Q. How do I find Virginia Tech dissertations and theses?

Theses and dissertations have been published at Virginia Tech since 1903. They have been submitted electronically since 1996 (ETDs), with most of these freely available online from VTechWorks - ETDs. Please visit the Research Guide on ETDs page for more information. The Virginia Tech Libraries owns few theses or dissertations published at other colleges and universities; you can obtain many of these documents via Interlibrary Loan.

From Discovery Advanced Search, search the thesis/dissertation title using the “Title” search index, or use the “Title” AND “Author” search indices to find the Virginia Tech electronic theses or dissertations (ETDs) by the title AND author. If the OCLC number is indexed, you may search for it from the library’s homepage, or from the Discovery Search page. From the results page, click on the thesis/dissertation title to view the item information, including: the item description in the “View Description” section, such as the OCLC number (if indexed), and the availability in the “Check Availability” section, such as the “Access online” or “View online” links. Finally, clicking on the “Access online” or “View online” button will take you directly to the VTechWorks records page for the ETD item. If there is a “Get VText” link, this will direct you to the item information, with the “Request item through Interlibrary Loan” button, to request the item through Interlibrary Loan.

Physical/print copies of Virginia Tech thesis or dissertations can be found from the library’s homepage, or from the Discovery Search page, by searching for the thesis/dissertation by the title, or by the OCLC number (if indexed). From the results page, under “Refine this Search”: select Format: “Book - Thesis, Dissertation” (where applicable). Click on the thesis/dissertation title to view the item information, including: the item description in the “View Description” section, such as the OCLC number (if indexed), and the availability in the “Check Availability” section, such as the Location, Call Number, Status (if held by Virginia Tech). If you are still having trouble, try using the Discovery Advanced Search option to search the thesis/dissertation by “Title” AND “Author”, as indicated above for the ETDs search.

To limit searches to just Virginia Tech published theses or dissertations, include the phrase "Virginia Polytechnic Institute" with quotes in your search. To limit to documents from particular departments, include the department name in quotes. Note that many departments have changed their names over the years, so you will need to search each variation of name.

To search for thesis and dissertations held by other libraries, from the initial results page, under “Refine this Search”: change Held By Library: to “Libraries Worldwide”. In the Discovery Advanced Search page, under “Search Tools”: change Held By Library: to “Libraries Worldwide”. You may also limit your search to “Open Access” resources.

For information about the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), ProQuest Theses and Dissertations Global (PQTDG), other open access repositories, and international thesis and dissertations repositories, such as the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), see our guide on theses and dissertations for more information.