Finding Theses & Dissertations

The library maintains two print copies of every master’s thesis and dissertation completed at the University.  Both are catalogued and entered into Pacificat like a book.  Of course, if you already know the author’s name or title, then searching with that information will call up the desired item.  However, if you want to search topically or do not know the title, the easiest way to locate them is to use the advanced search screen and use certain field designations.  Here is an example of how to build your search:

Notice that Notes was selected from the first two drop down boxes under Field to search.  The search phrase thesis m? was entered on the first line and university of the pacific on the other.  You can enter the your topic of interest on the third line with the default field, All fields.  The adjacency box was set to Yes for the university of the pacific phrase.  This ensures that the words will appear next to each other instead of scattered throughout different parts of the record.  Also, the phrase thesis m? will call up the different master degrees offered, such as M.A. or M. Ed., because the ? is used as the truncation symbol in PacifiCat.  Therefore, if you want to change your search to dissertations, the structure is similar.  Instead of  thesis m? change it to either thesis ph? Or thesis ed?, depending on the type of dissertation you desire.

One copy of each thesis or dissertation is kept in the circulating stacks, which is available for check out.  The archival copy is maintained in Holt-Atherton Special Collections and does not circulate.

An electronic version of the University’s theses and dissertations completed after 1996 is available in the resource called Pacific’s Dissertations.  These are the pdf files created by University Microfilms once a thesis or dissertation is sent to them.  It is similar to searching any of the electronic databases and offers three simple ways to search-keyword, author, or advisor.  Since this is designed to sell dissertations, it has the look and feel of a commercial product right down to the shopping cart.  Even though you must place your item in a shopping cart and go through checkout procedures, you do not actually have to pay for anything.  Work completed at Pacific is free to any authorized user.  After you complete checkout procedures, you will be given a link (URL) and a pin number.  When the item is ready to be downloaded, you’ll receive an email message containing the same URL and pin.  Once the pin is entered, you can download the thesis or dissertation and you will need Acrobat reader in order to read it.

There is one word of caution when using this from off campus.  When you are reviewing your shopping cart to begin checkout, make sure you read the instructions underneath  Empty shopping cart.  They are reproduced here:

Most browsers and networks support the use of secure connections to protect your personal and credit card information, but there are some exceptions. If you get an error after you click "Begin order checkout process", you can try to continue using a non-secure connection.

You will have to use the non-secure connection in order for it to recognize that you are coming through our campus web site.  Since you do not have to purchase it, there is no credit card transaction to worry about.

It also helps to widen your search to graduate work completed outside of Pacific.  In order to do this, you need to look in another resource called Dissertation Abstracts.  Just as many resources have been digitized, so has this multivolume set of books.  It is listed on our databases page and functions like the electronic article databases.  Since the library does not subscribe to the complete electronic theses and dissertations database, the PacificLink button will not lead you to the electronic copy.  It will only prompt you to use InterLibrary Loan or attempt a purchase through Amazon.  Please do not buy anything.  The Library will gladly process an InterLibrary Loan request for the desired item.

However, remember this helpful hint:

Since many colleges and universities are digitizing their holdings, it does not hurt to visit the school’s Web site or library catalog.  Since most library catalogs are Web-based and open to anyone, you may discover that the thesis or dissertation you want was digitized, catalogued, and linked in the degree granting school’s catalog and are available to download.