Tommy Nixon
Liaison for Classics, Dramatic Art, & English/Comparative Literature

tommy_nixon@unc.edu
919.962.1151

Contact a librarian for help or chat with us now.

UNC Libraries do not routinely buy dissertations from other schools, but if we have purchased a dissertation it will appear in the online catalog.

If we do not have a dissertation or thesis, usually we can borrow it. See the Borrowing & Purchasing page for more information on making an interlibrary loan request.

Dissertations

• Dissertations & Theses — the best tool for identifying dissertations; covers most U.S. and Canadian universities and a growing selection of foreign schools
• WorldCat — not exhaustive, but can be a valuable way to search for dissertations.

Theses

Masters' theses from other schools are more difficult to identify. Contact your subject librarian for help identifying theses in your subject area.

• Dissertations & Theses — has some, but not all institutions submit their masters' theses
• WorldCat — not exhaustive, but can be a valuable way to search for theses
• The Guide to Reference Books — can be used to identify subject-oriented bibliographies that list masters' theses

Foreign dissertations are trickier to identify, but there are a variety of national listings.

National Listings

• ASLIB.  Index to Theses: Universities of Great Britain and Ireland. 1716-.
• Bibliographien der Dissertationen und anderer Hochschulschriften
• Systeme Universitaire de Documentation (includes French dissertations)
• DissOnline (Online Dissrtations)
• Digital Dissertation Library of the Russian State Library

Other Places to Search

• Dissertations & Theses — includes listings from many foreign universities
• WorldCat — not exhaustive, but can be a valuable way to search for dissertations.
• Center for Research Libraries' Catalog – includes many foreign dissertations that CRL holds and that can be borrowed by member institutions (UNC-CH is a CRL Member). Foreign dissertations not already in their collection will be acquired on demand for member institutions and can be requested through interlibrary loan (see Borrowing & Purchasing).
• The Guide to Reference Books — "Dissertations" section is very good and has subsections for individual countries for which listings exist