Business: Doctoral Students' CyberCafe: Home

A survival guide, intended for prospective or novice business doctoral students.

Theses and Dissertations

British Library Electronic Theses Online Service
EThOS provides a national aggregated record of all doctoral theses awarded by UK Higher Education institutions. Free access to the full text of as many theses as possible for use by all researchers to further their own research. There are approximately 350,000 records relating to theses awarded by over 120 institutions. Around 120,000 of these also provide access to the full text thesis, either via download from the EThOS database or via links to the institution’s own repository. Of the remaining 250,000 records dating back to at least 1800, three quarters are available to be ordered for scanning through the EThOS digitisation-on-demand facility.
Center for Research Libraries
Try here when looking for a dissertation outside of the United States and Canada. This database includes 20,000 cataloged foreign doctoral dissertations. New records are no longer being added to this database, so if you don't find what you need here, please check the CRL catalog to view or search current foreign dissertations. Because UTK library is a member of CRL, loans to the UTK community are provided free of charge - just fill out a standard interlibrary loan request and put "Item held by CRL" in the notes field.
China Doctoral Dissertations Full-text Database
Doctoral dissertations from over 300 institutions across China. Documents are in English and Chinese.
Europe Research Theses
DART-Europe is a partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses. The DART-Europe E-theses Portal provides researchers with a single European Portal for the discovery of Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs).
OCLC Dissertations and Theses
Indexes dissertations, theses and published material based on theses cataloged by U.S. and major world libraries. No abstracts or full-text included. Not a comprehensive list!

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (1861-present)
Use Proquest Dissertations and Theses to obtain a citation for the dissertation. Most American and Canadian universities are represented in this database, as well as selected British and European universities. Dissertations completed at many major U.S. universities during the past 10 years (and sometimes earlier) are available as free full-text downloads. If the full text of a dissertation is not available through this database, you can fill out a standard interlibrary loan request. http://www.proquest.com/products-services/dissertations/find-a-dissertation.html

The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD)
The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of electronic analogues to the traditional paper-based theses and dissertations. This website contains information about the initiative, how to set up Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) programs, how to create and locate ETDs, and current research in digital libraries related to NDLTD and ETDs.
Open Access Theses and Dissertations
OATD.org aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions. OATD currently indexes 3,030,245 theses and dissertations.
ProQuest - open access dissertations and theses
PQDT Open provides the full text of open access dissertations and theses free of charge.
The authors of these dissertations and theses have opted to publish as open access. Open Access Publishing is a new service offered by ProQuest's UMI Dissertation Publishing, and we expect to have many more open access dissertations and theses over time.
Theses & Dissertations at UTK
Dissertations and theses from UTK are listed in the Libraries’ catalog by Author and by Title. To find dissertations by department, enter the department name and the word theses, e.g. Nursing Theses.
On the right menu of the catalog screen below Search Options, select for Material Type "UTK Theses/Diss."; then search for author, title, or department/college name. Links are provided to full-text of dissertations available in digital format.

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ProQuest Dissertations and Theses – dissertations from around the world (1861- )
DART – European e-theses portal
Networked Library of Digital Dissertations and Theses
ProQuest Dissertations from UTK – Includes many, but not all, UTK dissertations from 1938 through 2006. Abstracts are available from 1980, full-text for most beginning in 1995/96.
Theses Canada – Bibliographic records of all theses in Library and Archives Canada’s theses collection, established in 1965
WorldCat Dissertations and Theses – index of dissertations and theses cataloged by U.S. and major world libraries. No abstracts or full-text included. Not a comprehensive list!
How do I get a copy of a dissertation or thesis? -

Print-only theses and dissertations will be digitized on request at no charge (for anyone, including individuals not affiliated with UTK).
UTK faculty, staff, and students may obtain non-UTK dissertations/theses by
Searching the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses database for full-text, or
Submitting a request to Interlibrary Services which can often borrow a copy
Notes:
Beginning in 2006, dissertations and theses are electronic only.

For UTK dissertations completed 1997 to 2006/07, electronic full-text is available via ProQuest Dissertations.
Theses Canada
Bibliographic records of all theses in Library and Archives Canada's theses collection, established in 1965. Free access to full text electronic versions of Canadian theses and dissertations published from 1998 to August 31, 2002.
ZZZ: Keeping track of dissertations in your field (using ProQuest RSS Feeds)
The Proquest Dissertations and Theses database includes over 2 million items, with thousands of titles added each year. The database offers an RSS feed that can help you keep up to date on new theses and dissertations in your field.

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Creating an RSS feed for a recent search:

You can create an RSS feed, to automatically notify you of new documents matching your search. Simply run and refine a search, then look for the

Follow these steps to create an RSS feed:

Click Create RSS feed on the Results page, or from a list of your Recent Searches.
A new window will open, showing details for your RSS feed.
Choose to isolate only newly found materials each time the feed is run, or choose to also receive historical information along with new materials whenever the feed is run.
Copy the URL displayed next to Your RSS Feed.
Add the URL to your RSS Reader, or integrate it into your webpage.

The first time you access your RSS feed, no new documents will be available. However, as soon as new documents are available, your feed will be updated automatically with new information.

Tools for Literature Search

Academic Search Complete
This multi-disciplinary database covers magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers and is a good place to start for any subject. (Formerly Academic Search Premier)
Business Source Complete
A scholarly business database providing bibliographic and full-text content covering all disciplines of business.
Factiva
From Dow Jones and Reuters, a collection of 8000+ full text magazines and newspapers plus corporate and stock market data. The only database with current issues of the Wall Street Journal. Limit of 3 simultaneous users.
Nexis Uni
(Formerly LexisNexis Academic) Provides content from US and international magazines, journals, newspapers, television and radio broadcasts dating back mostly from the 1990s with some content from the 1970s. Also includes legal research sources and business information for US and international companies.

Books on Research Design

Finish Your Dissertation Once and for All! by Alison B. Miller
Call Number: Stacks (LB2369 .M454 2009)
ISBN: 1433804158
Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design by John W. Creswell
Call Number: Stacks (H61 .C73 2007)
ISBN: 9781412995306
Research design : qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches
Call Number: Stacks (H62 .C6963 1994)
ISBN: 0803952554
The literature review : six steps to success by Machi, Lawrence A.
Call Number: Stacks (LB1047.3 .M33 2009 )

Find Journals for Your Article Publishing

Academic Journal Search Tool:

Cabells Scholarly Analytics
Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities contains information designed to help researchers and academics match their manuscripts with the scholarly journals which are most likely to publish those manuscripts. The Directories index journals according to twenty-four (+/-) different topic areas and provide publication information and review process such as Acceptance Rate, Type of Review.

CiteScore metrics
CiteScore Percentile indicates the relative standing of a journal in its subject field. A CiteScore Percentile of 98% means the journal is in the top 2% of its subject field. You can use this number to compare journals in different subject fields.
CiteScore Rank, and Rank Out Of indicates the absolute standing of a serial in its field; for example, 14th out of 63 journals in the category.
Documents is the denominator of the CiteScore calculation.
Citation Count is the numerator of the CiteScore calculation.
CiteScore Tracker forecasts a source’s performance for the upcoming year. CiteScore Tracker 2016, for instance, will continue to update on a monthly basis until it is fixed as an annual score in spring 2017, at which point Scopus will start to provide a monthly view on CiteScore Tracker 2017.
Elsevier Journal Finder
Elsevier Journal Finder helps you find journals that could be best suited for publishing your manuscripts. Ulrichsweb is the source of bibliographic and publisher information on more than 300,000 periodicals of all types academic and scholarly journals, Open Access publications, peer-reviewed titles, popular magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and more from around the world. [UTK Library System has this database]
SCImago Journal & Country Rank
SJR is a free tool allowing academics to search for information on thousands of academic journals and to find a suitable journal to submit your research to. The SCImago Journal & Country Rank is a portal that includes the journals and country scientific indicators developed from the information contained in the Scopus® database (Elsevier B.V.). Academics can search by keyword or category and refine their search by impact factor to help direct them to the leading journals in their respective fields, as well as descriptions and direct links to the websites of these journals.

Ulrichsweb: Global Serials Directory
A source of bibliographic and publisher information on more than 300,000 periodicals of all types academic and scholarly journals, Open Access publications, peer-reviewed titles, popular magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and more from around the world.
ulrich ulrich's ulrichs

Selecting Journals to Publish with

Where to Find Help for Proofreading Your Dissertation

NO proofreading services are provided on campus (including the libraries).

The Writing Center at UT is unable to do proofreading for students on theses and dissertations. However, students who are in the process of writing such documents may request that someone edit their work on a fee basis outside of the Writing Center.

Contact the Writing Center to request a freelance editor for your thesis or dissertation:

Visit the center at HSS 212 during their open hours
Call 865-974-2611
Email writingcenter@utk.edu

Most journal publishers, such as Elsevier, provide fee-based proofreading services on their websites.

Do you have suggestions for this guide?

Hello fellow doctoral students,

If you think of any topics that doctoral students should know or any topic is missing from this site,
please email me (judyli@utk.edu). I'm glad to add onto this guide to help each other. Thanks! Judy Li, PhD

Data Analysis Tool Guides

Data Visualization Open Source Tools

Open Data Sources for Social Science/Business Research

Qualitative Data Repository - Syracuse University
The Qualitative Data Repository (QDR) is a dedicated archive for storing and sharing digital data (and accompanying documentation) generated or collected through qualitative and multi-method research in the social sciences. QDR provides search tools to facilitate the discovery of data, and also serves as a portal to material beyond its own holdings, with links to U.S. and international archives. The repository’s initial emphasis is on political science.
The Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar University
Some SESRI studies are available for analysis and use by researchers, students, policymakers, journalists, and the
general public. The use of these datasets is solely for research or statistical purposes and not for investigation of speciﬁc survey respondents.
World Bank Group - Enterprise Surveys
Enterprise Surveys Data
Enterprise Surveys offers an expansive array of economic data on 131,000 firms in 139 countries. The data is presented in a variety of ways useful to researchers, policy makers, journalists, and others. Note that data users should exercise caution when comparing raw data and point estimates between surveys that did and did not adhere to the Enterprise Surveys Global Methodology.
World Values Survey
The WVS is the largest non-commercial, cross-national, time series investigation of human beliefs and values ever executed, currently including interviews with almost 400,000 respondents. Moreover the WVS is the only academic study covering the full range of global variations, from very poor to very rich countries, in all of the world’s major cultural zones.

Research Support and Policies: University of Tennessee

Citation Management Training - EndNote
Check out training sessions on using the citation management software at the Hodges Library.
The Institutional Review Board
The Institutional Review Board (IRB) regulates all research activities involving human subjects on the UT Knoxville campus.

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The IRB is a committee appointed to ensure rights, safety, and welfare of human research subjects; ensure compliance with all applicable federal and state laws/regulations; and conduct ethical reviews of human research activities including initial, continuation, modification, unanticipated problems and alleged noncompliance. Its primary responsibility is to assure UT Knoxville researchers operate within the provisions of the Federalwide Assurance of Compliance filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP).
OIT Research Support
Their mission is to help UT researchers use computing and analytic methods.

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OIT provides up to 10 free hours of support per semester for research computing including:

Software Support of SPSS, QDA Miner, MATLAB, SAS, WordStat, LabVIEW, Amos, R, Maple...
Research Planning including designing studies or experiments and determining sample size and sample type.
Data Acquisition including designing web surveys, scanning and scoring scan forms, using computers to control lab instruments and log data, capturing web sites and importing third party datasets.
Data Management including cleaning, transforming or recoding data and converting, stacking or joining data sets.
Data Exploration using graphics, interactive visualization and data mining methods to find useful patterns in your data.
Data Analysis using quantitative and/or qualitative methods or to analyze numbers, words and images. We provide comprehensive statistical consulting support as well as support for qualitative research, content analysis and data mining.
Presenting Results finding the right combination of words, tables and figures.
Writing or editing results sections of papers we co-author.
Steps Leading Up to Submitting Your Thesis Or Dissertation

Other Research Support Sources

ORCID
ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-based effort to provide a registry of unique researcher identifiers and a transparent method of linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers. ORCID is unique in its ability to reach across disciplines, research sectors, and national boundaries and its cooperation with other identifier systems.