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Dissertations from Other Universities
The University Library owns only a few dissertations completed by students at other universities (an exception is the Herskovits Library of African Studies which purchases extensively within African studies). Those that are available can be found in NUsearch.
More and more universities are providing free online access to their dissertations and theses. If you know the university where the dissertation or thesis was completed, check their library catalog to see if a free digital copy is available. There are also some consortial efforts to provide open access dissertations and theses. Some examples include:
- ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new windowWith more than 2 million entries, PQD&T offers comprehensive listings for U.S. doctoral dissertations back to 1861, with extensive coverage of dissertations from many non-U.S. institutions. A number of masters theses are also listed. Thousands of dissertations are available full text, and abstracts are included for dissertations from the mid-1980s forward.
- DART-Europe E-theses PortalA partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses.
- OhioLINK ETD CenterA free, online database of Ohio’s masters and doctoral theses and dissertations from participating OhioLINK member schools. It contains the abstract for all included theses and dissertations. The full-text is also available if it was submitted.
Interlibrary Loan
If you would like to view a dissertation from another university, you can place an Interlibrary Loan request to see if a copy can be borrowed.
- Center for Research Libraries (CRL)The Center for Research Libraries (CRL), of which Northwestern University is a member, collects international dissertations and will often order requested titles to add to their collection. You can place interlibrary loan requests for these dissertations.