ROAR has a new look...

…and is now easier to use. ROAR (Research Open Access Repository) – if you weren’t already aware – is the University of East London’s institutional repository of open access publications, and is maintained by the library. The new interface now makes it much easier to browse – simply choose ‘Browse by Year’, ‘Browse by School’ or ‘Browse by Author’ from the top of the screen – and also has a permanent search box in the top right.
As well as being home to the research output of academic staff, ROAR also plays host to a growing collection of doctoral-level theses. To view this collection, choose to 'Browse by School', then click on 'Electronic Theses and Dissertations', which appears above the list of Schools.
For more information about ROAR, contact the repository manager, whose details appear in the ‘About’ section.

Institutional research repositories...

...are where universities make publicly available their research output. This can include pre-print journal articles, conference papers and other research outputs, as well as sometimes including dissertations and theses. At UEL we have roar@UEL, but for a list of repositories from other universities, as well as facilities to search across their content, have a look at the following webpage: http://www.arl.org/sparc/repositories/collectedrep.shtml. Alternatively, if you just want a list of all repositories (by continent, then country) from around the world, check out this rather impressive collection of links: http://www.opendoar.org/countrylist.php.

Free-to-view European theses...

...are available from the DART-Europe E-theses Portal. To restrict by language, go to Advanced Search and choose a language (e.g. English). A general search for 'psychology' in English finds 494 e-theses.

Dissertation Abstracts International...

…is a publication you may come across through certain databases (e.g. EBSCO PsycINFO) or search engines like Google. It is an index of dissertations and theses published in North America (i.e. the USA and Canada). We do not have access to DAI at UEL, as it is extremely difficult to obtain the full-text of the theses found on it. If you do wish to get hold of something you find on DAI, then our main suggestion is to track down the author and / or their university department to see if they are able to provide you with a copy. British dissertations and theses are much easier to obtain – simply access the free-to-use EThOS website.

Dissertations and theses from outside the UK...

...can unfortunately be rather tricky to get hold of. Your best bet is to try contacting the author. If you cannot find their contact details (via a web search), then you can try contacting the university department or university library where the author was based at the time they wrote it, as they may be able to put you in touch with the author. Very occasionally, they may even be able to point you towards obtaining a copy!

If you find you reach a dead end in your search, then by all means get in touch with me and I'll see what assistance I can be. However, the library has no direct means of obtaining overseas (i.e. non-UK) dissertations and theses, although we might just be able to offer some advice and support which points you in the right direction. Of course, for UK theses simply head to the British Library's EThOS website.

Theses from UK universities...

…can now be requested online via the British Library’s EThOS service. It currently features over 250,000 UK theses, with many available to access in full text, free of charge. More information about the service is available on the 'About EThOS' webpage.

If you can’t find the thesis you want, simply complete the EThOS request form, and the British Library will try and track down a copy for you. Assuming they find it, they will then digitise it and add it to their free-to-use online collection.

Please note that due to this new means of accessing theses from other universities, we are no longer able to accept Inter-Library Loan requests for theses. The arrival of EThOS means that this service has now been automated, putting library users in the driving seat!

Dissertations and theses held in the library...

...can be searched for via the library catalogue. The university is obliged to keep a copy of all doctoral theses submitted at UEL, and most of these make their way into the library’s collection. The library also holds a very small collection of Masters dissertations. To find either, simply begin your search on the library catalogue with the word ‘thesis’ e.g. thesis health psychology. To view a thesis, you will then need to ask at the library counter and they will fetch it for you.

Please note, that as ‘unpublished works’ it is against Copyright Law to photocopy, take notes from or reference a thesis / dissertation without the author’s prior consent. Unless you contact the author, the thesis / dissertation collection is of most use for seeing what one looks like and how you might approach the layout / formatting of your own thesis or dissertation.