A step-by-step guide to locating theses in Charles Darwin University Library

1. FINDING THESES
During the course of doing your PhD or Masters thesis, it
will be useful for you to consult theses completed by other
research students. Looking at other theses can, amongst
other things, help you:
• discover what has already been written on your research
topic
• refine a research topic
• identify gaps in your topic of interest.
It will also be useful for you to see how theses are laid out,
and to see what a methodology chapter or a literature
review looks like before you start on your own.

2. At Charles Darwin University (CDU), you can access theses
in hard copy or online. Theses written by CDU research
students are available from the Library in hard copy or
through CDU eSpace, the University’s institutional
repository.
For other Australian theses you can search the Trove
database, which is accessible from the Library’s web page.
The ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) database
allows you to search for international theses, predominantly
those from the United States and Europe. This database is
also accessible through the Library’s web page.
This Workshop will guide you through the process of finding
this range of theses through CDU Library.

3.  Searching for CDU Theses
 To find CDU theses you need to start by
searching the Library Catalogue.
 To do this, navigate to the Library’s Home
Page and search the CDU Library Catalogue.

8.  Theses in the Special
Collection
Those theses that are in the Theses Collection
(part of the Special Collection) at CDU Library
are not available for loan; however, you can view
them within the Library.
 If you are based at CDU Casuarina Campus and wish to view a
particular thesis in the Special Collection, complete the following
online form: http://www.cdu.edu.au/library/forms/ris/scitem.html, and
pick up the thesis from the Service Desk to view within the Library.

11.  Searching for Australian
theses
 To find other Australian theses, you can search
the Trove database.
 Navigate to the Library’s Home Page and
select the link to Databases; then from the A-Z
list of databases, select “T”, then Trove
database.

22.  Searching for International
theses
 To find non-Australian theses, there are
several databases and websites that you can
search.
 A good place to start searching is the
comprehensive ProQuest Dissertations and
Theses database (PQDT).
 Navigate to the Library’s Home Page and from
the list of databases select the link to PQDT.

32.  Other useful tools for finding theses
Databases:
CINAHL Plus with Full Text
http://www.cdu.edu.au/library/search/a-z_databases.html#C
This Database is the most comprehensive source of full text for nursing and allied health
journals. To identify theses, you limit your keyword search by selecting the Publication
type, “Doctoral Dissertation”.
Libraries Australia
http://www.cdu.edu.au/library/search/a-z_databases.html#L
The national catalogue for all major Australian public, government and university libraries.
NUS Theses Collection
http://www.cdu.edu.au/library/search/a-z_databases.html#N
This Informit database indexes theses submitted to the National University of Singapore
1947-2007 and deposited in the NUS Library.

33.  Other useful tools for finding theses
Websites:
OAISTER http://www.oaister.org/
The Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations http://www.ndltd.org/
DART-Europe E-theses Portal http://www.dart-europe.eu/basic-search.php
OpenDOAR www.opendoar.org
Citeseer http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/

34. For further assistance, please contact the Research Services Coordinator at:
jayshree.mamtora@cdu.edu.au
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