Home → University Services → Library → Libraries and Collections → Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations

Searching for Theses

University of Newcastle Theses
Australian Theses
International Theses

Obtaining Theses

Writing your Theses

Other Links

Research and Research Training
EndNote - bibliographic software

Searching for Theses

University of Newcastle Theses

Copies of all University of Newcastle PhD and Masters theses, as well as selected History Honours theses relevant to the region, are held in the Archives, Rare Books and Special Collection section of the Auchmuty Library. PhD and Masters theses completed at the Central Coast Campus are held in the Rare Books in the Ourimbah Library. All theses are catalogued and have an entry in NEWCAT.

A growing number of electronic versions of theses can be found via the Australian Digital Theses Program page. Information on depositing theses can also be found on these pages.

Copies of honours theses are not held in the Auchmuty Library. Please contact the appropriate University department for more details of these.

To find theses in NEWCAT:

if you know the Author or Title of the thesis, simply search using these options.
if you want to find all the theses of a particular Department or subject:
- select Call Number search (under the Other Searches button) and type thesis. A complete list of all theses will be displayed.
- select the Limit/Sort option, and either select Words in the AUTHOR and type in the Department name (e.g. history, electrical engineering), or select Words in the SUBJECT, and type in the topic you are interested in.

Australian Theses

Digital Theses

Australian Digital Theses Program - Although only a limited number of theses are available at present, the database is growing quickly. The project aims to establish a distributed database of digital versions of theses produced by the postgraduate research students at the participating institutions. It is expected that most Australian universities will participate in this program.
University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree students are invited to submit their assessed theses to the Australian Digital Theses database.

Indexes - Online

Libraries Australia
Libraries Australia provides access to the national database of material held in Australian libraries, over 13 million bibliographic records - books, journals, film and other media. It is a union catalogue which displays the locations of material in over 700 Australian libraries, although not all items in the database are held in Australia. The password is available from a Library Information Desk.
To find thesis in Libraries Australia:
- Simple search:
  - type in your search terms, and check the appropriate box to limit to Theses
- Advanced search:
  - here you can search on various fields, including author, title, subject, etc, and limit to Theses by checking the appropriate box

Education Research Theses - searchable database of over 10,000 higher degree theses accepted at Australian universities and colleges in the area of education. Managed by the Australian Council for Education Research, these records also appear in the AUstralian Education Index from 1978.

History On-Line - lists theses in history completed in the UK from 1995.
Search the library catalogues of University Libraries for theses written by students in their own institutions. Not all Australian libraries add their lists of theses holdings to Kinetica. For details check Australian Theses on NBD.
Several Australian library databases (AUSTROM, Engineering & Applied Sciences) index higher degree by research, postgraduate coursework and honours theses in the subject areas of building and construction, crime and criminology, and education.

Each database uses different 'document type' labels to identify theses contained within the database. Check the database help files, or contact your Faculty Librarian for more details.

Indexes - Print

Union list of higher degree theses in Australian universities. 1965-1989
RS016.378205/8 (Auchmuty Library)
Lists Masters, doctoral, and postgraduate B.Litt. theses accepted by all Australian universities, Institutes and Colleges of Advanced Education. It does not include honours year theses, or Bachelors degrees with honours. The 1965 edition contains a cumulated list of theses, with yearly supplements published until 1989.
Theses are arranged using broad subject headings. An author and keyword index is also included.

Other subject specific lists of theses are available in the Library. Try a Subject search in NEWCAT using the heading Dissertations, Academic – Australia – Bibliography – Union lists.

Some of these include:
Register of theses in Australian music. Parkville, Vic. : Centre for Studies in Australian Music, c1996.
RQ780.994016 REGI (City Campus Library)

Australian religious studies : a bibliography of post-graduate theses 1922-1986. Leichhardt: National Catholic Research Council, 1988.
200.994016 BENT (Auchmuty Library)

Directory of PhD theses in psychology and related disciplines completed in Australian universities. Carlton Sth., Vic. : Australian Psychological Society, 1993.
R016.15 OVER (Ourimbah Library)

Bibliography of education theses in Australia. Hawthorn, Vic. : Australian Council for Educational Research, 1978 -
RJ016.3705/B3 (Huxley Library)
Also available as a subset of the database Australian Education Index (on the AUSTROM collection or databases)

International Theses

Digital Theses and Dissertations

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations - search the NDLTD catalogue for digital theses and dissertations from 164 member institutions including the US, China, United Kingdom, SIngapore, South Africa.
MIT Theses Online - selected MIT master's and doctoral theses available online
Dissertation.com - user submitted thesis are available for viewing online.
Caltech Electronic Theses and Dissertations - fulltext theses from Caltech. Search the database by keywords in title and abstract, author name.
University of Waterloo Electronic Thesis Project - access to a selection of Master's and PhD level electronic theses and dissertations submitted by graduates of the University of Waterloo. 140 theses available 7/3/03
OAIster - fulltext of over 1 million resources from over 144 institutions - including Caltech, Virginia Tech Electronic Theses, and the Digital Library of MIT Theses.
Theses Canada - full text electronic versions of Canadian theses and dissertations published from 1998 to August 31, 2002
French PhD theses - from 1972 onwards
DNB Theses - access to online dissertations and post-doctoral theses from German universities since July 1998.
Hong Kong University Theses Online - an index to more than 8,000 theses and dissertations submitted to Hong Kong University since 1941. Includes works in the arts and humanities, education, the social, medical and natural sciences. The collection is primarily in English. A small number of theses have been digitised and are available online.
Unified Computer Science Technical Report Index - includes technical reports from Indiana University's Computer Science Department, many of which are available electronically.

Indexes - Online

Dissertation Abstracts - a source for information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses, providing in excess of 1.6 million entries. The database indexes the work of authors from universities and graduate schools. The database includes bibliographic citations for materials ranging from the first U.S. dissertation, accepted in 1861, to those accepted as recently as last semester. Citations for dissertations published from 1980 forward also include 350-word abstracts written by the author. Citations for master's theses from 1988 forward include 150-word abstracts. Institutional subscribers to ProQuest Digital Dissertations receive on-line access to the complete file of dissertations in digital format starting with titles published from 1997 forward. Updating of Dissertation Abstracts includes 47,000 new dissertations and 12,000 new theses each year.
Titles published since 1997 are available in PDF digital format and have 24 page previews available. There is a US bias.
CDROM version of this database is available for searching in the Auchmuty Library.
Index to Theses (Great Britain and Ireland) - with abstracts accepted for higher degrees by the universities of Great Britain and Ireland and the Council for National Academic Awards.
This database covers all doctorate and masters theses accepted from 1970 to 1999 covering all of volumes 21 to 48 and parts 1 to 3 of volume 49 of the equivalent print publication Index to Theses. It was last updated on 14 July 2000.
Theses Canada - records of all theses in Library and Archives Canada's theses collection, which was established in 1965.

Doctoral Theses in Educational Technology 1977 - 2001 - includes listings of each student's name, graduation year, dissertation title, institution, and chairperson.
Several library databases index higher degree by research, postgraduate coursework and honours theses. Databases include:
- ERIC - indexes many education theses. The fulltext of these may be found in the ERIC Microfiche collection housed in the Huxley Library
- MLA International Bibliography - indexes critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics and folklore
- SciFinder Scholar - chemistry and related disciplines
Each database uses different 'document type' labels to identify theses contained within the database. Check the database help files, or contact your Faculty Librarian, or at the Central Coast Campus your Client Services Librarian, for more details.

Indexes - Print

Other lists of international dissertations and theses are available in the Library. Try a Subject search in NEWCAT for Dissertations, Academic then type the name of the country. For example, Dissertations, Academic – New Zealand
Index to theses with abstracts accepted for higher degrees by the Universities of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Staple Hall, 1950-
RS016.378205/2 (Auchmuty Library)

Other subject specific lists are available in the Library. Try a Subject search in NEWCAT for Dissertations, Academic – Great Britain – Bibliography.

Some of these include:
Retrospective index to theses of Great Britain and Ireland 1716-1950. (5 volumes). vol. 1. Social sciences and humanities.-vol. 2. Applied sciences and technology.-v. 3. Life sciences.-v. 4. Physical sciences.-v. 5. Chemical sciences
R994/278 (Auchmuty Library)

Theses on Australian history accepted for higher degrees of universities in the United Kingdom, 1901-1976 : a bibliography. Canberra : National Library of Australia, 1980.
R994/278 (Auchmuty Library)

Bibliography of unpublished theses on French subjects deposited in university libraries of the United Kingdom, 1905-1950 . Oxford, Published for the Society for French Studies by B. Blackwell, 1964.
Pam016.84/4 (Auchmuty Library)

Australian religious studies : a bibliography of postgraduate theses 1922-1986 . Leichhardt: National Catholic Research Council, 1988.
200.994016 BENT (Auchmuty Library)

Directory of PhD theses in psychology and related disciplines completed in Australian universities. Carlton Sth., Vic. : Australian Psychological Society, 1993.
R016.15 OVER (Ourimbah Library)

Obtaining Theses

Check NEWCAT using either the Author or Title search options to determine whether the University of Newcastle holds a copy of a required thesis. If you are unsure of the details of the required thesis check the Locating Thesis section.
Theses not located at the University may be obtainable via the Library's InterLibrary Services. The loan of theses is, however, dependent upon the issuing institution. Where theses are unavailable for loan it may be possible to purchase a copy, either in print or microform. Contact the InterLibrary Services staff for more details.

Writing Theses

Many books are available in the University Libraries to assist you in writing your thesis. Check NEWCAT using the following subject headings:

Academic Writing
Academic Writing – Handbooks, Manuals, Etc
Dissertations, Academic – Authorship
Dissertations, Academic – Handbooks, Manuals, Etc

The following online resources may also assist you:

How to Write a PhD Thesis - Joe Wolfe School of Physics, University of New South Wales. This guide is particularly useful for students undertaking scientific or technical research.
Writing and Presenting Your Thesis or Dissertation - S. Joseph Levine, Ph.D., Michigan State University. A guide written for Michigan State University graduate students. Contains many links to other sites with helpful information on writing theses.
PhD - First Thoughts to Finished Writing - written by Learning Advisors from the Student Support Services at the University of Queensland.