What is Digital Dissertations?

Digital Dissertations is a database of bibliographic citations to doctoral dissertations and master's theses published since 1861.  Full-text of dissertations and theses published from 1997 to the present is available.  Dissertations and theses are in all fields of study.

Searching Digital Dissertations

Digital Dissertations can be searched by the following fields:  abstract, adviser, author, degree date, degree awarded, database ID, volume/issue, ISBN, keyword, language, publication/order#, school, subject, and title.  Searches work best when they are combined, i.e., Illinois Institute of Technology (school) AND computer science (subject) AND PhD (degree).

What if a thesis or dissertation is not in Digital Dissertations?

The collection in Digital Dissertations is based on what universities submit to UMI, which publishes dissertations in print and online.  UMI receives approximately 45,000 doctoral dissertations per year and 10,000-15,000 master's theses per year.  IIT has not been consistent about submitting master's theses to UMI, so Digital Dissertations is not an accurate representation of every master's thesis at IIT. 

Tips on using Digital Dissertations

Digital Dissertations can be slow.  Be prepared to wait for it to load and to search.  This is not our server; it is the database itself which is slow.  Note that when you receive your list of results, only dissertations published from 1997 to the present will have the full text available.  Click on the "free download" icon for the item you want.  You will be prompted to put in your e-mail address, so that the database can e-mail you the URL and PIN needed to access the dissertation.  Once you access it, it will be available for 72 hours.

The dissertations

Dissertations are downloaded in PDF so you will need Adobe Acrobat to read them.  The size of the file will be given, and these files are too big for floppy disks.

Getting dissertations in print at the Galvin Library

If the IIT dissertation or thesis you want is not available from UMI, you may search for it in Voyager, the library's online catalog.  Once you have identified the item and its call number, the librarian at the Reference Desk will retrieve it for you from Special Collections.  It cannot be checked out but you may look at it in the library and photocopy it.  Theses and dissertations can only be retrieved Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 p.m.