minnesota Dissertations and Theses

Use  Libraries search  and search by title or author and add the word "thesis" in the search box. Write down the library and call number and find it on the shelf. They can be checked out.

Check the  University Digital Conservancy  for online access to dissertations and theses from 2007 to present as well as historic, scanned theses from 1887-1923.

Other Sources for Dissertations and Theses

• Center for Research Libraries
• DART-Europe E-Thesis Portal
• Theses Canada
• Ethos (Great Britain)
• Australasian Digital Theses in Trove
• DiVA (Sweden)
• E-Thesis at the University of Helsinki
• DissOnline (Germany)
• List of libraries worldwide - to search for a thesis when you know the institution and cannot find in the larger collections
• ProQuest Dissertations Express  - to search for a digitized thesis (not a free resource but open to our guest users)

University of Minnesota Dissertations and Theses FAQs

What dissertations and theses are available.

With minor exceptions, all doctoral dissertations and all "Plan A" master's theses accepted by the University of Minnesota are available in the University Libraries system. In some cases (see below) only a non-circulating copy in University Archives exists, but for doctoral dissertations from 1940 to date, and for master's theses from 1925 to date, a circulating copy should almost always be available.

"Plan B" papers, accepted in the place of a thesis in many master's degree programs, are not received by the University Libraries and are generally not available. (The only real exceptions are a number of old library school Plan B papers on publishing history, which have been separately cataloged.) In a few cases individual departments may have maintained files of such papers.

In what libraries are U of M dissertations and theses located?

Circulating copies of doctoral dissertations:.

• Use Libraries Search to look for the author or title of the work desired to determine location and call number of a specific dissertation. Circulating copies of U of M doctoral dissertations can be in one of several locations in the library system, depending upon the date and the department for which the dissertation was done. The following are the general rules:
• Dissertations prior to 1940 Circulating copies of U of M dissertations prior to 1940 do not exist (with rare exceptions): for these, only the archival copy (see below) is available. Also, most dissertations prior to 1940 are not cataloged in MNCAT and can only be identified by the departmental listings described below.  
• Dissertations from 1940-1979 Circulating copies of U of M dissertations from 1940 to 1979 will in most cases be held within the Elmer L. Andersen Library, with three major classes of exceptions: dissertations accepted by biological, medical, and related departments are housed in the Health Science Library; science/engineering dissertations from 1970 to date will be located in the Science and Engineering Library (in Walter); and dissertations accepted by agricultural and related departments are available at the Magrath Library or one of the other libraries on the St. Paul campus (the Magrath Library maintains records of locations for such dissertations).  
• Dissertations from 1980-date Circulating copies of U of M dissertations from 1980 to date at present may be located either in Wilson Library (see below) or in storage; consult Libraries Search for location of specific items. Again, exceptions noted above apply here also; dissertations in their respective departments will instead be in Health Science Library or in one of the St. Paul campus libraries.

Circulating copies of master's theses:

• Theses prior to 1925 Circulating copies of U of M master's theses prior to 1925 do not exist (with rare exceptions); for these, only the archival copy (see below) is available.  
• Theses from 1925-1996 Circulating copies of U of M master's theses from 1925 to 1996 may be held in storage; consult Libraries search in specific instances. Once again, there are exceptions and theses in their respective departments will be housed in the Health Science Library or in one of the St. Paul campus libraries.  
• Theses from 1997-date Circulating copies of U of M master's theses from 1997 to date will be located in Wilson Library (see below), except for the same exceptions for Health Science  and St. Paul theses. There is also an exception to the exception: MHA (Masters in Health Administration) theses through 1998 are in the Health Science Library, but those from 1999 on are in Wilson Library.

Archival copies (non-circulating)

Archival (non-circulating) copies of virtually all U of M doctoral dissertations from 1888-1952, and of U of M master's theses from all years up to the present, are maintained by University Archives (located in the Elmer L. Andersen Library). These copies must be consulted on the premises, and it is highly recommended for the present that users make an appointment in advance to ensure that the desired works can be retrieved for them from storage. For dissertations accepted prior to 1940 and for master's theses accepted prior to 1925, University Archives is generally the only option (e.g., there usually will be no circulating copy). Archival copies of U of M doctoral dissertations from 1953 to the present are maintained by Bell and Howell Corporation (formerly University Microfilms Inc.), which produces print or filmed copies from our originals upon request. (There are a very few post-1952 U of M dissertations not available from Bell and Howell; these include such things as music manuscripts and works with color illustrations or extremely large pages that will not photocopy well; in these few cases, our archival copy is retained in University Archives.)

Where is a specific dissertation of thesis located?

To locate a specific dissertation or thesis it is necessary to have its call number. Use Libraries Search for the author or title of the item, just as you would for any other book. Depending on date of acceptance and cataloging, a typical call number for such materials should look something like one of the following:

Dissertations: Plan"A" Theses MnU-D or 378.7M66 MnU-M or 378.7M66 78-342 ODR7617 83-67 OL6156 Libraries Search will also tell the library location (MLAC, Health Science Library, Magrath or another St. Paul campus library, Science and Engineering, Business Reference, Wilson Annex or Wilson Library). Those doctoral dissertations still in Wilson Library (which in all cases should be 1980 or later and will have "MnU-D" numbers) are located in the central section of the third floor. Those master's theses in Wilson (which in all cases will be 1997 or later and will have "MnU-M" numbers) are also located in the central section of the third floor. Both dissertations and theses circulate and can be checked out, like any other books, at the Wilson Circulation desk on the first floor.

How can dissertations and theses accepted by a specific department be located?

Wilson Library contains a series of bound and loose-leaf notebooks, arranged by department and within each department by date, listing dissertations and theses. Information given for each entry includes name of author, title, and date (but not call number, which must be looked up individually). These notebooks are no longer current, but they do cover listings by department from the nineteenth century up to approximately 1992. Many pre-1940 U of M dissertations and pre-1925 U of M master's theses are not cataloged (and exist only as archival copies). Such dissertations can be identified only with these volumes. The books and notebooks are shelved in the general collection under these call numbers: Wilson Ref LD3337 .A5 and Wilson Ref quarto LD3337 .U9x. Major departments of individual degree candidates are also listed under their names in the GRADUATE SCHOOL COMMENCEMENT programs of the U of M, available in University Archives and (for recent years) also in Wilson stacks (LD3361 .U55x).

• << Previous: Dictionaries and encyclopedias
• Next: E-books >>

MSU Libraries

Research guides.

• Need help? Ask Us

Finding Dissertations and Theses: Home

Electronic access.

Comprehensive collection of fulltext dissertations and theses since 1997 and strong retrospective full text coverage for earlier periods. Includes MSU dissertations and theses.

Open Access to United States-Published Theses and Dissertations

Open access to internationally published theses and dissertations, print access, finding msu theses and dissertations in the catalog.

• Start at the catalog advanced search page .
• In the search boxes at the top of the page, change the "All fields" dropdown menu to search for author, a subject or a title. Or, you can search by MSU department or college, such as "educational policy" or "chemical engineering."
• Under "Limit to" and "Format," select "Thesis."
• Enter a date range under "Year of Publication" if desired. 
• Click "Search" to return your results.

Interlibrary Loan

If you are an MSU affiliate and cannot locate the full text of a thesis or dissertation either in electronic or print format, you may be able to order it for free from our interlibrary loan department .

Theses and Dissertations About MSU

• Dissertations and Theses about Michigan State University This guide identifies dissertations and theses written by MSU scholars that are about MSU in some way.
• Last Updated: May 25, 2023 11:53 AM
• URL: https://libguides.lib.msu.edu/dissertations

Ask Yale Library

My Library Accounts

Find, Request, and Use

Help and Research Support

Visit and Study

Explore Collections

Resources to Find Dissertations: Home

Description.

This page provides links to databases and websites to find dissertations. This includes links to general databases to find dissertations, databases focused on the humanities, foreign dissertations, dissertations on religion, and dissertations hosted by other universities.

General Databases

Humanities dissertations, foreign dissertations, religion dissertations, dissertations of universities, yale divinity library.

Science Dissertations

• Last Updated: Aug 22, 2024 5:30 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.yale.edu/dissertations

Site Navigation

P.O. BOX 208240 New Haven, CT 06250-8240 (203) 432-1775

Yale's Libraries

Bass Library

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Classics Library

Cushing/Whitney Medical Library

Divinity Library

East Asia Library

Gilmore Music Library

Haas Family Arts Library

Lewis Walpole Library

Lillian Goldman Law Library

Marx Science and Social Science Library

Sterling Memorial Library

Yale Center for British Art

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

@YALELIBRARY

Yale Library Instagram

Accessibility       Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion      Giving       Privacy and Data Use      Contact Our Web Team    

© 2022 Yale University Library • All Rights Reserved

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global

• What is ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global
• ProQuest Dissertations eLearning Companions

E-Learning Modules

Webinar recordings, powerpoint presentations, additional resources, support center articles.

• Unique Features

Product Access & Information

• Additional Language Resources
• ProQuest Support Center
• Platform Status Page
• Upcoming Webinars

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global   is a wealth of unique global scholarship, which is a credible and quality source to Uncover the Undiscovered research insights and intelligence in easiest and most effective ways. The equitable discoverability of more than 5.8 million dissertations and theses with coverage from year 1637, allows researchers to amplify diverse voices and place their research in a global context. The database offers nearly 3.2 million full texts for most of the dissertations added since 1997.

By leveraging the rich citation data found in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global and with new citation insight tool, researchers can benefit from focused pathways of discovery to build foundational knowledge on various research topics. Over 200,000 new dissertations and theses are added to the database each year to enrich the citation data continuously.

For more information about the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global , navigate to the Content Page .

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global   Database  is also part of ProQuest One Academic .  ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global resides on the ProQuest Platform. For additional information about basic and advanced functionality or administrative capabilities, visit the   ProQuest Platform LibGuide .

The Dissertations Bootcamp eLearning Modules are a free resource that help support graduate student planning, writing, and research.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses for the Student, Citation Connections

Here you can have a preview of the new features just launched for the Cited Reference documents in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses for the Librarian

Intended for Librarians who want to learn how to use the database's advanced search to support subject area research at their institution. Duration: 2 minutes.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses for the Student, Searching Titles and Languages

This session reviews how Students, both Masters or PhD, can use the database's advanced search to identify known dissertations by title and search/analyze by languages other than English. Duration: 3 minutes.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses for the Student, Searching Names

This session reviews how Students, both Masters or Ph, can use the database's advanced search to identify dissertations of known Authors or Advisors and further refine/analyze them. Duration: 4 minutes.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses for the Student, Cited References

This session reviews how Students, both Masters or PhD, can use the dissertations to retrieve and explore further the Cited References. Duration: 4 minutes.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses for the Student, Supplemental Files

This session reviews how Students, both Masters or PhD, can identify dissertations with Supplemental files which may contain useful materials for their graduate work. Duration: 3.5 minutes.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses for the Student, Subject Searching

This session will show Students, both Masters or PhD, some Search techniques both Basic and Advanced to locate dissertations on a certain topic. Duration: 5.5 minutes.

Webinar Title : Best Practices for Searching ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global

This session demonstrates how users can utilize the best practices of searching the " ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global  database" to connect with relevant information for their academic work. Duration:  52 minutes.

Materials in English - Figures (Database size) and Platform features images now updated as of March 2023

• PQDT Global Basic Version PPT
• PQDT Global Advanced Version PPT
• PQDT Global Citation Connection PPT
• ProQuest ETD Dissemination Program
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Citation Index Training Assest: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Citation Index PPT- May 2024
• Marketing Toolkit
• New! Embedded eLearning for Undergraduates
• Request Training
• Top Dissertations
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Citation Index
• FAQ- What’s New for PQDT
• ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global Data Used in Research Projects
• New Change in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (PQDT) Structure and its Impact on Usage Reports in 2023
• New Change in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (PQDT) Structure and its Impact on Saved Searches & Alerts
• Best Practices for Incorporating ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global Product into EBSCO Discovery
• Next: Content >>
• Last Updated: Jul 31, 2024 3:58 PM
• URL: https://proquest.libguides.com/pqdt

• Hirsh Health Sciences
• Webster Veterinary

Dissertations and Theses

• Finding dissertations and theses
• Resources for writing & submitting a thesis or dissertation

Dissertations and theses as a research tool

Obtaining theses & dissertations written at other institutions, citing dissertations and theses, databases focused on dissertations and theses, sources indexing dissertations and theses, print dissertation indexes and bibliographies.

We can help locate sources, create multimedia components, manage your data, cite sources, answer questions about copyright, and more.

Theses and dissertations can be a valuable source of information for research.  They can offer the following benefits:

• Just like journal articles, conference proceedings, and other forms of literature, they present original research. Recently completed theses can provide "sneak previews" of ideas and findings that have yet to reach the public via other publication formats.
• They may be the only publicly-available work by authors who do not otherwise publish for general audiences or through commercial publishers.
• They contain extensive bibliographies.
• They provide inspiration for the formatting and presentation of ideas, graphs, charts, and other components of a document.
• They provide insight into the early work of a particular person and have value for historical and biographical purposes.

Want to borrow a thesis or dissertation written at another institution that isn't available in  full text online ? Request it via  ILLIAD , Tufts' interlibrary loan service. Choose the "Thesis" request form and provide as much descriptive information as you can. Not all theses or dissertations are available or loanable, but we'll try to find you a copy!

Some other ways you might be able to find a copy of an older dissertation:

If you can identify the author's institutional affiliation, visit that institution's webpage to see if they catalog or archive students' dissertations. 

Contact the author.  Some authors will post all or some of their dissertation on their website or have journal articles or other publications which draw heavily on this work.

Search the author's name and/or thesis title in full-text journal databases which include article references. These citations may provide clues as to how to locate the document.

Contact your  subject librarian  for assistance.

As with journal articles, books, and other sources, theses and dissertations must be properly cited in any document that references them.  Most citation styles, including APA, Chicago, and MLA, provide specific instructions for formatting these citations.  Citation Management tools, such as EndNote and Zotero, automatically format references for these sources in your selected citation style.  More information is in the Citing Sources guide.

Although requirements for citing dissertations vary according by style, they generally seek to convey the following information:  that the item is a dissertation (rather than an article or a book); the type of degree it resulted in (master's, PhD, etc); whether it was published; and which institution granted the degree.  An example of a citation for a dissertation is presented here in four major citation styles:

• APA:   Miaoulis, I. N. (1987). Experimental investigation of turbulence spectra of charge density fluctuations in the equilibrium range. Unpublished Ph.D., Tufts University, United States -- Massachusetts.
• Chicago:   Miaoulis, Ioannis Nikolaos. "Experimental Investigation of Turbulence Spectra of Charge Density Fluctuations in the Equilibrium Range." Ph.D., Tufts University, 1987.
• IEEE:   [1]    I. N. Miaoulis, "Experimental investigation of turbulence spectra of charge density fluctuations in the equilibrium range,"  United States -- Massachusetts: Tufts University, 1987, p. 98.
• MLA:   Miaoulis, Ioannis Nikolaos. "Experimental Investigation of Turbulence Spectra of Charge Density Fluctuations in the Equilibrium Range." Ph.D. Tufts University, 1987.

The following sources focus primarily or exclusively on theses and dissertations; some provide direct access to full-text.

• DART-Europe E-theses Portal "A partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses."
• Dissertations & Theses: Full Text Comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses worldwide. Of the over 2 million titles in the database, more than 930,000 are available in PDF format for free download. Those that aren't freely available can be ordered from within the database.
• DSpace@MIT Over 25,000 theses and dissertations from all MIT departments completed as far back as the mid 1800's. Note that this is NOT a complete collection of MIT theses.
• Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) Search engine for graduate papers completed at universities both in America and abroad.
• Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD) Open access (OA) theses and dissertations from institutions worldwide.
• Ethos Service from the British Library for reading and ordering theses produced by students in the United Kingdom.
• Theses Canada Theses from over 60 Canadian universities, going back to 1965.
• Shodhganga@INFLIBNET Centre Digital repository of theses and dissertations from universities in India.

In the following subject-specific databases, the Advance Search option enables filtering by dissertation as the document type.

• American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies Sources on East-Central Europe and the former Soviet Union.
• ARTbibliographies Modern Sources on all forms of modern and contemporary art.
• EconLit Economic literature.
• Engineering Village For literature on all engineering disciplines.
• PsycInfo Sources on psychology and related disciplines.
• Sociological Abstracts For the literature on sociology.
• SPORTDiscus with Full Text Sources on sport, physical fitness, and physical education.
• World Shakespeare Bibliography Sources on materials published since 1971 related to Shakespeare.

A number of indexes and bibliographies of dissertations have been published, primarily in print format.  These often focus on specific historical eras, geographic regions, or topics.

• Dissertation Indexes in the Tufts Catalog
• Dissertation Indexes in WorldCat
• Dissertation Indexes in Google Books
• << Previous: Resources for writing & submitting a thesis or dissertation
• Last Updated: Aug 6, 2024 4:21 PM
• URL: https://researchguides.library.tufts.edu/theses

About Us arrow_drop_down expand_more

• News Releases

Our Values arrow_drop_down expand_more

• Diversity & Inclusion
• Accessibility
• Slavery Act Statement

Product Families arrow_drop_down expand_more

Content Solutions expand_more

• Books and Ebooks
• Dissertations
• News & Newspapers
• Primary Sources
• Streaming Video

Products by Subject expand_more

• Health & Medicine
• History & Social Change
• Interdisciplinary
• Science & Technology
• Social Sciences

Popular Products expand_more

Proquest one academic.

• ProQuest One Business
• ProQuest One Education
• ProQuest One Psychology
• ProQuest Black Studies
• Ebooks Offers for Libraries

Library Management expand_more

Discovery services expand_more, resource sharing expand_more, course resource lists expand_more, research management expand_more, mobile solutions expand_more.

• Innovative Mobile

Libraries We Serve expand_more

• Academic Solutions for universities, colleges, and community colleges of all sizes.
• Public Solutions for librarians supporting patrons of public libraries.
• K-12 Solutions for elementary schools, primary schools and high schools.
• Community College Solutions for community colleges, trade schools and two year programs.
• Government Solutions for governmental affairs offices, patent examiners, and grants administrators.
• Corporate Solutions for professionals in the pharmaceutical, legal industries and more.

Solutions For expand_more

• DEI E-Resources
• Print to Electronic
• Reclaiming Your Space
• Library Management
• Library Management – Public Libraries
• Community Engagement
• Content Discovery
• Research Repository
• Digital Preservation
• Resource Sharing
• Document Delivery
• Course Resources

Account Support expand_more

• Setup and Support
• Access Questions
• Renewing a Product
• Paying an Invoice
• Get Usage Data: ProQuest
• Get Usage Data: Alexander Street
• Submitting Dissertations
• Idea Exchange
• ProQuest Status Page

Tools & Resources expand_more

• Find a Title List
• Accessibility Documentation
• Open Access

Browse Collections by Subject expand_more

I want to expand_more.

• Start my Research
• Start Text & Data Mining
• Find Research Funding
• Keep up with Research News
• Showcase Research
• See Upcoming Webinars
• Contact Support

I’m Interested In expand_more

• Submitting a Dissertation
• Purchasing a Dissertation
• Assembling Course Materials
• Implementing a Mobile Campus App

Insights expand_more

How text and data mining enables digital literacy in the classroom.

Read about the University of Sydney’s journey to integrate text and data mining (TDM) into its undergraduate courses and incorporate it across disciplines

Meeting Your Needs expand_more

• Graduate Students
• Graduate Administrators

Products & Services expand_more

Etd dissemination.

• Dissertation & Theses Global
• ETD Dashboard

Resources expand_more

• eLearning Modules
• Expert Advice Articles

Dissertations News expand_more

• Top 25 Most-Accessed Dissertations
• Dissertations Award Winners

Are you a researcher looking for scholarly content? Try searching our platform here...

Language preference

Do you want set this as your default language ?

Connect with ProQuest

Proquest dissertations & theses global, contact sales.

Thank you for contacting ProQuest. A member of our Sales team will respond to you within one business day.  For immediate assistance please call +1-877-779-6768

Privacy Policy

Uncover the Undiscovered

The ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (PQDT) ™ database is the world's most comprehensive curated collection of multi-disciplinary dissertations and theses from around the world, offering over 5 million citations and 3 million full-text works from thousands of universities.

Within dissertations and theses is a wealth of scholarship, yet it is often overlooked because most go unpublished. Uncover new ideas and innovations with more confidence and efficiency. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global delivers a focused path for researchers by tapping into a global network of connected research.

Dissertation references can be a treasure trove for obscure topics, here students discover shorter works like articles.

Scott Dennis, Librarian Core Electronic Resources, University of Michigan

Connecting Global Scholarship

Disseminating since 1939

Disseminating graduate works since 1939, and is the largest editorially curated repository of dissertations and theses.

5+ million works

A multi-disciplinary collection of over 5 million citations and 3 million full text works.

250,000 Annually

The database increases in size by 250,000 works each year.

4M Researchers

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is used by over 4 million researchers at 3,100+ institutions around the world.

Customer Resources

Find database content updates, popular training, troubleshooting and how-to resources

Find training and informational resources

Order a dissertation title

Use premade graphics, social media posts, posters, news releases and learning content to inform students, researchers, and faculty of the tools available in your subscription

Short Description

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) Global provides visibility of cutting-edge research from the world’s premier universities.

ProQuest’s vast collection of >5.5million post graduate dissertations and theses now discoverable on Web of Science

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global with the Web of Science™ enables researchers to seamlessly uncover early career, post-graduate research in the form of more than 5.5 million dissertations and theses from over 4,100 institutions from more than 60 countries, alongside journal articles, conference proceedings, research data, books, preprints and patents.

The integration and introduction of the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Citation Index , eliminates the need for researchers to search multiple databases, allowing them to streamline their workflow and focus more on their academic success and research advancements.

To further enhance accessibility, direct full text linking from the Web of Science to the ProQuest platform is available for joint subscribers of the Web of Science and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

Navigating ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Citation Index

DISCOVER unique scholarship

• Provides credible research on unique, niche, and trending topics, often not published elsewhere
• Provides access to global and diverse perspectives, helping to close diversity gaps in mainstream publishing channels
• Removes friction and obstacles from the research process by making full text available in one location
• Retrieves equitable search results, which places equal value on quality scholarship no matter where it is from

UNCOVER the value of dissertations

• Introduces users to new source types
• Reaches more students, helps more users in a virtual environment
• Addresses user needs immediately when they need it
• Nurtures career aspirations in academia

FOCUS your research path

Citation Connections are the next step in the evolution of the ProQuest Platform, moving the recommender functionality beyond standard keyword lists towards technology that leverages citation data, bibliometrics, and knowledge graph technology. Focus your research path by finding the most relevant and influential works faster.

• Supports researchers to become more efficient and effective.
• Leads researchers of all levels quickly to the most relevant, credible sources.
• Provides a focused path to building comprehensive foundational knowledge in any research area.
• Integrates with other library resources, enhances the value of other ProQuest subscriptions by providing insights into how the research is connected.

Success Story

Progressing STEM Studies with a Critical Primary Research Source

Author, Technologist, and Doctoral Student, Ida Joiner shares her story on leveraging dissertations to engage with current trends, cite a comprehensive foundation and build towards her own research goals.

Avoiding Bias by Starting at the Source

Dr. Terri D. Pigott, Ph.D., of the School of Public Health at the College of Education, Georgia State University, on Avoiding Bias by Starting at the Source.

Testimonials

Professor Terri Pigott Ph.D. discusses the expectations she presents to her students on meta-analysis and unbiased research requirements and how the use of ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global helps to ensure that comprehensive data sets are included in new research outputs.

Using Dissertations as a Primary Source

Student researcher and published author Ida Joiner discusses how she uses ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global as a core resource that helps her to build towards her own research goals.

Improving Diversity in Curriculum by Uncovering Unheard Voices

Psychology Professors and Research Scientists come together to build a course and write a supplemental text for Psychology curriculum emphasizing the dissertations by women of color prior to 1980, filling research gaps in the early history of psychology.

The Erasure of Drag Contribution in Performance History

Dr. Lady J, Ph.D., documents the historical impact, influence, contributions that drag performers have made to politics, music, film, fashion, and popular culture in her dissertation. Her goal is to document and make this history available for broad educational outreach.

Text and Data Mining Projects

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global is one of the most requested data-sets for text and data mining because of its broad historic to present-day coverage and deep and comprehensive data results found in the full-text records.  TDM Studio can be used alongside PQDT to easily and efficiently extract data and analyze it. See the list below for articles and projects published by scholars who used ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global data:

• TDM Studio ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global Case Studies
• Mapping Research Trends with ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (Univ. North Carolina)
• Indiana University using Dissertations Data for Research
• ProQuest Dissertation Database Provides Critical Information for Research Projects Across the US
• City University of New York

Trends in the Evolution of Research and Doctoral Education

Bruce A. Weinberg, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Public Affairs from The Ohio State University shares how text and data mining of ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global allows researchers to understand doctoral career trajectory patterns.

Improving Graduate Student Outcomes

Dr. Jearl (Ken) Helvey, Assistant Professor of Education – Doctoral Program at Texas Wesleyan University on how incorporating dissertations into the curriculum improved the doctoral student success at Texas Wesleyan University.

Related Products

Empower researchers to uncover new connections and make new discoveries using TDM Studio, a new solution for text and data mining (TDM). From the initial idea to the final output, TDM Studio puts the power of text and data mining directly in the researcher’s hands.

ProQuest One Academic brings together four core multi-disciplinary products, allowing access to the world’s largest curated collection of journals, ebooks, dissertations, news and video.

Including dissertations and theses in ProQuest means amplifying your research by making it available in a unified repository

Theses and Dissertations

Cornell theses.

Check Cornell’s library catalog , which lists the dissertations available in our library collection.

The print thesis collection in Uris Library is currently shelved on Level 3B before the Q to QA regular-sized volumes. Check with the library staff for the thesis shelving locations in other libraries (Mann, Catherwood, Fine Arts, etc.).

Non-Cornell Theses

Proquest dissertations and theses.

According to ProQuest, coverage begins with 1637. With more than 2.4 million entries,  ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global  is the starting point for finding citations to doctoral dissertations and master’s theses. Dissertations published from 1980 forward include 350-word abstracts written by the author. Master’s theses published from 1988 forward include 150-word abstracts. UMI also offers over 1.8 million titles for purchase in microfilm or paper formats. The full text of more than 930,000 are available in PDF format for immediate free download. Use  Interlibrary Loan  for the titles not available as full text online.

Foreign Dissertations at the Center for Research Libraries

To search for titles and verify holdings of dissertations at the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), use the CRL catalog . CRL seeks to provide comprehensive access to doctoral dissertations submitted to institutions outside the U. S. and Canada (currently more than 750,000 titles). One hundred European universities maintain exchange or deposit agreements with CRL. Russian dissertation abstracts in the social sciences are obtained on microfiche from INION.  More detailed information about CRL’s dissertation holdings .

Additional Resources

Please see our resource guide on dissertations and theses for additional resources and support.

Adapting a Dissertation or Thesis Into a Journal Article

Dissertations or theses are typically required of graduate students. Undergraduate students completing advanced research projects may also write senior theses or similar types of papers. Once completed, the dissertation or thesis is often submitted (with modifications) as a manuscript for publication in a scholarly journal. Thus, the dissertation or thesis often provides the foundation for a new researcher’s body of published work.

Writers will first want to determine whether the work in their dissertation or thesis merits publication. If it does, we then provide guidance on how to adapt a dissertation or thesis for submission to a journal.

Adapting a dissertation or thesis into a journal article is covered in the seventh edition APA Style Publication Manual in Section 12.1

Deciding to submit a dissertation or thesis for publication

When deciding whether to publish the work in your dissertation or thesis, first consider whether the findings tell a compelling story or answer important questions. Whereas dissertations and theses may present existing knowledge in conjunction with new work, published research should make a novel contribution to the literature. For example, some of your original research questions might be suitable for publication, and others may have been sufficiently addressed in the literature already. Likewise, some of your results may warrant additional experiments or analyses that could help answer the research questions more fully, and you may want to conduct these analyses before seeking publication.

You may also want to consider such factors as whether the current sample size provides sufficient power to adequately inform the analyses and whether additional analyses might clarify ambiguous findings. Consultation with colleagues can help evaluate the potential of the manuscript for publication as well as the selection of an appropriate journal to which to submit it. For information on selecting and prioritizing a journal (and tips for avoiding predatory or deceptive journals), see Sections 12.2 to 12.4 of the Publication Manual .

Adapting a dissertation or thesis for publication

Once a decision is made to convert your dissertation or thesis into a manuscript for submission to a journal, you will want to focus attention on adapting it for publication. By attending to brevity and focus, writing style, relevant literature review and data analyses, and appropriate interpretation of the results or findings, you can enhance the fit of your manuscript for journal publication. Editors and reviewers readily recognize an article that has been hastily converted; careful attention when reformatting the dissertation or thesis is likely to increase the manuscript’s potential for serious consideration and eventual publication.

There are several steps writers seeking to prepare their dissertation or thesis for publication can take beforehand:

• Look at articles in the field and in relevant journals to see what structure and focus are appropriate for their work and how they are formatted.
• Request and consider the input of advisors, colleagues, or other coauthors who contributed to the research on which the dissertation or thesis is based.
• Review an article submitted to a journal alongside their advisor (with permission from the journal editor) or serve as a reviewer for a student competition to gain firsthand insight into how authors are evaluated when undergoing peer review.

The original research reported in a dissertation and thesis can then be reformatted for journal submission following one of two general strategies: the multiple-paper strategy or the conversion strategy.

Multiple-paper strategy

The quickest strategy for converting (or “flipping”) a dissertation or thesis into one or more publishable articles is to use a multiple-paper format when initially writing the dissertation or thesis. This involves structuring the dissertation or thesis used to fulfill the requirements for a degree as a series of shorter papers that are already formatted for journal submission (or close to it). These papers are usually each the length of a journal article, conceptually similar, and come from the same overarching project—but can stand alone as independent research reports. Consult your university’s editorial office to confirm that this is an approved format for your dissertation or thesis and to obtain the specific guidelines.

Conversion strategy

A second strategy is to reformat and convert a dissertation or thesis into a journal article after completing your dissertation or thesis defense to fit the scope and style of a journal article. This often requires adjustments to the following elements:

• Length: Brevity is an important consideration for a manuscript to be considered for journal publication, particularly in the introduction and Discussion sections. Making a dissertation or thesis publication-ready often involves reducing a document of over 100 pages to one third of its original length. Shorten the overall paper by eliminating text within sections and/or eliminating entire sections. If the work examined several research questions, you may consider separating distinct research questions into individual papers; narrow the focus to a specific topic for each paper.
• Abstract: The abstract may need to be condensed to meet the length requirements of the journal. Journal abstract requirements are usually more limited than college or university requirements. For instance, most APA journals limit the abstract length to 250 words.
• Introduction section: One of the major challenges in reformatting a dissertation or thesis is paring down its comprehensive literature review to a more succinct one suitable for the introduction of a journal article. Limit the introductory text to material relating to the immediate context of your research questions and hypotheses. Eliminate extraneous content or sections that do not directly contribute to readers’ knowledge or understanding of the specific research question(s) or topic(s) under investigation. End with a clear description of the questions, aims, or hypotheses that informed your research.
• Method section: Provide enough information to allow readers to understand how the data were collected and evaluated. Refer readers to previous works that informed the current study’s methods or to supplemental materials instead of providing full details of every step taken or the rationale behind them.
• Results section: Be selective in choosing analyses for inclusion in the Results section and report only the most relevant ones. Although an unbiased approach is important to avoid omitting study data, reporting every analysis that may have been run for the dissertation or thesis often is not feasible, appropriate, or useful in the limited space of a journal article. Instead, ensure that the results directly contribute to answering your original research questions or hypotheses and exclude more ancillary analyses (or include them as supplemental materials). Be clear in identifying your primary, secondary, and any exploratory analyses.
• Discussion section: Adjust the discussion according to the analyses and results you report. Check that your interpretation and application of the findings are appropriate and do not extrapolate beyond the data. A strong Discussion section notes area of consensus with and divergence from previous work, taking into account sample size and composition, effect size, limitations of measurement, and other specific considerations of the study.
• References: Include only the most pertinent references (i.e., theoretically important or recent), especially in the introduction and literature review, rather than providing an exhaustive list. Ensure that the works you cite contribute to readers’ knowledge of the specific topic and to understanding and contextualizing your research. Citation of reviews and meta-analyses can guide interested readers to the broader literature while providing an economical way of referencing prior studies.
• Tables and figures: Make sure that tables or figures are essential and do not reproduce content provided in the text.

Revising Your Dissertation for Publication

While a dissertation’s in-depth research and analysis can provide a strong foundation for a book, the dissertation itself is not a book and will not be published by an academic press without substantial revisions. Some acquisitions editors are interested first books, especially if they bring new perspectives and fresh ideas to a field, while others do not often publish first books. If you are considering submitting your dissertation for publication, we recommend that you contact editors at university presses that publish in your subject area for guidance on revising your work. Many editors prefer to be involved in the early stages of this process so they can advise you on how to structure the book and your arguments to create a publishable book. Editors generally require changes in the length, content, tone, and style of a dissertation in order to produce a book that will appeal to buyers in the academic market. Read more about submitting a proposal in our Scholarly Publishing Guide .

Below are selected resources to help you revise your dissertation for publication as a book or journal article(s).

Advice from publishers

• Harvard University Press
• Palgrave Macmillan
• Rowman & Littlefield
• Taylor & Francis
• University of North Carolina Press
• Yale University Press
• Publisher Policies on using content in both a thesis or dissertation and an article (from MIT Libraries)
• From Dissertation to Book by William Germano (Lauinger Library, 4th Floor, PN162 .G37 2013)
• Revising Your Dissertation, Updated Edition : Advice from Leading Editors (updated edition, 2008) edited by Beth Luey (online; GU NetID and password required)
• From Dissertation to Book , Duke University (February 27, 2018)
• From Dissertation to Book ( full transcript ), Harvard University (December 17, 2010)
• How To Turn Your Dissertation into a Book , Yale University (April 6, 2016)
• From Dissertation to Book by Leonard Cassuto (Chronicle of Higher Education, May 30, 2011)
• From Dissertation to Published Book (lanugageandphilosophy.com report on an American Comparative Literature Association workshop)
• Give It a Rest by Laura Portwood-Stacer (Inside Higher Ed, August 6, 2019)
• The Stages of Revising a Dissertation into a Book by Amy Benson Brown (Journal of Scholarly Publishing, vol. 52 no. 2, 2021, p. 127-140) (GU NetID and password required)
• Turning Your Dissertation into a Book (University of Washington)
• Publishing your Dissertation (American Psychological Association)

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

• Knowledge Base
• Dissertation
• Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates

Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates

Published on June 7, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on November 21, 2023.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical early steps in your writing process . It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding the specifics of your dissertation topic and showcasing its relevance to your field.

Generally, an outline contains information on the different sections included in your thesis or dissertation , such as:

• Your anticipated title
• Your abstract
• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review, research methods, avenues for future research, etc.)

In the final product, you can also provide a chapter outline for your readers. This is a short paragraph at the end of your introduction to inform readers about the organizational structure of your thesis or dissertation. This chapter outline is also known as a reading guide or summary outline.

Table of contents

How to outline your thesis or dissertation, dissertation and thesis outline templates, chapter outline example, sample sentences for your chapter outline, sample verbs for variation in your chapter outline, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis and dissertation outlines.

While there are some inter-institutional differences, many outlines proceed in a fairly similar fashion.

• Working Title
• “Elevator pitch” of your work (often written last).
• Introduce your area of study, sharing details about your research question, problem statement , and hypotheses . Situate your research within an existing paradigm or conceptual or theoretical framework .
• Subdivide as you see fit into main topics and sub-topics.
• Describe your research methods (e.g., your scope , population , and data collection ).
• Present your research findings and share about your data analysis methods.
• Answer the research question in a concise way.
• Interpret your findings, discuss potential limitations of your own research and speculate about future implications or related opportunities.

For a more detailed overview of chapters and other elements, be sure to check out our article on the structure of a dissertation or download our template .

To help you get started, we’ve created a full thesis or dissertation template in Word or Google Docs format. It’s easy adapt it to your own requirements.

 Download Word template    Download Google Docs template

It can be easy to fall into a pattern of overusing the same words or sentence constructions, which can make your work monotonous and repetitive for your readers. Consider utilizing some of the alternative constructions presented below.

Example 1: Passive construction

The passive voice is a common choice for outlines and overviews because the context makes it clear who is carrying out the action (e.g., you are conducting the research ). However, overuse of the passive voice can make your text vague and imprecise.

Example 2: IS-AV construction

You can also present your information using the “IS-AV” (inanimate subject with an active verb ) construction.

A chapter is an inanimate object, so it is not capable of taking an action itself (e.g., presenting or discussing). However, the meaning of the sentence is still easily understandable, so the IS-AV construction can be a good way to add variety to your text.

Example 3: The “I” construction

Another option is to use the “I” construction, which is often recommended by style manuals (e.g., APA Style and Chicago style ). However, depending on your field of study, this construction is not always considered professional or academic. Ask your supervisor if you’re not sure.

Example 4: Mix-and-match

To truly make the most of these options, consider mixing and matching the passive voice , IS-AV construction , and “I” construction .This can help the flow of your argument and improve the readability of your text.

As you draft the chapter outline, you may also find yourself frequently repeating the same words, such as “discuss,” “present,” “prove,” or “show.” Consider branching out to add richness and nuance to your writing. Here are some examples of synonyms you can use.

If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or research bias, make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

Research bias

• Anchoring bias
• Halo effect
• The Baader–Meinhof phenomenon
• The placebo effect
• Nonresponse bias
• Deep learning
• Generative AI
• Machine learning
• Reinforcement learning
• Supervised vs. unsupervised learning

 (AI) Tools

• Grammar Checker
• Paraphrasing Tool
• Text Summarizer
• AI Detector
• Plagiarism Checker
• Citation Generator

When you mention different chapters within your text, it’s considered best to use Roman numerals for most citation styles. However, the most important thing here is to remain consistent whenever using numbers in your dissertation .

The title page of your thesis or dissertation goes first, before all other content or lists that you may choose to include.

A thesis or dissertation outline is one of the most critical first steps in your writing process. It helps you to lay out and organize your ideas and can provide you with a roadmap for deciding what kind of research you’d like to undertake.

• Your chapters (sometimes subdivided into further topics like literature review , research methods , avenues for future research, etc.)

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

George, T. (2023, November 21). Dissertation & Thesis Outline | Example & Free Templates. Scribbr. Retrieved September 9, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/dissertation-thesis-outline/

Is this article helpful?

Tegan George

Other students also liked, dissertation table of contents in word | instructions & examples, figure and table lists | word instructions, template & examples, thesis & dissertation acknowledgements | tips & examples, what is your plagiarism score.

This page has been archived and is no longer being updated regularly.

Degree In Sight

Publishing your dissertation

The process may seem daunting, but publishing your dissertation is doable if you follow some simple steps.

By Beth Azar

Although finishing your dissertation may be the final hurdle to completing your doctorate, getting it published may be an important step toward your career as a psychologist.

Indeed, academic psychologists are not the only ones expected to publish-research is increasingly a part of clinical positions, says University of Rochester Medical Center associate professor Robert Pollard Jr., PhD. And your dissertation may be the most logical place to start. Even if it's a small finding in a big field, your dissertation is probably a quality piece of work because it's been closely supervised by knowledgeable faculty, he notes. That doesn't mean it's going to be easy to winnow a traditional dissertation-averaging upward of 200 pages-to the lean 40 pages or less required by most journals.

Editing your dissertation means more than cutting out enough words to fit a journal's page-count.

"I can remember when I first thought about publishing my own dissertation," says Gary VandenBos, PhD, APA's publisher. "I was terrified. But the bottom line is, it's just work….It is not an overwhelming and impossible thing if you break it down into component pieces."

This process can be helped along if students think about publishing before they even start writing their dissertation, says Steven Yantis, PhD, director of graduate studies in Johns Hopkins University's department of psychological and brain sciences.

"I believe that the ultimate goal of publishing should be kept in mind so that the transformation from a dissertation format to a publishable piece is not a huge rewrite but a modest revision," he says.

And it's OK to pitch the idea of a short, pithy dissertation to your committee, says University of Victoria psychologist Steve Lindsay, PhD, editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General .

"The dissertation is a symbol of competence to work as an independent scholar," he says, "so its form should be that used by independent scholars."

If even after going through the process of preparing your dissertation for publication, it's not accepted, consider it part of the learning process, says University of Tennessee psychologist Gordon Burghardt, PhD, editor of Comparative Psychology .

"I often have manuscripts rejected," he says. "It's a learning experience. The important thing is not to lose heart and to listen to what the editors and reviewers are telling you, so you can get it right the next time."

Of course, even if you write your dissertation with publication in mind, you will still need to make major revisions to trim content and appeal to a broader audience than your doctoral committee.

Pollard provides a step-by-step guide for preparing a dissertation for publication in The Internet Journal of Mental Health (Vol. 2, No. 2). The first thing students need to realize, he says, is that editing your dissertation means more than cutting out enough words to fit a journal's page-count.

"The entire organization and thrust of the manuscript must be reconceptualized," he says.

VandenBos agrees. "The U.S. model trains the candidate in exactly the type of writing that journals do not want," he says. "Dissertation committees take a very inclusive approach, asking students to explain everything. In contrast, scholarly articles are very exclusive, excluding everything that isn't germane to the core topic."

Some institutions are turning away from this traditional model, allowing students to write several publishable articles that they then tie together with an overarching introduction and discussion, says VandenBos. Even then, many students have a considerable amount of work to do to transform their dissertation into a journal article, notes Pollard, who suggests taking a multipronged approach:

Select a journal. Many journals have their own style and submission requirements, so picking a journal and writing to its requirements from the get-go will save time, Pollard advises.

Through suggestions of mentors and peers, develop a list of potential journals, including some that may be outside your field but related in some way to your research. Pare your list down based on recommendations from your dissertation committee, says VandenBos.

Be realistic, but optimistic when choosing what level of journal to submit to, he says. "I usually recommend that, to start, students shoot about a half-notch higher than they or their committee members think their paper warrants," says VandenBos. "You have to be a little arrogant and pumped up."

Prune and prioritize content. Create a list of bullet points of your major facts and findings and select the most important ones by asking yourself: Does the reader really need to know this? Does the reader already know this? Is this so important that the reader needs to be reminded of it?

Selecting core findings was the hardest part for Simon Fraser University psychologist Deborah Connolly, PhD, who wrote a 200-plus-page "monster" for her dissertation at the University of Victoria.

"With all the analyses and all the detail, the simple take-home message was hard for even me to find," she says. "Today I would say to a student, you have to figure out the five most important points. If you want, you can order them all from most to least important, but start by just focusing on the top five."

If you can't find just five, you may want to break your dissertation into several different articles, says Burghardt. If there's a small finding that's particularly timely, students could even pull out the essential data and methods and write up an extremely concise research brief for some publication as prestigious as Science or Nature, he says.

Use simple, direct language. Even after editing, dissertations revised for publication tend to be too long, with wordy, passive sentences, and lots of formatting errors, including flip-flopping between "I" and "we" and mistakes with references, say journal editors. Those kinds of mistakes aren't going to win you any fans, says Burghardt. Connolly learned this firsthand. Editors of Child Development rejected her revised dissertation because it read too much like a cut down dissertation, she says. "It was too dense, too complicated and too difficult to follow."

Taking reviewer comments to heart, Connolly revised her writing style keeping things simple and focusing on only the most critical findings. Editors at Applied Cognitive Psychology accepted the rewritten article with almost no revisions.

Beth Azar is a writer in Portland, Ore.

The dissertation, start to finish

This article is the sixth in a six-part gradPSYCH guide to starting, researching, writing and publishing your dissertation.

Letters to the Editor