Dissertations & Theses

All UW-Madison dissertations and theses required by the department for submission to the library are cataloged in the Library Catalog. If you do not find a dissertation or thesis in the Library Catalog, contact the department. Full-text PDF files of UW-Madison doctoral dissertations completed 1997 or later are available through ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.

Locating UW-Madison Dissertations & Theses

• In the Library Catalog
  • In the Library Catalog advanced search, click Manuscripts, Theses from the list of facets on the right.
  • Enter an author, title, and/or year search terms.
  • Click Search.
• In Library Databases
  • Proquest Dissertations & Theses index and full text to dissertations and theses from over 700 academic institutions around the world
    • Dissertations & Theses @ University of Wisconsin at Madison searches just UW-Madison doctoral dissertations from 1892, contains abstracts from 1980, and provides full text (PDF files) from 1997.
  • Most pre-1997 UW-Madison dissertations and theses have been scanned as part of the Google Digitization Project. Digitized copies have been deposited in Hathi Trust, a repository for the digitized collections of major research institutions and libraries. When available, Library Catalog records contain links to Hathi Trust and Google Books. Content in the public domain is available full text.

Borrowing UW-Madison Dissertations & Masters Theses

A selection of theses and dissertations are kept at Memorial Library. The remainder are at the Verona Shelving Facility and may be requested for use. PhDs circulate and may be checked out; Masters do not circulate, but may be used in the library.

• UW-Madison affiliates and community card holders:  request dissertations and theses through the Library Catalog.
• Other users:  To obtain a dissertation or thesis, refer your local library’s interlibrary loan staff to UW-Madison General Library System Interlibrary Loan Lending and Photocopying. If you have no library or information service, consult our services for non-affiliated users.