Information about all theses received by the library can be found on  Voyager, the library catalogue. To check whether the library holds a copy of a particular thesis carry out a Basic Search within Keyword on Voyager. Enter the author's last name (family name) and one or two keywords from the title and click on Search.  A list of all materials matching these criteria will be listed.  To display theses only click on "add filter:  Theses" in the Filter Your Search box on the right of the screen. 

Theses for most subjects are held in a closed store in the Library & Information Centre (LIC). The South Wales Miners' Library also has a small collection of DACE theses as well as some dissertations.
The Voyager catalogue record for a thesis will indicate its branch location.

How do I consult a thesis?

The theses collection is reference only. If you wish to consult a thesis, give the author, title and year of the thesis to staff at the Information Desk in the LIC (or the Issue Desk in South Wales Miners' Library). LIS staff will collect the item for you from the closed store. The thesis will be issued to your library card but is for use in the library only. You must also sign the declaration in the front of the thesis agreeing to acknowledge the work of the author if you refer to it. Return the item to the Information Desk (or Issue Desk) when you have finished with it and it will be discharged from your library card.

Barred theses

A few theses are barred from public access for several years - this is usually because the work has commercial potential and the student has obtained permission from the University not to make it public straight away. If this happens there will be a note on the catalogue record giving the date when the information will be released. No one will be allowed to read the thesis before that date.

Special theses

DSc. and D.Litt theses for all subjects are kept in the Library and Information Centre. Please ask for them at the Information Desk.

Finding theses by department

To find all the theses held by the library by Department use the Advanced Search option in Voyager.  Select All Libraries - theses from the drop-down Location menu.  In the Search within drop-down menu change Keyword to Department Code.  Enter the appropriate code from the table below in the Search box and click Search.

Finding theses from other universities

The Index to Theses covers theses accepted for higher degrees in Great Britain and Ireland. An Index to Theses guide is also available.

Dissertations and Theses also provides details of theses and dissertations. It's coverage is mainly of disserations in the United States. A Dissertations & Theses guide is also available.

Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS)

EThOS has been created to offer a single point of access to UK generated post-doctoral theses and plays a significant role in showcasing UK research to the world.  EThOS, which is hosted by the British Library has 105 UK universities involved in the project and can offer an ever expanding range of titles as full text downloads.

If an item you require is already in EThOS then it is immediately available for download to your desktop free of charge; if not, then you can choose to purchase a scanned copy from EThOS.  You will be required to create a personal account and pay by credit card for the request to digitise the thesis or, should you want your department to pay for digitisation, please contact the Document, Copyright & Scanning Office on extension 5045 or email dscs@swansea.ac.uk.  Some institutions do not yet participate with EThOS in the digitisation project but we can check to see if we can borrow or purchase a paper copy for you to use here in LIS via inter-library loan.  Theses lending policies of UK libraries can be found here.