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Theses and dissertations

Guide to resources for finding theses and dissertations. Developed in response to OCLC cancellation of Dissertation Abstracts.

Finding OSU Theses and Dissertations

To find an OSU thesis or dissertation use ScholarsArchive@OSU

  • Use a keyword search, enter your department or college name.  For example, Biochemistry and Biophysics, or Public Health.
  • Refine your results to theses or dissertations on the left-hand side of the results page. Find the Resource Type heading (scroll almost to the end of the refining options), expand the box, then choose the Masters Thesis or Dissertation link depending on your interest.
  • To find recent theses or dissertations, next refine your results on the left-hand side of the results page using the Commencement Year heading. Expand the box, then enter your preferred date range. For example 2017-2020. Then click "limit."
  • From this focused list of results, click on a thesis or dissertation title. 
  • To view the full text, select the Download PDF link on the left side of the page.

Other sources of theses & dissertations

  1. ProQuest Dissertation Express: find citations here, then request it from OSU Libraries' Interlibrary Loan.
  2. American Doctoral Dissertations 1902-present This free research database indexes thousands of theses and dissertations accepted by American universities from 1902 to the present and, when available, provides links to full text.
  3. PQDT Open Searches open access theses and dissertations from the ProQuest database. It is a small subset of Dissertation Abstracts (includes full text).
  4. Google indexes many open access theses and dissertations from institutions and authors that have published them as open access.
  5. Check the database list to see if they index dissertations (many do) or ask your subject librarian for help selecting the best option.
  6. Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) Recommends several search engines for access to dissertations and theses.
  7. Foreign dissertations from CRL The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) has cataloged over 800,000 dissertations from countries outside the US and Canada. (note OSU faculty and students can request materials from the CRL through Interlibrary Loan).

Where is Dissertation Abstracts?

Dissertation Abstracts (a ProQuest database) is no longer available at Oregon State University.  For many years OSU Libraries were able to provide access to this database through a provider that charged a set price on a per search basis. That access is no longer being offered.  Subscribing to Dissertation Abstracts through ProQuest is not possible due to the increased price.  However, we have developed this guide in order to direct the OSU community to other useful resources for finding theses and dissertations.

Please contact your subject librarian if you have questions about finding dissertations and theses in your field.