LibGuides: Music 501: Grad Music History Review: Dissertations & Theses

The Basic Steps for Identifying & Accessing Dissertations

1. You find a dissertation citation in a database or in a bibliography.

2. Check ProQuest Dissertations, an institutional repository (IDEALS is UIUC's, other institutions have their own as well), NDLTD, or one of the country-specific sites like Theses Canada if applicable, to see if the dissertation is available there in full text.

3. If the dissertation isn't online, check WorldCat to see if our Library owns a copy or if you can find a library that will loan a copy via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

4. If no copy is available through ILL, you can purchase a copy from ProQuest or ask that the Library buy a copy.

Searching for Dissertations and Theses

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses
PQDT is a comprehensive collection of citations to dissertations and theses worldwide from 1861 to the present day. Full-text is available for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and some of the older graduate works. PQDT is also the official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress and the database of record for graduate research. Also included are the citations to British and Irish dissertations and theses (PQDT: UK & Ireland) since 1761 and abstracts for content since 1986.

Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology
An international database of bibliographic records for completed dissertations and new dissertation topics in the fields of musicology, music theory, and ethnomusicology, as well as in related musical, scientific, and humanistic disciplines.
Music Theory Online Dissertation Index
Author, title, institution, and completion date (1993-present).
Dissertationsmeldestelle der Gesellschaft für Musikforschung (DMS)
German language music dissertations; covers Austria, Switzerland, and Germany
Theses Canada Portal
A searchable catalog of all Canadian theses published since 1965, many of which are available in full-text electronic versions which can be downloaded free by students, scholars, and the public.
EThOS
EThOS is the UK’s national thesis service which aims to maximise the visibility and availability of the UK’s doctoral research theses.
DART-Europe
DART-Europe is a partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses.
Dissertations from Outside the U.S. and Canada (CRL)
The collection includes doctoral dissertations submitted to institutions outside the U.S. and Canada. The range of years includes mid-19th century through the present, with the greatest concentration in the late 19th, early 20th centuries.

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This database is no longer being updated. The titles included in this database as well as almost 600,000 other dissertation titles are cataloged in CRL’s catalog and in OCLC’s Worldcat. We update our catalog and Worldcat daily.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
A collection of over 200,000 theses and dissertations from around the world. Many items, including those dating back to the early 1900s, are available in full text for free.

WorldCat
WorldCat contains all formats of materials cataloged by libraries across the country and around the world, including dissertations. Use the subtype limit Any Content > "thesis/dissertation" to limit to dissertations.

UIUC Dissertations

Check IDEALS for full-text online copies of UIUC dissertations produced since 1958.

The UIUC Library should have at least one copy of all theses and dissertations granted at UIUC. Copies of dissertations deposited at UIUC from 1978 to the present are accessible by author and title through the library catalog. Beginning with 1983, archival copies can also be searched by department and year.

Note: some UIUC DMA dissertations do not appear online in IDEALS (or ProQuest) and can only be found through the Library catalog.

Obtaining Dissertations & Theses

Interlibrary Loan

The Interlibrary Loan Office can help you obtain theses and dissertations not owned by the university and not available in pdf format through ProQuest Dissertations. They provide 2 options:

Place a standard online ILL request using the "Request a Book" form. If they can't find a free copy, they will email you and give you the option of placing an order through the Dissertation Express service.
Dissertation Express (via the Interlibrary Loan Office) is a $25 fee-based service that obtains dissertations in 4-5 business days. For more information on this service, see the dropdown in the Frequently Asked Questions.

Dissertation Express (direct via ProQuest)

If you quickly need a print copy of a dissertation that is not available for download and don't mind paying the full cost yourself, you can order it directly from Proquest's Dissertation Express as an individual. Otherwise, use one of the Interlibrary loan options described above.