Dissertations are unpublished book-length manuscripts completed in order to earn a Ph.D. Master Degree theses are generally shorter, focused and well-documented research papers.
A good starting point to writing a thesis is the Library's Research Guide on Writing Dissertations and Theses.
Various subject-based databases index and abstract dissertations and some theses that you can use as sources for your research and templates for your own theses. These include:
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
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- The Dissertations and Theses database from ProQuest cites 2.3 million works issued by graduate institutions in North America and beyond from 1861 to the present. PDF full texts of most UC dissertations starting about 1997 are available online at no charge.
Center for Research Libraries
CRL is a good source for foreign dissertations; our CRL membership provides free loans for UCSD researchers.
Additional ETD Links
Use this UCSD LibGuide for more links to ETD (electronic theses and dissertations) repositories across the globe.
University of California ETDs
To limit to ETDs, click on the thesis box in the menu on the left. To limit to a particular campus, select the drop down option and the campus you want to search. To limit to MA Theses (rather than dissertations) in a particular field, put anthropology thesis into the search box in the upper right-hand corner and select "This Series," rather than "All of e-Scholarship."
