Dissertations and theses can be especially useful for:
> Locating recent research that may not yet be published in book or article format (a revised dissertation often is published later as a book or a series of scholarly articles; to find these, try searching for other works written by the same author); and
> Identifying both primary and secondary sources on a topic.
http://www.ams-net.org/ddm/
"...An international database of bibliographic records for completed dissertations and new dissertation topics in the fields of musicology, music theory, and ethnomusicology, as well as in related musical, scientific, and humanistic disciplines. Currently containing over 14,000 records, including the corrected and updated contents of all earlier printed editions of Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology and supplements contributed from musicological centers throughout the world..." (website introduction). DDM does not contain the full text of dissertations. For the most part, titles in this database are submitted voluntarily by dissertation authors.
http://www.mtosmt.org/docs/diss-index.php
A list of recently-completed dissertations in the field of music theory. It does not contain the full text of dissertations. For the most part, titles in this database are submitted voluntarily by dissertation authors.
http://www.ndltd.org/
An international organization dedicated to the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic analogues to traditional paper-based theses and dissertations. Since 2009, all UCF dissertations and theses (except those that have been embargoed by the author) can be located through NDLTD.
http://oatd.org/
Aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 800 colleges, universities, and research institutions. OATD currently indexes almost two million theses and dissertations.
Includes 2.4 million dissertation and thesis citations from around the world from 1861 to the present day together with one million full-text dissertations that are available for download in PDF format. The database offers full-text for most dissertations added since 1997 and strong retrospective full-text coverage for older titles. This is the single, central, authoritative resource for information about doctoral dissertations and master's theses.
UCF's Showcase of Text, Archives, Research & Scholarship — STARS — exists to publicize, disseminate, and provide ready access to works by, for, and about the University of Central Florida. Administered by the UCF Libraries, STARS is available to host and promote research, creative activity, and institutional outputs. All UCF dissertations and theses written since 2011 are available in STARS.
Provides access to over five million records of dissertations and theses. On the advanced search page, in the Subtype Limits field under the drop-down menu "Any Content," select "Thesis/dissertation."