Stanford Dissertations and Theses
Digital Format
Full-text PDF files of most dissertations completed at Stanford University from 1989 to 2009 are available to Stanford users from Dissertations and Theses @ Stanford University, hosted by ProQuest. Some dissertations completed before and after those dates are also available in Dissertations and Theses @ Stanford University.
Starting in the fall of 2009, Stanford University accepts dissertations in digital format. All digital dissertations completed at Stanford are available via SearchWorks, the Stanford University Library Catalog. For more information about digital submission of dissertations, visit the Office of the Registrar.
Print Format
Print copies of theses and dissertations for the Department of Biology that were submitted from the mid-1920's to the present are located in Falconer Biology Library.
Dissertations and theses are searchable in SearchWorks by author, title, primary faculty advisor, department and year. Although theses are assigned the call number 3781, they are shelved alphabetically by author and located in the mezzanine.
To locate dissertations and theses shelved in the Falconer Biology Library:
Go to SearchWorks
In Simple Search, select search Everything, or on the Advanced Search form, select the Keyword field.
Enter terms: thesis Stanford
(add other search terms, such as author, or keyword(s) in title.
Example: thesis Stanford Ehrlich.
On the left side of the search page, go down to Location and select Falconer (Biology).
Once SearchWorks is displaying theses only at Biology, If you know who the advisor is and you want to find theses listed by that person's name, go to the Authors list and you will see a list of Advisors from the Biology Department who have signed off on Biology Department theses. You can also narrow the search down by publication year or topic.
You can also search for theses in the same way you search for any other book, by author or title, or you can do an advanced search and search for it using both author and title.
Dissertations and Theses from Other Institutions
The Dissertations & Theses database, available via ProQuest, indexes most doctoral dissertations accepted by institutions in the United States and Canada since 1861. Selected masters' theses are represented after 1962 with abstracts available after 1988. Some dissertations granted by universities outside North America are included. The file is updated monthly, although lag time from acceptance of the dissertation to its appearance in Dissertations & Theses may be up to a year.
Copies of dissertations may be purchased through the Dissertations & Theses database. Some institutions also allow dissertations and theses to be borrowed via interlibrary loan. Consult your Librarian if you are interested in borrowing a dissertation from another institution.
Other Pages for Dissertations and Theses
How do I Find? Dissertations and Theses
Dissertation and Thesis submission to the Office of the Registrar