How to Find Dissertations and Theses

Department Codes for Dissertations

.A33 Accounting 
.A75 Atmospheric & earth sciences 
.B43 Biochemistry 
.B46 Biology 
.B47 Biological sciences 
.B48 Biomedical sciences 
.B87 Business administration 
.C44 Chemical sciences 
.C45 Chemistry 
.C46 Clinical psychology 
.C48 Community health professions 
.C64 Computational & applied math 
.C65 Computer science 
.D46 Dental hygiene 
.E24 Ecological sciences 
.E26 Economics 
.E32 Education 
.E33 Education - early childhood
.E34 Education - educational admin.
.E36 Education - elementary 
.E38 Education - guidance & counsel. 
.E42 Education - reading 
.E44 Education - physical 
.E48 Education - special 
.E53 Engineering 
.E535 Engineering - aerospace 
.E54 Engineering - civil 
.E55 Engineering - electrical
.E555 Engineering - management 
.E56 Engineering - mechanical 
.E57 Engineering - mechanics 
.E59 Engineering - thermal 
.E64 English 
.E75 Environmental health 
.G4 Geology 
.H47 History 
.H85 Humanities 
.I45 International studies 
.M4 Meteorology 
.N8 Nursing 
.O35 Oceanography 
.P45 Physical therapy 
.P48 Physics 
.P65 Psychology 
.P67 Industrial psychology 
.P68 Industrial/organizational psychology 
.P69 Virginia Consortium for Professional Psych. 
.P83 Public administration 
.S62 Applied sociology 
.U52 Urban management 
.U53 Urban services 
.U54 Urban studies 

Old Dominion University Dissertations and Theses

Use Dissertations & Theses Full Text to find ODU dissertations and theses available online. A subset of this database is Dissertations & Theses @ ODU, which allows you to access the citations and abstracts of all ODU student dissertations and theses, as well as the full text in PDF format, when available.

Use the online library catalog to find Old Dominion University dissertations and theses located on the 4th floor of Perry Library and available for checkout, or archived in Special Collections. Search by AUTHOR or TITLE.

You may also use the library catalog to browse all theses and dissertations written for a department. Type the following as a title search:

Old Dominion University. Theses. [Name of Department or Program] (see list at left)
For example, to find dissertations and theses in history, do a search by title and enter: Old Dominion University. Theses. History

In the General Collection, all dissertations and theses are shelved on the 3rd floor under LD4331, followed by a decimal point and a department code (shown at left). For example, HISTORY is found under LD4331.H47.

Dissertations Written For Other Universities

Use Dissertations and Theses Full Text to find more than 600,000 full-text doctoral dissertations and master's theses. This database also indexes dissertations and theses back to 1861.

If the University Library has purchased a pysical copy of a dissertation or a thesis written for another university, it will be listed in the online catalog under the author's name or under the title, as any other book is listed. Keep in mind that some dissertations are reprinted by commercial publishers and made available as books.

Obtaining Dissertations Not Available at Perry Library

Use WorldCat to identify dissertations and theses and to find out which library owns them.

Old Dominion University students, faculty, and staff may inquire in the Interlibrary Loan Office (757) 682-4170 to see whether the dissertation can be borrowed from another library.

Patrons not affiliated with Old Dominion University must use the interlibrary loan service at their own university, public, or other affiliated library. To purchase a dissertation from University Microforms International, call 1-800-521-3042 to order a copy with a major credit card.