Electronic theses
Theses report the results of research, and can be a useful source of information. Many theses are available for download from specialised websites:
The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) (http://www.ndltd.org/) is a project designed to make accessible digital theses from libraries across the world, including theses from the Europe, the UK and North America.
There is a search box at: http://www.ndltd.org/serviceproviders/scirus-etd-search
Many full-text theses are also available in institutional repositories at universities around the world. One place to begin is the OpenDOAR. (http://www.opendoar.org/)In addition to providing links to institutional repositories around the world, OpenDOAR lets you search for repositories or search repository contents.
Specific country repositories
below include European countries with digital theses projects or include information on theses in national library catalogues. Here are a number of thesis collections:
Australia & New Zealand:
the Australasian digital thesis Project (Australia & New Zealand)
(http://adt.caul.edu.au/)
Go to the main page
Enter your search terms. Make sure the Digital box is clicked and
Click on Search
Canada:
Theses Canada Portal (http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/thesescanada/index-e.html) free online access to the full-text of Canadian dissertations and theses from 1998 onwards.
Go to the Theses Canada Portal.
Click on Find a Thesis.
Click on Search.
Click in the Electronic Theses radio button.
Enter your keywords in the Index box or Full text box.
Click on Submit
France:
The Système universitaire de documentation (SUDOC) provides an online catalog for theses holdings at French academic libraries. Coverage goes back to 1972 for theses in the humanities and social sciences.
Go to the English-language version of the SUDOC main page.
(http://www.sudoc.abes.fr/xslt/LNG=EN/)
Click on Sudoc - Catalogue
Click on Extended Search.
Uncheck everything except Dissertations under Type of Publication.
Enter your keywords.
Click on Search.
Germany:
German digital theses are available through dissonline.de. Follow these steps:
(http://search.dissonline.de/opac.htm?method=newSearch¤tView=simple#top)
Go to the dissonline.de full-text search window.
Enter your keywords.
Click on the Suchen button.
Finland:
The University of Helsinki's e-Thesis (http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/english.html) site provides the full-text of recent theses. Many of these theses are in English. To search the University's database:
Go to the e-Thesis main page.
Enter your keywords in the search box (searching is based on Google).
Click on the Search button.
Italy:
Tesionline (http://www.tesionline.it/ricerca/)allows you to search Italian theses.
Go to the Tesionline search page.
Enter your keywords.
Click on Cerca for a keyword search or Cerca frase esatta to run a phrase search.
Japan:
JAIRO allows you to search the repositories of 84 Japanese educational institutions.
Go to the JAIRO (http://jairo.nii.ac.jp/en/) search page.
Click on the Check Clear button and click on the Thesis or Dissertation check box.
Enter your keywords.
Click on Search button.
Netherlands:
NARCIS provides access to the full-text of over 12,000 PhD theses from Dutch universities. Many of these theses are in English. All are available for immediate download. To search for a Dutch thesis:
Go to the English-language version of the NARCIS main page.
(http://www.narcis.info/)
Click on the Promise of Science tag.
Enter your search terms.
Click on Search.
Spain:
An excellent starting point is Bases de Datos de Tesis Doctorales (TESEO). This source includes details of theses completed at Spanish universities since 1976. It can be searched by author, title, keyword, abstract, and university. To find Spanish theses:
Go to the TESEO search page
(https://www.educacion.es/teseo/irBusquedaAvanzada.do)
Enter your keywords.
Click on Buscar en Teseo.
Switzerland: (http://libraries.admin.ch/cgi-bin/gw/chameleon?skin=helveticat&lng=en)
Helveticat is the online catalogue of the Swiss National Library. To find Swiss theses:
Go to Helveticat's English-language interface.
Enter a keyword in the Quick Search box.
Add diss after your search term to restrict your search to dissertations.
Click on Search.
United Kingdom :
Electronic theses online project (UK) (http://ethos.bl.uk/) Requires a once off free registration to search or download
Go to the Ethos search page
Enter your search terms
Make sure you have clicked ‘Limit search to items available for immediate download’
Click Go