Theses or dissertations are the product of extended independent research by students. They are often required at undergraduate level (e.g. final year Capstone projects), and are nearly always a feature of postgraduate research from Master's through to Ph.D. level. The terms thesis and dissertation are often used interchangeably. In the UK, dissertation tends to be the preferred term at undergraduate and taught postgraduate level, and thesis used for original research at doctoral (Ph.D.) level. Confusingly, in the US, usage of these terms is reversed! 

Print books offering guidance on how to write a thesis can be found at LB 2369 on floor 5 of the Albert Sloman Library, you can also search the library catalogue for ebook versions. 

Students often need to consult theses for various reasons, including:

• checking the style and presentation of good past dissertations from their department
• not repeating research already undertaken
• using theses on a similar topic to help with the literature search, data sources, methods or data analysis

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Some examples of past Master's dissertations can be found on the LG592 Moodle page.

The Library received all Ph.D. and M.Phil. theses and M.Sc. (Regulation 3.5.) theses up to 30 September 2016. Theses submitted after this date are kept in the University of Essex Research Repository. We do not normally hold dissertations and theses connected with other degrees - the exception being LL.Ms. All of our theses are kept in Store and can only be consulted in the library - you'll need to use the online store request form or fill in a form at the library helpdesk to request them.

If you are looking for a specific thesis you can use Library Search to search for the author or title. If you want to find an Essex thesis on a particular topic/subject area, you can either add the word "thesis" to your keyword search, or limit your results to the "Essex theses" or "University of Essex Research Repository" collections.

Many countries maintain repositories offering open access digitised dissertations. These can be useful to search if you have specific area interests. Useful listings of these repositories by country are maintained by:

If you want to cross-search your topic across countries you can use a portal that offer access to e-theses from around the world: