science

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand ProQuest Dissertations and Theses rather than just read about it. In short: ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) is an online database that indexes, abstracts, and provides full-text access to dissertations and theses. The database includes over 2.4 million records and covers 1637 to the present.

Key takeaways

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect ProQuest Dissertations and Theses to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of ProQuest Dissertations and Theses from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) is an online database that indexes, abstracts, and provides full-text access to dissertations and theses. The database includes over 2.4 million records and covers 1637 to the present. It is produced by ProQuest and was formerly known as ProQuest Digital Dissertations. The bibliographic database (without full-text dissertations) is known as Dissertation Abstracts or Dissertation Abstracts International. PQDT annually publishes more than 90% of all dissertations submitted from accredited institutions of higher learning in North America as well as from colleges and universities in Europe and Asia. Over the past 60 years, PQDT has amassed more than 1.4 million titles beginning with the first U.S. dissertation accepted by a university (Yale) in 1861. ProQuest began digitizing dissertations in 1997 from a microform archive. In October 2015, ProQuest added the ability for authors to include an ORCID identifier when submitting a thesis.

Abstracts Dissertation Abstracts, Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI) is a bibliographic database of American dissertations published since 1938, initially by University Microfilms International (UMI) now by ProQuest, Ann Arbor. DAI covers doctoral dissertations accepted at accredited American institutions since 1861. Selected master's 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. 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:

Section A, Humanities and Social Sciences (ISSN 0419-4209) Section B, Sciences and Engineering (ISSN 0419-4217) Section C (formerly European Dissertations) (ISSN 1042-7279) covers non-North American materials, most of them unavailable for purchase from ProQuest. As of 2008, ProQuest no longer offers Section C as a separate product. 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.

1997: Dissertations go digital with ProQuest Digital Dissertations 1998: Library of Congress recognizes UMI as offsite repository of Digital Dissertations Library

See also Gray literature Indexing and abstracting service

References

Further reading 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.

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with ProQuest Dissertations and Theses

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what ProQuest Dissertations and Theses claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to ProQuest Dissertations and Theses before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about ProQuest Dissertations and Theses ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of ProQuest Dissertations and Theses

In research: ProQuest Dissertations and Theses appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses ProQuest Dissertations and Theses in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: ProQuest Dissertations and Theses is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bibliographic databases and indexes, Full-text scholarly online databases, ProQuest, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for ProQuest Dissertations and Theses outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study ProQuest Dissertations and Theses in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what ProQuest Dissertations and Theses means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain ProQuest Dissertations and Theses out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is ProQuest Dissertations and Theses in simple terms?

Why does ProQuest Dissertations and Theses matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study ProQuest Dissertations and Theses?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.