u of arizona dissertations

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How do I search for theses and dissertations?

Use the UA Theses & Dissertations Repository , to locate UA dissertations and masters theses submitted to the library from 1895-present. You can browse or search by title.

You can also search for dissertations published by advisor and discipline by selecting the options that display on the lower left.

Use ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global , to locate dissertations and masters theses from North American and European colleges and universities, including the University of Arizona. You can search by keyword or use the dropdown menus to search by university, advisor, author, department, and a number of other options.

Use our tutorial, Searching Proquest Dissertations & Theses .

See also Theses & dissertations .  

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Campus Repository

Ready to share your research with the world? The  UA Campus Repository  provides open access to publications, presentations, supplemental data, and other scholarly materials from the UA community.

Deposit content

Faculty, researchers, and departments can set up collections and submit content to the repository to make it publicly accessible.

Content that can be made available includes departmental publications, technical reports, working papers, journals and magazines, data sets, theses, and dissertations. Browse repository collections .

The repository service is free to campus. If you would like to establish a new collection, email us at  [email protected] .

You can submit items to your repository collection after signing in with your NetID and password.

Find items in the repository

UA Campus Repository content is discoverable from Google, Google Scholar, and other search engines. You can search for items and browse all collections from the  UA Campus Repository  website.

For help with using the Campus Repository, contact:

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PhD in Information

Phd in information, unleash your research prowess and shape the future of information as you work with top data and information science faculty..

Find out how the University of Arizona PhD in Information is the right program for you:

Academic Units Required

Next Application Deadline

Full Funding Available for Qualified Students

The University of Arizona PhD in Information prepares students to excel as researchers and thought leaders in academia, government and industry.

Offered at our main campus in Tucson, Arizona, the PhD in Information is typically completed in five years , requiring 54 units for primary work plus 9-15 units for the PhD minor.

The College of Information Science is committed to creating an inclusive intellectual space for all, irrespective of background or characteristics, and we seek a wide range of students with diverse research interests and experiences , including machine learning, natural language processing, artificial intelligence, virtual/mixed reality, game development, immersive technologies, new media and internet studies, human-computer interaction, digital curation, archival studies and the future of work.

As the state's only member of the iSchools consortium , we foster interdisciplinary understanding, preparing students for  advanced information and data careers as professors, scientists, consultants, directors and more.

"The PhD in Information at the University of Arizona offers the perfect union of history, mathematics, programming, causal inference, formalizing language, teaching and logic." Salena Torres Ashton, PhD in Information '25

ADMISSIONS & FUNDING

The annual application deadline for all students is:

• Fall 2025: December 6, 2024

The College of Information Science successfully supports all PhD students in securing funding, including full tuition plus a stipend for living expenses, through at least four years of the program.

CURRICULUM & DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

Offered at the U of A main campus, the PhD in Information consists of:

• 36 credits of major coursework
• 9 to 15 credits of minor coursework
• 18 dissertation credits

The program includes research methods, graduate seminars, directed research, elective courses, dissertation research, comprehensive exams and dissertation proposal and defense.

RESEARCH AT THE COLLEGE OF INFORMATION SCIENCE

Our faculty and PhD students are engaged in research around all aspects of the information sciences without regard for disciplinary boundaries.

RESEARCH AREAS

• Information collections, libraries, databases, archives and ethics
• Machine learning, artificial intelligence and algorithmic thinking
• Applied natural language processing
• Virtual reality, video game design and human-computer interaction
• Biological informatics
• Data science, social network analysis and computational social science
• Social science and internet studies
• Internet of things

Learn More and View Faculty

RESEARCH CENTERS & LABS

• Center for Digital Society and Data Studies
• Biosemantics Research Group
• Computational Language Understanding Laboratory
• Digital Storytelling and Oral History Laboratory
• Extended Reality and Games Laboratory
• Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
• Metadata Analytics Laboratory
• The co/lab: Critical Archives and Curation Collaborative

Learn More and View Centers & Labs

CAREER OUTCOMES

Our innovative, interdisciplinary doctoral program prepares students for positions in research-intensive institutions in academic, corporate, nonprofit and governmental fields.

PHD IN INFORMATION STUDENTS

The PhD in Information hosts a diverse mix of interdisciplinary, research-focused students who come from across the U.S. and around the world to study information science at the University of Arizona's College of Information Science.

Are you ready to shape the future of information?

Learn more about the PhD in Information by contacting us at [email protected] or begin your application today:

Start Your Application

Dissertation Forms & Formatting

Wondering which forms to fill out and how to format your dissertation? We will walk you through what you need to know. Two identical Zoom sessions offered on September 11 and November 5.  

Register for the November 5 session here , the Zoom link will be sent to registrants. 

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Welcome to the UA Campus Repository , a service of the University of Arizona Libraries. The repository shares, archives and preserves unique digital materials from faculty, staff, students and affiliated contributors. Visit our About page to learn more about the types of digital materials we accept and our policies.

If you need to archive research datasets to meet data retention and sharing requirements from the university, funders, or journals, visit ReDATA , The University of Arizona's Research Data Repository.

You can contact our repository team at any time using our Feedback Form or by emailing us directly at [email protected].

Repository News

• Summer 2024 MS-GIST Reports are now publicly available in the repository.
• 2024 publications from the Cooperative Extension, College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences (CALES) are now available in the repository. The repository provide access to current Cooperative Extension publications, as well as the Cooperative Extension historical archive from 1915 to the present.
• Honors Theses from Spring 2024 graduates are now publicly available in the repository.
• Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law, Volume 41, Issue 1 is now available in the repository.
• The State Operating Budget FY24 (UA Budget) is now publicly available in the repository.
• Senior capstone theses and posters from Spring 2024 graduates of the Sustainable Built Environments program are now available in the repository.
• Spring 2024 MS-GIST Reports are now publicly available in the repository.

April 2024:

• The 2024 Proceedings of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science is now available in the repository.

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Select a community to browse its collections.

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To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.

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About Copyrighting

You own the copyright in your work from the time it is fixed in a tangible medium. There is nothing more you have to do.

You can, however, for a fee, register your copyright with the Copyright Office in the Library of Congress if you so choose. Registering it gives you the ability to sue for infringement and recover statutory damages beyond actual damages.

Copyright is actually a bundle of rights. These include the right to reproduce the work, to create derivative works (such as a screenplay from a novel), to distribute copies, to perform the work, and to display the work. What UMI/ProQuest and the University are asking for is the non-exclusive right to distribute your work. You still own the copyright. You still control everything the statute grants you.

If you are submitting your thesis to UMI/ProQuest, they will list your thesis in their product and sell microfilm or print copies to anyone who asks. You would get a small royalty from the sale. If you sign the Distribution and Reproduction Rights form from the library, we will post our copy in an open access repository and include it in the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations under the assumption that authors want their work to be read.

Even though the thesis is in the open access repository, you still control the copyright and could grant anyone else the non-exclusive right to distribute the work or the exclusive right to reproduce the work, etc.

If you have further questions, see:

• Copyright Considerations when Researching and Writing Your Dissertation
• Copyright for Graduate Students

Or feel free to contact:

Ellen Dubinsky Scholarly Communication Librarian University of Arizona Libraries [email protected] (520) 621-6433

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ARC 101 - Foundation Studio I

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Theses & dissertations

• University of Arizona Electronic Theses and Dissertations UA Libraries' open-access database of dissertations and theses submitted through the Graduate College by UA students (2005- ), Masters' reports from Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (2003- ), Honor's theses (2008- ), and some digitized dissertations and theses from earlier years.
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Locating Dissertations and Theses

• Dissertations and Theses - Home
• International Dissertations & Theses
• Dissertation Sources by Topic
• Video Tutorial for Finding Dissertations

Library Student Employment Coordinator

Dissertation or Thesis - what is the difference?

A  dissertation  is a book-length work prepared by a graduate student as a requirement for a doctoral degree (usually a Ph.D.)

A  thesis  is an in-depth essay prepared by a student as part of the requirements for a master's degree (usually M.A.) or for an undergraduate degree.  Students are often not required to make their dissertations or theses openly available to the public.  Some choose to not have their works added to databases, or be printed, then added to a library.  Those that are printed, bound, and added to a library are frequently added to non-circulating collections.  This makes it sometimes challenging to obtain print copies through Interlibrary Loan.  Cline's Document Delivery  service will attempt to obtain print copies of dissertations from any library that owns a copy; just be aware it will take time and the request might be canceled.  

International dissertations are often more challenging to obtain in print through Interlibrary Loan. Many libraries have their dissertations in a non-circulating collection, others are reluctant to mail internationally.  Cline Library's Document Delivery service can attempt to order international titles, just be aware that the success rate is low.  Whenever possible, try to locate a digitally-born copy through an online source like those within this guide. 

This guide is designed to help users locate digitally-born dissertations.  

NAU Dissertations and Theses

Tips for Finding Dissertations from the United States

Start out by searching for dissertations using the  proquest dissertations & theses database . .

Within the database be aware of full text options. For newer materials (after 2007), digital might be the only option for obtaining a free copy. Dissertations produced after 2007 frequently are only available in electronic format, with very few printed or added to libraries.

Be aware of the university where it was produced.  Many universities have digital repositories where dissertations are placed.  It is worth Googling the "school name AND digital repository".  Once on the repository page, search by the dissertation title or author.    

Dissertations from many U.S. and Canadian universities can be purchased online through  ProQuest UMI Dissertation Express .  NAU does not purchase dissertations. 

Open Access Sources

Open Access Sources for Dissertations

Open Access sources are completely free, digital, and easy to obtain.  Most are instant access.

Digital Commons Network

Free, full-text scholarly articles from hundreds of universities and colleges worldwide. Curated by university librarians and their supporting institutions, the Network includes a growing collection of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings, and other original scholarly work.

Open Dissertations is a collaboration between Ebsco and BiblioLabs.

This collection has the full text of many older theses and dissertations. There is no way to search just dissertations and theses, but if you have the author and title information, you may be able to find the full text.

The Institute of Historical Research has been collecting information about history PhDs and research Masters since the 1930s. You can browse or search the directory of theses completed from 1970s onward, as well as current research in progress, here.

Created by Virginia Tech, NDLTD is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). NDLTD is the biggest consortium worldwide for online dissertations.

OATD.org aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions. OATD currently indexes over 4 million theses and dissertations.

OAIster is a union catalog of millions of records that represent open access resources. This catalog was built through harvesting from open access collections worldwide using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). Today, OAIster includes more than 50 million records that represent digital resources from more than 2,000 contributors.

OpenDOAR OpenDOAR is a global Directory of Open Access Repositories that often include dissertations and theses.  

A listing of open access repositories for electronic theses and dissertations. May be further limited by country and software type.

Thesis Commons An open archive of theses from OSF Preprints.  Includes the following subjects: Architecture, Business, Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Mathematics, Arts & Humanities, Education, Law, Medicine & Health Sciences, and Social & Behavioral Sciences.

U.S. University Digital Repositories

Digitally Born Dissertations (typically 2007 to present):  Many universities have digital repositories where authors can add their dissertations, articles, or chapters.  These repositories often allow free downloads. Before submitting an Interlibrary Loan request for dissertations after 2007, it is often a good idea to Google the title to see if a full text option is available or attempt to locate the university's digital repository.    

A sample of digital repositories that provide public access to theses and dissertations:

Arizona State University Digital Repository 

ASU has created a LibGuide to assist in locating ASU dissertations.  It can be found here. 

University of Arizona Digital Repository

Several UA departments maintain their own archives of dissertations, masters theses, and other reports (including materials not submitted to the library). Check with individual departments or browse these online archives:

• Geosciences  (paper copies available in their  Antevs  Library)
• Honors College  (UA Campus Repository, paper copies from 1960s-2005 located in  Special Collections )  

Boston College Dissertations and Theses in eScholarship

University of California System: eScholarship

Duke University: Duke Space, Theses and Dissertations

Harvard University: Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) .

Johns Hopkins University: DSpace Repository  

Michigan State University

Northeastern University: Digital Reposity Service: Theses and Dissertations

OhioLINK Electronic Theses & Dissertations  

University of Washington: ResearchWorks

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• URL: https://libraryguides.nau.edu/finding_dissertations

UA Hosts Conference on Environmental Justice and Cultural Resistance in Africa and Polynesia

Scholars from France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the University of Arizona will present at a mini-conference on Environmental Justice and Cultural Resistance in Africa and Polynesia.

The conference and research are part of a historic partnership between the CNRS and the University of Arizona, which in 2021 established the France-Arizona Institute for Global Grand Challenges , a new international research center focused on the environment, space science, data science and global climate change.  

The most important contribution made by this research on Environmental Justice and Cultural Resistance in Africa is to show how culture operates and the vital role cultural resistance plays in moving forward differently, said Phyllis Taoua, Professor of French and principal investigator on the project.

“As our environment is increasingly endangered, literature and popular culture are playing a vital role in raising awareness and shifting the terms of the debate,” she said.

A main objective for the conference will be to allow our two doctoral students to present work from their dissertations funded by the grant: Margaux Vidotto at CNRS and Clara Randimbiarimanana at U of A. The PIs and co-PIs on the grant, Xavier Garnier and Elara Bertho from France, and Taoua and Aurélia Mouzet from the U of A, will also present their current research at the conference, as well as two guests: Maëline Le Lay from CNRS and Richard Watts from the University of Washington.  

Presentations will take place daily from Sept. 3 to Sept. 5 in room N604 of the ENR2 building, 1064 E. Lowell St. Excursions to Biosphere 2 and relevant ecological sites in Southern Arizona are scheduled for Sept. 6 and Sept. 7.

The conference is open to the campus community. Conference talks will be in French, with slides in English and Q/A in French and English. Find a full schedule online .

“Many of the environmental crises in Africa today are not of their own making, most derive from extraverted economies of colonial extraction and climate change due to industrial pollution elsewhere,” Taoua said. “Our team has explored how African actors resist environmental injustice through relevant and compelling forms of cultural expression.” 

The conference is sponsored by the International Laboratory iGlobes, France-Arizona Institute, Department of French and Italian, College of Humanities, School of Anthropology and Department of Africana Studies.