Tisch Talks: Finding Tufts Theses and Dissertations

Production Date: (March 30, 2009)

Welcome to Tisch Talks, Tisch Library’s audio magazine series. Today’s talk is about how to find Ph.D. dissertations and masters’ theses that have been written by Tufts students. I begin with the assumption that you have a citation (author, title, maybe even the year written) of the paper you wish to find. If this is not the case, you will want to search an appropriate database, such as Dissertations and Theses: Full Text. To access that database, search its title in the Tufts Catalog, found at http://library.tufts.edu. An alternative is to search a subject database. Thus, to find a dissertation written about cognitive behavior therapy, I would search PsycInfo.

So, let’s begin. To follow this recording hands-on, begin at http://library.tufts.edu. Pause this recording while you do so. Tufts arts and sciences and engineering masters’ theses and Ph.D. dissertations are in the catalog. They can be searched by author or title. If you would like to browse in the catalog by department, do a keyword search for tufts dept name of the department, for example: tufts dept child development. The catalog will tell you where to find a copy of the paper. Note that most Ph.D. dissertations issued after 1996 (2005 for master’s theses) are available full text from the Dissertations and Theses @ Tufts University database. The easiest way to access this database is to search the catalog by its title.

To find theses and dissertations written by students at the other Tufts schools including Fletcher. Sackler, Nutrition and the Dental school. search by author for:

For example, if you type Tufts University Sackler school of graduate biomedical sciences into the catalog, you’ll see a lengthy list, divided by department. Choose the department that best represents your needs.

To find theses done at the School of Veterinary Medicine, search by title for TUSVM theses.

If you know the name of the paper or its author, you can search either of those criteria in the catalog.

If you prefer to search by topic, for example South America, search the catalog by Tufts Dissertations and Theses. This is probably the broadest search that you can do, and will show you papers written at all of Tufts graduate programs.

Tufts undergraduate theses are housed in the Digital Collections and Archives. A guide to the collection is in the Tufts Digital Library. To find it, go to http://dca.tufts.edu/. Hover your mouse over collections, then guide to collections, then university records collections guides and finally click on academic departments and programs. From this page, scroll to undergraduate honors theses. You’ll notice that the guide is divided by department, so select the department you need to see the undergraduate theses. These papers are not available to be checked out and must be used in the DCA offices.

As a footnote, to locate Ph.D. dissertations and masters’ theses written at other colleges and universities, check either one of the following

I hope you’ve enjoyed this installment of Tisch Talks and invite your questions at any time. Don’t hesitate to be in touch!


Tufts University