ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) The world’s most reliable tool for the discovery and dissemination of graduate works

Using dissertations/theses for research Dissertations provide excellent sources for a quick overview of the state of the art for very specific areas of research. A doctoral student in cell biology isn't trying to cover progress in the entire field in the literature review, but literature specific to his or her particular research, e.g., the chemical structure of some particular cancer cell, 3-D virtual imaging of plant cells, etc. A recent dissertation on a topic closely related to your own area of interest can be an excellent source for starting your project, studying the research process used by another researcher, or as a check to see that you haven't left out some key issue or paper in your own literature review. Dissertations can sometimes be fun, silly, compelling, or downright boring - but they are always important research documents. From Searcher, Mar 2010 Herther, N. (2010). Dissertations and research in an era of change. Searcher, 18(2), 22-25,30-31, Retrieved from From Searcher, May

Accessing dissertations in the digital age Solution: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database The database of record for graduate research Official dissertations repository for the United States Library of Congress Collection includes the work by authors from more than 1,700 graduate schools and universities globally 3

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) Graduate Works (in millions) 4 2.9M total Full Text records and citations 2.1M available in Full Text

PQDT. Global and extensive access to dissertations/theses Over 2.1 million full text titles available for purchase as printed copies Full text for graduate works added since Strong retrospective full text coverage for older graduate works Over 2.1 million graduate works in full text Simple bibliographic citations available for dissertations dating from 1637 Searchable citations from 1861 through the present ProQuest partners with 700 academic institutions worldwide to publish their graduate works 80,000 new full text graduate works added each year 5

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Cited References “On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say it would be a 10, I think once somebody has located the dissertation, they need to be able to use that information and make more use of that information which they would be able to do if the citations were clearly marked in the electronic source.” – University of Birmingham 8