The terms ‘dissertation’ and ‘thesis’ are used interchangeably around the world, but dissertation usually (but not always) refers to a research project produced for an undergraduate or Masters level award (e.g.MA, MSc, MBA), whilst ‘thesis’ usually refers to a doctoral level text produced toward the end of doctoral studies (e.g. for a PhD or other doctoral class award eg. M.Phil).
Hard copies
The library holds hard copies full text of both types of research papers at Western Bank Library. You can search for these via StarPlus advanced search and limiting the search to dissertations (as shown below).
- Dissertations are held on Level 2 (DISS sequence) and are loanable.
- Theses are reference only items and must not be loaned or taken out of the library. They should be used only on levels 5 & 6. You can request these from the Information desk at Western Bank on Level 5. Thesis requests are collected at:
- Monday - Friday - 10am available for consultation after 11am, 2.30pm available for consultation after 3.30pm
- Saturday and Sunday - 12.30pm available for consultation after 1.30pm, 2.30pm available for consultation after 3.30pm
Digital copies
You can also search dissertation & theses information through databases such as ProQuest in StarPlus. However please note the search results give access to the full text of the abstract only, as to view the complete dissertation incurs a charge. You can request the full text via our Interlibrary Request service if you are a staff of student member of the University.
You can also search for digital copies of theses through the EThOS database. Many of these are freely available for immediate download.