Middlebury College Theses
It may be helpful to see examples of good quality Middlebury theses:
Digital Theses: In 2007 Middlebury began adding digital theses to a college-wide digital Institutional Repository. (Earlier a pilot project was done with just geology theses). We hope you will consider adding your thesis when completed so other students will benefit from seeing your work. Detailed explanation.
Older Honors Theses: For many years, honors theses have been added to the College Archives in Special Collections. College Archive material cannot be taken outside of Special Collections, which has limited hours, so plan ahead.
Index of Honor Theses in College Archives
Theses and Dissertations From Other Institutions
The Middlebury College Libraries have very few PhD dissertations / Masters theses from other colleges and universities. Check Midcat by author or title to see if we have a specific one. (Note that we may have a book by the author with similar content but a different title since dissertation material often makes its way into later publications by the author).
If you do not have a citation, use Dissertation Abstracts to identify dissertations by author, title, subject, institution, etc. Keep the full citation information to aid you in requesting a copy.
In most cases, only the institution for which the dissertation or thesis was written will have a copy. However, you can request theses/dissertations through Interlibrary Loan. If a copy is not available for lending from the institution (or if you simply want your own copy), you may purchase an unbound paper copy (~$43) or PDF copy (~$36) to keep from UMI Dissertation Services. To get a cheaper rate for an unbound paper copy, you may place a personal order at the Circulation Desk in the Main Library for $30.00, PREPAID, by check or cash. Your personal copy should arrive in five business days.
*Exception: If you feel that a particular thesis or dissertation would be of use to a number of other students besides yourself, you may request that Middlebury purchase a copy (for the Library) that you may then check out. Keep in mind that your request may be denied because the Library does not routinely purchase dissertations because of their specialized nature and because they often are revised for later publication in books or journal articles, which are more appropriate for undergraduate libraries to acquire. Also, allow more time since it usually takes longer to get a dissertation approved and ordered for addition to the library collection than borrowing it through Interlibrary Loan.
To request that the library purchase a dissertation for the library collection (read *exception above), first consult with your advisor to get his/her approval. You should provide your advisor with the abstract from Dissertation Abstracts. Your advisor should then submit a purchase request. Your advisor should put a note that the dissertation is to be held for you (name and email) in the remarks field.
The Librarian for the subject area will review the request(s) and may discuss it with you or your faculty advisor before advising you of a decision.