The Library holds copies of postgraduate theses and dissertations written by University of Surrey students. They are for Library use only. Masters Degree dissertations are kept in the library for 8 years only. Since September 2007, only those dissertations which reached Distinction level (70% or over) have been kept in the library.

To search for a thesis or dissertation on the Library catalogue:

Select ‘Theses and Dissertations' from the ‘Collection’ menu.

• By person: use the Author search and type in their family name

• On a subject: use the Keyword search to look for words in titles

• By Department/School: use the Author search. Type in the School or Department e.g. School of Educational Studies, to find a list of theses done by students in recent years

  You cannot search by thesis type e.g. PhD, MSc. To find this information, click on title and look at notes.

Online Theses

A number of theses written in support of Higher Degrees (e.g. PhD) gained at the University of Surrey have been digitised and uploaded to Surrey Research Insight Open Access repository.

To find specific theses you can search the database by author, title or keyword. Alternatively, you can browse the "Theses from the University of Surrey" collection.

Please note that the digitisation of Surrey theses is an ongoing process, and the collection will not be comprehensive, as in some cases the author has declined permission to digitise the thesis, or there is copyright material within the thesis that cannot be digitised without the permission of the original publisher.

Theses not available online can still be consulted in print - see below.

Online Dissertations

A number of Masters Dissertations which have achieved distinctions are available on the Digital Dissertations database. These are intended to be used as good examples of how to structure your dissertation.
You will be able to open and view the dissertations, but not to print, or copy and paste, from them.
Please contact your Academic Liaison Librarian for further help.

To locate a thesis or dissertation in the Library

Make a note of the author, title, shelfmark and year from the Library Catalogue. The shelfmark and year determine where the thesis is kept.

Requesting a thesis from the Library Store

• Theses are collected from the Store at 11:00 Monday-Friday
• Fill in an orange thesis-request slip from the Staff Hub
• The thesis will be available one hour after the next Store collection
• It will be kept for you at the Staff Hub for up to one week
• In special cases requests may be made by phone or email for those travelling long distances to look at a thesis (contact the Ask Me Desk on 01483 689235 or library-enquiries@surrey.ac.uk) Please make these requests at least one working day prior to your visit.

Restricted access theses or dissertations

• Some theses are of a confidential nature and are kept on restricted access
• This is indicated on the Library catalogue
• It is not usually possible to consult a restricted access thesis
• If it is essential to your research please ask at the Ask Me Desk for further details

Obtaining theses from other libraries

• EThOS
  This is the British Library's digital thesis service. Many theses are already freely available online in full text, and others can be ordered. You will be asked to register before using the service. Please note: if ordering a thesis, there can be a delay of several weeks.
  
  There are two online databases that are useful for locating theses by subject area, author and institution:
  
• Index to Theses
  A comprehensive listing of theses with abstracts accepted for higher degrees by universities in Great Britain and Ireland since 1716.
  Accessible on campus without a password, or off-campus by logging in to the Secure Web Access from Anywhere service (with your university network username and password).
  
  
• Dissertation Express
  Contains information on doctoral and masters disserations submitted by over 1,000 institutions (concentrated in North America but also worldwide). Lists thesis citations only with the option to purchase entire theses online.
  Accessible on and off campus with no password.

For borrowing a thesis from an overseas library, see information on InterLibrary Loans. However, please be aware that the British Library no longer lends theses from UK Higher Education insititutions. Please see the information about the EThOS service above.

Other guides available

A guide to Preparing Theses and Dissertations is available on the library website.

Information is also available on the Library Web concerning Citing Printed and Electronic References.