LibGuides: Latino Research Institute: Finding books and dissertations

Dissertations from other institutions?

Dissertations from other institutions are not always easy to get a hold of. If you find a reference to a dissertation that you would like to read, but you cannot find the full text, ask a librarian. Sometimes using interlibrary loan to scan a portion of the document is your only option.

Dissertations and Theses Global
Unlimited users.
Updated monthly. Contains more than 2 million doctoral dissertations and master's theses. Provides full text for many dissertations and theses, including most done after 1997. All subject areas are covered. The database includes more than 90 percent of the doctoral dissertations accepted each year in North America with selective coverage for other parts of the world. Each dissertation published since July 1980 includes a 350-word abstract written by the author. Master's theses published since 1988 include 150-word abstracts. Only bibliographic citations are available for earlier years. More than 55,000 new citations are added to the database every year. Many dissertations from The University of Texas at Austin are included in the database, though theses from the University are only rarely included.

How to find books and dissertations held at UTL

I prefer to limit my search using the Books & Media limiter - then I use the advanced search:

Now, use the menu on the left side to limit your results. You will see limiters for dissertations and for TSW content - select both. TSW, or Texas ScholarWorks, is where our dissertations are held digitally.

How to evaluate books

Unfortunately, it can be tough to determine if a book is considered scholarly. This is not a checklist. You need to weigh these criteria when deciding.

To determine if a book is considered scholarly or refereed, ask the following:

Who is the author and what expertise do they have related to this topic?
- In most cases, that means they teach in academia.
- They may be involved in education policy in the government.
Who is the publisher?
- Many publishers of scholarly material are affiliated with universities
- Some publishers are not, but you can learn more about the publisher's purpose by investigating what else they are publishing
Who is the audience?
- Is this written for experts in the field, or a general audience?
  - If something is written for an expert audience, it will include citations to research in academic journals, other scholarly books as well as data and statistics from authoritative sources.