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 and searchable 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. Note: If an author(s) have placed an embargo on their theses or dissertations for a period of time, access to these will be limited.

You can also find Virginia Tech dissertations and theses 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). If available online, it will be the first few results. Click on the thesis/dissertation title to view the item information and for access options (such as VTechWorks links).

From the Discovery Advanced Search page, you may search the thesis/dissertation title using the “Title” search filter, or use the “Title” AND “Author/Creator” search filters to find the Virginia Tech electronic theses or dissertations (ETDs) by the title AND author. Change the "Material type" option from "All items" to "Dissertations". From the results page, click on the thesis/dissertation title to view the item information and for access options (such as VTechWorks links).

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 in much the same way, as indicated above. Click on the thesis/dissertation title to view the item information, item location, availability, and a "Sign In" link for request options.

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 “Tweak you results”: select the "Expand My Results" option.

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.