Theses and Dissertations
- British Library Electronic Theses Online ServiceEThOS 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 LibrariesTry 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 DatabaseDoctoral dissertations from over 300 institutions across China. Documents are in English and Chinese.
- Europe Research ThesesDART-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 ThesesIndexes 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 GlobalUse 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 DissertationsOATD.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 thesesPQDT 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 UTKDissertations 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. - Theses CanadaBibliographic 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.
Tools for Literature Search
- Academic Search CompleteThis multidisciplinary database covers magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers and is a good place to start for any subject.
- Business Source CompleteA scholarly business database providing bibliographic and full-text content covering all disciplines of business.
- FactivaA collection of thousands of full-text magazines and newspapers plus corporate and stock market data.
- Nexis UniProvides legal news, business, and cases and codes, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Also includes legal research sources and business information for US and international companies.
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
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.
Books on Research Design
Research design : qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches by Publication Date: 2013-03-22This edition for sale in USA and Canada only. The book that has helped more than 150,000 students and researchers prepare their plan or proposal for a scholarly journal article, dissertation or thesis has been revised and updated while maintaining all the features that made the first edition so popular. New to this edition: · Because mixed method research has come into its own since the publication of the first edition, every chapter now shows how to implement a mixed method design in your proposal or plan as well as showing how to do the other two (qualitative and quantitative) approaches · Ethical issues that may arise in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods designs have been added to a new section in Chapter 3 · Writing tips and considerations have been expanded and moved to the first part of the book to get your research plan started in the right direction · The latest developments in qualitative inquiry, including advocacy, participatory, and emancipatory approaches have been added to Chapter 10 · Mixed Method Procedures (Chapter 11) show readers how to identify the type of mixed method strategy, select the data collection and analysis approaches, and plan the overall structure of the study Examples, drawn from various disciplinary fields, are used throughout the book to deepen the readers understanding of the discussion. These include examples of studies with marginalized individuals in our society that reflect issues in social justice in addition to the traditional samples and populations studied by social researchers.
Finish Your Dissertation, Don't Let It Finish You! by ISBN: 9781118133033Publication Date: 2013-11-04An all-inclusive, practical guide to help you design, conduct, and finish your academic dissertation--with minimal drama Sharing the secrets for successfully navigating through the dissertation and thesis process while maintaining your sanity, Finish Your Dissertation, Don't Let It Finish You! presents comprehensive coverage of the entire dissertation process, from selecting a committee and choosing a research topic to conducting the research and writing and defending your dissertation. Joanne Broder Sumerson follows the sequential flow of a dissertation, to help you move through the process in a logical, step-by-step manner, with an abundance of practical examples and useful tips on: Proper dissertation etiquette--smarts and strategies for managing the committee Breaking ground on your study The anatomy of the five chapters of your dissertation Making a compelling argument for why your study should be done Creating an exemplary literature review The best practices in research design Getting official approval from the Institutional Review Board Organizing your freshly collected data Concluding your dissertation Presenting a smooth oral defense
The Literature Review by Call Number: LB1047.3 .M33 2009ISBN: 9781412961349Publication Date: 2008-07-10
Find Journals for Your Article Publishing
Academic Journal Search Tool:
- Cabells JournalyticsCabell'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.
- Elsevier Journal FinderElsevier 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]
- Metrics to show journal, article & author influenceCiteScore 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. - SCImago Journal & Country RankSJR 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.
- UlrichswebA source of bibliographic and publisher information on more than 300,000 periodicals of all types.
Funding Possibilities for doctoral proposals and dissertations in business-related areas
Data Visualization Open Source Tools
Open Data Sources for Social Science/Business Research
- The Distressed Communities IndexExplore how your community performs on the Distressed Communities Index. Users can visualize how well-being varies across zip codes, counties, and congressional districts.
- Google Dataset SearchDataset Search is a tool that Google launched in 2019. Dataset Search does exactly what the name implies, it helps you find publicly available datasets on a wide variety of topics related to economics and demographics.
- Qualitative Data Repository - Syracuse UniversityThe 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 SurveysEnterprise 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 SurveyThe 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 - EndNoteCheck out training sessions on using the citation management software at the Hodges Library.
- The Institutional Review BoardThe Institutional Review Board (IRB) regulates all research activities involving human subjects on the UT Knoxville campus.
- OIT Research SupportTheir mission is to help UT researchers use computing and analytic methods.
Other Research Support Sources
- ORCIDORCID 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.
How To ...
- Do's and Don't's When Submitting PapersDownload this pdf article. Although it is for Zoology field, several points also apply across other disciplines.
- Navigating the Dissertation (U of South California)Check out different stages in preparing a dissertation.
- Organizing Your Social Sciences Research PaperThis library guide by University of South California presents steps in developing and organizing a research paper in social sciences.