Resources for Writing Your Dissertation or Thesis

Ordering Articles, Books and Other Materials
Document Delivery
Eagle Express

Links to Style/Citation Guides and Plagiarism

Resources for Writing

Your Dissertation or Thesis

The following are a few available resources to assist you in your research and dissertation/thesis efforts. Other resources, specific to your discipline, may also be available. Contact a librarian about finding discipline-specific resources on dissertation/thesis writing by calling Information Services at 601.266.4249 (Hattiesburg) or 228.867.8761 (Gulf Coast) or emailing Ask-a-Librarian.

Completing your Thesis or Dissertation: Professors Share Their Techniques and Strategies

LB 2369 C64 2000 (Cook Stacks)

Dissertation Grants

NF 3.2.D 63/ (Cook Infoserv)

Proposals That Work: A Guide for Planning Dissertations and Grant Proposals

Q 180.55 P7 L63 2000 (Gulf Coast-USMGC Stacks)

Re-Thinking the Dissertation Process: Tackling Personal and Institutional Obstacles

LB 2331.72 N48 (Cook Stacks)

Starting Research: An Introduction to Academic Research and Dissertation Writing

LB 2369.P69 1994 (Cook Stacks)

Theses and Dissertations: A Guide to Planning, Research, and Writing

LB 2369 T458 2000 (Cook Stacks)

Writing the Qualitative Dissertation: Understanding by Doing

LB 2369.M38 1994 (Cook Stacks)

Writing the Winning Dissertation: A Step-By-Step Guide

LB.2369 G56 1998 (Cook Stacks)

Finding Books

and Other Materials

There are several places to search for books and other materials such as videos, conference proceedings, etc. On the library homepage under ?Find Items? choose ?Books? for the following items:

Anna Library Catalog - Anna, the USM Libraries online catalog, finds books (including e-books), periodicals (including e-journals), media, and other materials owned and housed in any of the University Libraries.

Tutorial - How to Use the Anna Library Catalog
Call Number Guide - Location of books in Cook Library stacks
About Call Numbers - Using Library of Congress Classification

WorldCat - OCLC online catalog of materials owned by OCLC member libraries located worldwide. WorldCat reflects the holdings of most academic and research libraries throughout the United States.

Books in Print - complete record of in-print and forthcoming books published and distributed in the United States

NetLibrary - full-text electronic books you can read online

Safari Tech Books - full-text electronic books about technology, including categories such as databases, Internet/online, markup languages, networking, operating systems, and programming

Sabin Americana 1500-1926 - a full-text collection of published pamphlets, tracts, memoirs, congressional legislation, correspondence, and many other genres of materials representing early American history and culture.

Early English Books Online - full-text books from the first book published in English through the age of Spencer and Shakespeare.

Amazon.com - an extensive online catalog of books and other materials both in and out of print.

Finding Articles

Choosing a Database

Databases are used for finding citations to articles, papers, books and/or book chapters. Only some of the databases contain the actual full-text of articles. USM Libraries has over 150 discipline-specific online databases (nursing, education, science, etc.) A list of databases, by title and by subject category, can be found on the library?s homepage under ?Find Items? ?Articles.?

The easiest way to decide which database to use is to scroll through the "Choose from All Subjects" and pick the category that your topic best fits under. For example, for articles about ethnography choose "Sociology." A list of databases covering sociology will appear.

Developing a Search

Using Keywords
To search in a database, you must enter keywords that you want the computer to find for you. Before starting your search, it is a good idea to write out your thesis or a statement about what you are looking for. From your thesis or statement, pull out all of the major keywords. For each of the keywords, write as many synonyms as possible. If you are unable to find citations with your major keywords, you may want to use some of the synonyms.

Thesis:     Capital punishment is ethically and morally wrong in today's society and should be outlawed.

Keywords:    capital punishment, ethically, morally, wrong, outlawed

Synonyms:    capital punishment - execution

ethically - ethics, ethical, right
morally - moral, morals, just
wrong - illegal, incorrect
outlawed - banned, illegal

*Tip: Some of the databases have a built-in thesaurus to determine the appropriate terms to use. See Using the Thesaurus below for more information.

Using Booleans
Start your search by entering some of your major keywords in the given search box. You can enter as many as you want and you can truncate (see "Using Truncation" below) as many of them as you wish. When using more than one term or phrase, though, you must combine the terms or phrase using what are known as Boolean operators. The two which are most used are AND and OR.

AND connects terms when you want both terms to be present somewhere in the citation/abstract. The more ANDS you add to your search, the more fewer citations you will receive.

Example:     CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND ILLEGAL* AND IMMORAL*

OR retrieves records containing at least one of the terms. The more ORs you add to your search, the more citations you will receive.

Example:     CAPITAL PUNISHMENT OR EXECUTION

If using AND and OR in the same search string, be sure to use parenthesis to group the OR words.

Examples:    (CAPITAL PUNISHMENT OR EXECUTION) AND OUTLAW*

Using Truncation
You may have noticed that for some of the synonyms, a different form of the same word is listed. It is important to remember that the computer will look for the exact word you give it. But it is possible to tell the computer to look for different forms of the same word. This is done by a trick called truncation. Almost every database allows you to use truncation and the truncation device is usually the asterick ( * ) . To find different word endings, simply type the root word and insert the asterick at the end.

Example:    moral*    (will find moral, morals, morally, and morale)

ethic*    (will find ethic, ethics, ethical, and ethically)

Using Limiters
Search results can be limited in several areas. Some examples of such limiters are: Document Type (i.e. journal article or book chapter), Publication Type (i.e. case study or empirical study), PEI (Peer Reed) or Audience Type (i.e. general public or researcher). A few limiters are often located on the basic search screen, but additional limiters can usually be found on a separate page labeled "Advanced or Guided Searching" or "Change Limits."

Using the Index
The index is helpful for searching for publications by a particular field, such as an author or journal. Type the appropriate term in the Term box. An alphabetical list of terms is displayed. The number in parenthesis is the number of records that have that term in the field. Click on the appropriate term to see the record(s).

Using the Thesaurus
You may want to use the thesaurus to determine the proper terminology that describes your topic. ERIC and PSYCHInfo are two databases that have an online thesaurus. The thesaurus suggests appropriate search terms that may be used.

Retrieving and Saving Search Results

Search Results
Type your search terms in the given box and click on Search. The database is set to automatically show only a brief citation. To see a complete record or full-text (if full-text is available), click on the appropriate link.

Marking Records
Mark records that you want to keep by clicking on the box at the top left corner of each record. Records can then be printed, saved to a disk or e-mailed.

Print/Save/Email
To print, save or email records, mark the records that you want to keep. Then click on the Print, Save, or Email button.

Getting the Article

Using Find It!
If the article is not full-text within the database you are currently searching, you will see a button. The Find It! service searches for your article in the other databases that USM subscribes. If the article is not full-text in any of the other databases, you will be given the option to search ANNA for the journal title, to search Google, or to use USM's Document Delivery services (see below).

Note: You can also search Find It! directly through the "Browse/Search E-Journals" located on the University Libraries page under Research Tools.

Using ANNA/Catalog
If you click on "Holdings in ANNA - library's catalog" from the Find It! screen, a search in the catalog is automatically initiated for the journal, magazine or newspaper in which the article is located. If the journal name appears, USM owns the journal. If the journal name does not appear, USM does not own it. If the journal's name appears more than once, USM receives it in more than one format (paper, online, microfiche, microfilm).

Although USM owns a journal, it does not necessarily mean that they own the particular volume you need. To view the specific volumes owned by USM, click on the Full Details button on each record. Scroll down to the part of the record that indicates what volumes the library has.

Finding and Copying Articles
The record should indicate the format of the journal (microform, online, etc.). The format will indicate where the journal can be found. If it is Online, simply click on the URL (http://) provided in the record. If it is on microform (fiche or film), the journal will be located in the 2nd floor Reading Room in the microform cabinets. There are machines for viewing and printing located there (10 cents/page - must use a copy card). If the article has been published in the last 4 years, the journal will be located in the 2nd floor Reading Room of Cook Library under the given call number. Copy machines are available there. If the journal is older than 4 years and the record indicates that it is in Stacks, then the journal is shelved like a book and can be found on the appropriate floor by the call number. Copy machines are available on all floors of Cook Library.

Retrieving Articles Not Owned by USM
If the journal you need is not available through a full-text database or in the library's collection, a service know as "Document Delivery" may be an option available for getting the article. A link for "Document Delivery" is available through "Find It!" and also on the library's home page. If an article is available via Document Delivery, it can be ordered and delivered to you within 1-3 days at no cost to you.

Finding Dissertations and Theses

Finding Dissertations: Dissertation Abstracts, 1861-Present (Digital Disserations) -- an on-line database (found on the library's home page page under "Databases by Title") containing citations for dissertations from 1861 to the present, abstracts of dissertations written since 1980, and previews of dissertations 1997-present. Dissertations can be purchased on-line for approximately $35 or borrowed (usually free) through USM Libraries' Interlibrary Loan. Please visit http://www.lib.usm.edu/research/ill/ or contact Interlibrary Loan 601.266.4256 to find out if they can obtain dissertations for you.

Finding USM Dissertations or Theses: Anna/Catalog -- USM Libraries online catalog. To find USM dissertations or theses, click on the middle tab labelled "Power Search." Type keywords in the search box and then scroll down the page and click on the drop-down box next to "Item Type." Select either "Dissertation (USM)" or "Thesis or Thesis B (USM) Bound Typescripts" to limit your search to dissertations or theses produced at USM.

Finding Information About

Test and/or Measurement Instruments

The following resources can be found on the library?s homepage by clicking on ?Find Items? then ?Tests and Measurements.?

Mental Measurements Yearbook Online (MMY) (subscription database) - produced since 1938 by the Buros Institute, MMY provides users with critical evaluations to over 2,000 commercial tests within areas such as education, psychology, business, aptitude, achievement, and intelligence.  Includes descriptive information about the tests, professional reviews of the tests, and credentials of the reviewers. MMY can be accessed from the list of article databases on the USM Libraries website.

Dissertation Abstracts - search for studies used by other doctorate students by searching your topic in Dissertation Abstracts.

ANNA/Catalog - search for information about tests and measurements in the USM Libraries collection.

A. Open ANNA

B. Type in your topic or discipline followed by the words tests or testing (see sample Subject Headings below)

C. Select "Browse"

D. Click "Subject."

Some sample Subject Headings to use in ANNA/Catalog: