Reading other people’s dissertations, including those within in your own department, can be helpful to provide you with a better sense of what a dissertation looks like and a general sense of what is expected. For example, if you are using qualitative methods, you may find it helpful to review another student’s qualitative dissertation study, especially the method section, to obtain an idea of how others conduct and write about their study. Or perhaps reviewing the literature review sections from a few dissertations may provide ideas for how literature reviews are structured, or how research on a topic was synthesized.
Below you'll lean how to find dissertations, including those from the Chicago School or even within your department, as well as how to find dissertations by topic, or methodology.
To find dissertations at The Chicago School, use the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global database. You can also find this database on the Databases A-Z page.
In the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database, use the advanced search, and then scroll to the "University/ institution" limiters under the search box. You can either type "Chicago school" in the "University/ institution" search box OR use "Look Up Universities/ Institutions"
In the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global . Change the search parameter in the dropdown menu next to the search box to “department,” then enter the department name in the search box.
For example, if you're looking for dissertations in international psychology, you can put “international psychology” in the search box.
Remember to put “Chicago School” under “University/institution” further down the page to limit dissertations to The Chicago School.
OneSearch is a good place to start a search for dissertations on a topic, as it searches across multiple databases.
To find dissertations in OneSearch, first conduct a search by entering your keywords in the OneSearch box. After you get your search results:
OR, Use the OneSearch "Advanced Search" option, found under the OneSearch box, on the right. In the Advanced Search, use the "Material Type" limiter on the right, and then scroll down to "Dissertations" in the drop down menu:
Databases are another place to search for dissertations. Use the Databases A-Z and then use the dropdown menu under "All Database Types" and then limit to "Dissertations and Theses"
Databases may offer more limiters and search options than using OneSearch. The ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global database is the largest dissertations database with over a million full-text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format.
Most dissertation abstracts will include the methodology used. To limit dissertation to a particular methodology,
1) Enter your keywords such as
qualitiative
quantitative
phenomenological
mixed methods
2) Change the search field to "Abstract:"
3) Add any additional keywords and search
Watch this short 3-minute video on how to find dissertations at The Chicago School Library
