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University of Texas University of Texas Libraries

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.

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:select the books and media limiter

use broader terms than in the article databases

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.

limit to dissertation and TSW content on the left side of results

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.

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