Theses and dissertations
We provide access to University of York PhD/MPhil theses and Masters dissertations for members of the University and visitors to the Library. We can also help you to find theses/dissertations from other institutions.
For all York theses and dissertations, copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise stated. You may copy a modest amount of material from a thesis with full attribution as defined in law. In all other circumstances you should contact the rights-holder for permission.
Search for a York thesis or dissertation
All available University of York theses can be found on YorSearch, including electronic versions held in the Digital Library and White Rose eTheses. You can search YorSearch for the title, author or department and academic year.
What we hold
We hold the University's PhD and MPhil theses, including physical copies up to 2012.
White Rose eTheses holds electronic copies from 2013 onwards, as well as a selection of pre-2013 theses.
University of York Masters dissertations for some subjects are available:
- electronically via YorSearch
- in print via Borthwick Institute for Archives (Note: booking is necessary)
We also hold a selection of digitised undergraduate dissertations for certain subjects:
- History (selection from 1967 onwards)
- History of Art (selection from 1997 onwards)
- Social Policy and Social Work (selection from 2019 onwards)
Consulting a thesis/dissertation in the Library
Our physical theses and dissertations are kept in a secure store. To consult them you will need to request access via Borthwick Institute for Archives by emailing borthwick-institute@york.ac.uk with the details of the thesis and a preferred appointment date.
Note: theses and dissertations can only be consulted in the reading room at the Borthwick Institute and cannot be removed.
If you are an independent researcher and want to consult a York thesis, contact us at borthwick-institute@york.ac.uk.
Finding theses from other universities
You can try one of the following services to find theses by students from other institutions.
- EThOS: PhD theses from most British higher education libraries made freely available in PDF format.
- Read more about using PhD theses on EThOS (youtube.com)
- White Rose eTheses Online holds electronic, doctoral level theses from the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York
- Index to theses is an index to British and Irish higher degree theses with abstracts (summaries) or brief details of each thesis
- Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations allows you to search for electronic theses from around the world
If you can't access the full text of a thesis you're interested in, please complete our Request Form and we will try to source it for you. Please note the success of this may depend on the holding library's policies, or obtaining the author's permission, but we will let you know if we're unable to source it.