|
Digital Dissertations
Digital
Dissertations by ProQuest/UMI is a tool to help you find references
to dissertations written in all subject areas. Locate the Digital Dissertations
online database on the Libraries' home
page by clicking Indexes, then Multidisciplinary, then Digital Dissertations.
This is the online equivalent to two indexes the Libraries no longer
receives, Dissertation Abstracts International (Wilson Reference Z5053
.D57, ended 1999) and Dissertation Abstracts OnDisc CD-ROM (Wilson Reference,
ended 1998).
The Digital Dissertations
index has citations to dissertations and theses from over 1,000 universities.
Doctoral dissertations are included from almost all North American graduate
schools and many European universities. Masters theses represented are
selective.
Coverage: 1861
- present (it usually takes about one term from submission to inclusion
in the database).
Abstracts (short
synopses) are available for:
- doctoral theses
beginning in 1980
- masters theses
beginning in 1988
Some dissertations,
beginning with 1997 publication dates are available digitally. If the
dissertation is by a University of Minnesota author, current University
of Minnesota students, faculty, and staff can download it at no charge
(see below). If you want an immediate copy of a non-University of Minnesota
dissertation, you may have to purchase it. Otherwise, you can borrow
it via interlibrary loan (ILL).
Searching
Digital Dissertations, some hints
The default search
is a keyword search of both title and abstract in both masters and doctoral
theses.
- To search just
masters theses, search disdb(mai) and your search term
- To search just
doctoral theses, search disdb(dai) and your search term
- Truncation
End a word with ? to search all possible endings
- Boolean and
Proximity Operators
| and |
both
terms |
| or |
either
term |
| not |
first
term but not second |
| w/n |
first
term within n words of second |
| pre/n |
first
term precedes second by n words |
- Parentheses
Use parentheses for exact phrases and complex searches, e.g., cross
country skiing.
- Examples
title (anatomy) and not school (university of minnesota). This
search will result in papers with the term anatomy in the title which
were written at places other than the University of Minnesota.
keyword
((cross country or nordic) and skiing)
intelligent
w/10 buildings will find "intelligent buildings" and "buildings
that are intelligent"
military
pre/1 weapons will only find "military weapons"
This database is
searchable by fields. To search this way, type in the field tag (either
fully spelled out or abbreviated as shown in Digital Dissertation's
online help) followed by the search term in parentheses. Some useful
fields:
| Field |
Abbr |
Example |
| abstract |
ab |
ab(impressionism) |
| advisor |
ad |
ad(Jones,
Robert) |
| author |
au |
au(Nolte) |
| date |
da |
da(1990:1995),
da(>1970); da(<1985) This is the date of the degree. |
| degree |
dg |
dg(PHD)
Schools may have different names and acronyms for their degrees. |
| language |
la |
la(french)
For dissertations in foreign languages prior to 1988, see online
help. |
| school |
sc |
sc(University
of Minnesota) or by school code sc(0130) [see online help for list]
0130=UMN |
| subject |
su |
su(Speech
Communication) or by subject code su (0459) [see online help for
lists] |
| title |
ti |
ti(norwegian
and art) |
| year |
year |
yr(1998) |
Combining
sets in searches
Results for each
search are displayed as sets, which can be combined for further searching.
- Use the number
sign (#) before each set, e.g., #3 and #4
- You can combine
a set and a new term, e.g., #3 and title(education)
- If you want to
go directly to your list of results without seeing the set, select
"Lists" before submitting the search
Some
sample searches
| #1 educational
administration |
=1212 |
| #2 school(university
of minnesota) |
=24825 |
| #3 #1
and #2 |
=19 |
| #4 subject(0514) |
=50720
(This was a lengthy search; it took over 5 minutes).
(The subject
code 0514 is for education administration) |
| #5 #4
and #2 |
=746 |
| #6 #5
and da(>1990) |
=232 |
| #7 #6
and secondary |
=31 |
Viewing
Results-Marked Lists of Theses titles
Citation is the default.
Use the pull-down menu to get to citation + abstract.
- Print (e.g.,
via UniPrinter in the library)
- E-mail-will send
your list of marked titles, including abstract if you have specified
- Download-only
on home computers; most theses are larger than one floppy.
Viewing
Theses-Preview
Some theses (usually
those from other institutions) are available in Preview. You can view
the first twenty-four pages, which include the title page and table
of contents.
What
you need to have on your home computer to download a thesis PDF file
(For current University
of Minnesota students, faculty, and staff, free downloading is available
for University of Minnesota theses only, from 1997 onward. Not all theses
from this time may be available for downloading.)
- Windows 95/98/NT
or Mac (no indication it supports Windows 3.1)
- Adobe Acrobat
Reader
- Web Browser (Netscape
or MS Internet Explorer)
- Enough space
on your hard drive to accommodate the file. Each thesis could be up
to 15 megabytes or more!
Downloading
a thesis
- Request via e-mail
- You immediately
are assigned a PIN (personal identification number) on the web page
appearing next. The PIN is valid for 72 hours
- You immediately
get a web address (PDF download area) where you can point your browser
when the thesis is ready for downloading
- E-mail is sent
to you when the thesis is ready for downloading
- These files are
too large to download onto floppies. The machine you are using must
have enough hard drive space to accommodate the thesis you're downloading
- The download
website has instructions for both Windows 95/98/NT and Macintosh users
For additional
information on purchasing and borrowing theses via ILL, see: Proquest
Digital Dissertations
For information
on library locations of University of Minnesota dissertations, see the
library guide: "How to Find University of Minnesota Doctoral Dissertations
and Masters Theses."
Page comments: Gwen Schagrin
|
