Dissertations Abstracts

Dissertations Abstracts
Producer ProQuest (United States)
History 1938 to present
Access
Cost Subscription
Coverage
Record depth Index & abstract
Format coverage Dissertations
Temporal coverage 1861 to present
Geospatial coverage Worldwide
Print edition
Print title

Dissertation Abstracts International

  • Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Section B: Sciences and Engineering
  • Section C: Worldwide
Links

Dissertation Abstracts, Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI) or the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) database is a bibliography of American (and international) dissertations published by University Microfilms International (UMI) / ProQuest, Ann Arbor, since 1938. UMI has had an agitated life and the bibliographical data have often shifted owner and name, and therefore appears under different labels. It covers doctoral dissertations accepted at an accredited American institution since 1861. Selected Masters theses have been included since 1962; since 1988, the database includes citations for dissertations from 50 British universities that are available at The British Document Supply Centre.[1] Additionally, it covers a limited number of dissertations from the rest of the world.

The print version is published monthly and cumulated annually and it is available both in softcover and on microfiche. It is divided in three sections:

Form or Content

The usability of dissertation abstracts depends largely on their content. Many journals within the medical community have settled on a seven sentence structure, which is also gaining acceptance in the social sciences, education and business. In it, the purpose of the study and methodological choices are outlined succinctly, allowing the reader or researcher to quickly scan and evaluate a number of studies to easily choose ones that meet their particular demands. The structure contains variations on the following seven sentence stems: "The purpose of this study is...." "The scope of this study...." "The methodology...." "The Findings..." "Conclusions reached are ..." "Limitations of this study include...." "This study contributes...." Abstracts of dissertation proposals contain the same seven concepts, substituting data collection and analysis in place of findings and conclusions. Abstracts are limited in the United States by the UMI to 350 words.

Historical notes

In 1962, the Xerox Corporation bought UMI. Xerox introduced some changes and in 1971 UMI changed its name to Xerox University Microfilms, but in 1976 reverted to University Microfilms International. In 1985, UMI was sold to Bell & Howell, who changed the name to Bell & Howell Information and Learning in 1999. In 2001 Bell and Howell created the ProQuest Company. December 2006, the Cambridge Information Group (CIG) bought the unit of ProQuest called ProQuest Information and Learning (which included UMI).[2]

Former titles and print titles: From 1969: Dissertations Abstract International; from 1951: Dissertations Abstracts; from Microfilm Abstracts (an annual catalog of the dissertations available for sale from UMI), American Doctoral Dissertations (ADD), (until 1964): Index to American Doctoral Dissertations, (until 1956): Doctoral Dissertations Accepted by American Universities. Masters Abstracts International (MAI).

There are different versions in print and online. The online version is Dissertation Abstracts Online while the print bibliography is termed Dissertation Abstracts International. Material except the abstracts themselves were issued also on CD-ROM under the title: Dissertation abstracts ondisc.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dialog Bluesheet #35: http://library.dialog.com/bluesheets/html/bl0035.html
  2. ↑ Center for Research Libraries (2011). Profile: UMI Dissertation Publishing, ProQuest, LLC. http://www.crl.edu/profile/umi-dissertation-publishing-proquest-llc#Summary

Davinson, D. (1977). Theses and Dissertations as Information Sources. London: Clive Bingley. Glatthorn, A. A. & Joyner, R. L. (2005). Writing the Winning Thesis or Dissertation: A Step by Step Guide. Thousand Oaks, Corwin Press.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.