Question regarding someone else's dissertation

[scofield24]

If you are interested reading about the research in someone's dissertation, what is the appropriate way to get the document?

Or is it impossible? It's a dissertation done by a student from another university, the school only allows their students to log in and access it. So for a graduate student in another school interested, is there a legal way to read it?

Thank you! 

[TakeruK]

Yes. The best way is to contact the author directly and ask for a copy. In almost all cases, theses are copyrighted to the author, not the school (but the school generally requires the student to grant a indefinite, royalty-free right to reproduce it etc.

 

Another possibility is to contact the supervisor if you can't get a hold of the author. But the best course of action is to try to contact the author.

[pears]

Yes. The best way is to contact the author directly and ask for a copy. In almost all cases, theses are copyrighted to the author, not the school (but the school generally requires the student to grant a indefinite, royalty-free right to reproduce it etc.

 

Another possibility is to contact the supervisor if you can't get a hold of the author. But the best course of action is to try to contact the author.

 

Yup, this exactly! My own thesis will involve several others' theses, almost all of whom were in the same department (over a few decades). Initially, I got permission to use the thesis of someone who's now on my committee, and they helped me get permission to access others as needed. Also, my program has access to theses at some other universities as .pdfs or hard copies, but I usually have to search for them by exact title through my library's website.

[TakeruK]

Also, my program has access to theses at some other universities as .pdfs or hard copies, but I usually have to search for them by exact title through my library's website.

 

I am usually able to access theses from other schools too. But like journal articles, make sure you are accessing them from within your school network (or do whatever proxy networks your school told you to do) in order to have the right subscription/access rights.

[scofield24]

Yes. The best way is to contact the author directly and ask for a copy. In almost all cases, theses are copyrighted to the author, not the school (but the school generally requires the student to grant a indefinite, royalty-free right to reproduce it etc.

Thank you for the advice! I contacted the author and he gave me a copy for reference.