To locate a specific dissertation or thesis it is necessary to have its call number. Consult MNCAT, our online catalog, under the author or title of the item you seek, just as you would for any other book. Depending on date of acceptance and cataloging, a typical call number for such materials should look something like one of the following:

Dissertations: Plan"A" Theses
MnU-D or 378.7M66 MnU-M or 378.7M66
78-342 ODR7617 83-67 OL6156

MNCAT will also tell the library location (MLAC, Bio-Medical Libary, Magrath or another St. Paul campus library, Science and Engineering, Business Reference, Wilson Annex or Wilson Library).

Those doctoral dissertations still in Wilson Library (which in all cases will be 1962 or later and will have "MnU-D" numbers) are located in the central section of the third floor. Those master’s theses in Wilson (which in all cases will be 1962 or later and will have "MnU-M" numbers) are located in the northeastern corner of the third floor. These circulate and can be checked out, like any other books, at the Wilson Circulation desk on the first floor.

Master’s theses, and doctoral dissertations cataloged from circa 1940 to circa 1971, are cataloged by subject in MNCAT. (Doctoral dissertations after 1971 are cataloged by author and title in MNCAT, but are not assigned subject headings.)

It is also possible to search MNCAT by keyword. If the words "thesis" and "Minnesota" are included in your strategy, your results will generally be effectively limited to U of M theses and/or dissertations-for instance, you might do a keyword search such as:

folklore and thesis and minnesota

This will retrieve U of M theses and dissertations (along with possibly a few false drops) that contain the word "folklore" in the MNCAT record (which will generally mean the in the title of the work). Other relevant works may use other terms, so a searcher will want to repeat the search substituting such terms as folk tales, folk songs, folk motifs, etc. as well as names of individual folk tales and the like. (By its nature, a keyword search will almost never be fully comprehensive.)

Subject access to U of M dissertations as well as those accepted by almost all other universities across the United States (and to a large extent in Canada and various other countries) is provided by Dissertation Abstracts (also known in its online version as Digital Disserations). We have this available in both a print format (Wilson Reference quarto Z5053 .D57) and an online version (select "Indexes" from our home page; then "Multidisciplinary Databases" and drop down to "Digital Dissertations;" click to connect). Our subscription to the print version ceased in 1999, so the online version is more up-to-date. (However, for dissertations previous to 1980, the online version includes only citations and no abstracts: thus for pre-1980 abstracts you must consult the print version.)

Anyone may use Digital Dissertations from a terminal in one of the University libraries; U of M students, faculty, and staff may also dial in remotely via our web page, using their U of M id and password for authentication to the system.

In either format, records for U of M dissertations are included along with those of many other universities. In the online version it is possible to limit your retrieval to dissertations from our own university, however (or from any other specified university).For more information, see the online help screens, ask reference staff, and/or see:Help Screens

While the chances are very slim that we will have any given dissertation which was accepted by another university, there are some avenues that should be explored if you are seeking such materials.

Some dissertations subsequently may have been published as books or, with or without modifications, as journal articles; consult MNCAT and the appropriate indexes if you think this may be the case, or ask the reference staff for advice.

University of Minnesota faculty, staff, and students may be able to borrow such materials from the school at which they were accepted via Interlibrary Loan. (However, not all institutions will loan their dissertations.)

Most U.S. dissertations since 1952 (and a few earlier ones and many Canadian and other non-U.S. ones) are available for purchase from Bell and Howell. Ordering information, options,and prices are explained at the DIGITAL DISSERTATIONS "about" screen at: About Digital Dissertations