Finding Dissertations and Theses

Generally speaking, doctoral dissertations and master's theses defended at UConn should have a record in our catalog. Searching by title or author name should return the full bibliographic information, including the document's physical and/or digital location. While some records indicate whether a text is a thesis or dissertation, the language of our catalog does not always distinguish the two and usually uses the term "dissertation" in a generic sense.

If your search returns many hits, you can limit your results to dissertations in "material type" in our advanced search interface or filter by "resource type" on the results page. (Please note: This particular filter uses "dissertations" to mean both doctoral dissertations and master's theses.)

(On the advanced search page, note the "Dissertations" drop-down option under "Material Type.")

(On the search results page, note the "Dissertations" filter under "Resource Type.")

Clicking on the item in your search results list will bring you to the full item catalog record, which will explain your options for accessing the document. (See the box below for further information.)

Once you locate the entry in the catalog for the dissertation or thesis you are looking for, the item catalog page will provide information on how to access it.

Below the title information at the top, you will notice descriptions of the location of the text. Many UConn dissertations are housed physically in the Library collections and digitally for immediate download.

(In the catalog entry shown above, clicking the link under "Full text availability" should take you to a digitized version of this dissertation. Under "Location Items," you will see the location and availability of a print copy.)

Recent dissertations and theses may be available only in digital format. A link on the record page will take you directly to the PDF on either Digital Commons or the CT Digital Archive. Please contact us if such a link does not work in the record. 

(In the catalog record shown above, you will note that the text is available only as a digitized version, accessible at the link under "Full text availability.")

Some recently-defended dissertations may be unavailable due to embargo for a specified amount of time. Please note that there is also a delay between a defense date and the creation of a catalog record. After a successful defense, UConn must confer the degree (typically at the current semester's end) before the Library can provide access to the dissertation via the catalog.

While some older dissertations and theses have also been digitized, many older texts originally submitted as physical copies are not yet available in digital forms. In this circumstance, catalog records will indicate only their location in UConn's Archives and Special Collections.

(The catalog record shown above lists only a print copy available in the Archives & Special Collections Reading Room. The lack of a "Full text availability" link indicates that this dissertation has not yet been digitized.)

Print dissertations and theses are available by appointment in the ASC Reading Room. However, we may also be able to digitize items upon request -- please reach out to University Archivist Betsy Pittman for additional information about the availability and timeline for this service.

Searching for known items where you have either the full title or author name is relatively straightforward. However, there are other scenarios where the manner in which dissertations and theses are gathered and described makes searching more challenging.

If you have a partial title, partial name, or other relevant keywords, adding those terms to a catalog search along with "thesis" and "Connecticut" can often retrieve the item in question.

For UConn dissertations and theses, information such as department and advisors have been inconsistently included in catalog entries. For example, searching "Dept. of English" and filtering for dissertations will certainly retrieve some, but not all, of the dissertations defended by students in the department. The different features and interfaces of these databases also contribute to the challenge. While the records in Digital Commons and the CT Digital Archive often provide greater information, these platforms do not allow searching across all of these fields.

Because each situation is unique, we encourage you to reach out to our Ask a Librarian service or your subject specialist to discuss your search strategies or set up a research consultation.

At this time, undergraduate honors theses completed with the UConn Honors Program are neither given records in the library catalog nor housed in the CT Digital Archive, as dissertations and master's theses are.

Honors theses and University Scholar projects are held as physical copies within the Library Archives & Special Collections, however. If you have information regarding the author, title, and/or date of a particular project, please contact our University Archivist Betsy Pittman to see if this text might be accessible.

Additionally, students who have completed an honors thesis or University Scholar project can choose to submit their work to UConn's Digital Commons. The collections of honors theses and University Scholar projects can be browsed by year and searched using the Digital Commons's search interface. Because this is optional, the Digital Commons does not contain all such projects.

You may also contact the Honors Program if you are unable to locate or access a thesis or project.