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Interlibrary Loan - Dissertations

How do I get dissertations from other universities?

Dissertations owned by McIntyre Library can be found in the library catalog. If McIntyre Library does not own the dissertation, then try searching Universal Borrowing; it may be available from another UW campus library.  We also recommend that you search Google or Google Scholar for dissertations as more and more are becoming available online.  Searching a Proquest database may provide an abstract for a dissertation, if that is all that is needed.  If these methods do not work there are other options for obtaining it:

  • Dissertations through Interlibrary Loan: The library will try to borrow a dissertation for faculty, staff and students at no cost through Interlibrary Loan, if it is available for loan. Dissertation Express is a site for purchasing dissertations, but it is also useful for identifying or verifying dissertation titles for requesting through Interlibrary Loan.

  • Purchasing Dissertations
    • If a dissertation is not available via interlibrary loan, students and faculty have another option. They can order a copy through the UMI unbound pages service, Dissertation Express.  The cost is about $35.00.  The order will be filled within 72 hours with a shrink-wrapped, 8.5" x 11" copy of the dissertation.
    • The library will purchase a dissertation for the collection for a faculty member if the dissertation is ordered from their departmental library allocation and meets our collection development guidelines. The library will purchase a dissertation for students if it fits with our collection development guidelines.

  • Other places to look: The article listed below includes links to thesis and dissertation abstracts, some links to the full text of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), as well as information about Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) and instructions on obtaining the ETDs from other institutions.
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