Content, Coverage & Description
EThOS is a UK wide repository of digitized doctoral theses. It provides full text access to 250,000 theses published in the UK as well as bibliographic records of non digitized theses. A quick and free registration is required to access the full text content.
When to use
EThOS is an excellent resource for finding highly specialised and original research. Students embarking on a doctoral programme may wish to see examples of successful theses in their own discipline and identify areas of research that have not already been covered.
Video guide: Using Ethos to find UK theses
University of Kent (2019) Using Ethos to find UK theses. 28 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_c3ZRC5tG0 (Accessed: 13 July 2021).
Basic search
Keep search terms simple, e.g. 'organisational culture', 'business ethics', 'eosinophilic inflammation', 'diabetes management'.
Full text availability is indicated by a green open padlock symbol next to the search results. You can restrict the search results to full text only by checking the box 'limit search to items available for immediate download' below the search bar.
Search results are listed in order of relevance. You can change the order of results to A to Z by author or year (most recent to oldest and vice versa) by using the 'sort by" option above the search results.
Click the relevant search result to view the abstract and download the thesis (if applicable). The full text can be accessed via the 'Immediate download' link when this is available. You will be prompted for the username and password you chose when you registered with EThOS.
Advanced Search
The advanced search tool enables you to search for a specific thesis by author and title. Use the drop-down menus next to the search boxes to select your desired search criteria.
You can also combine search terms using the Boolean operators 'AND', 'OR', 'NOT' (drop-down menu to the left of the search boxes). Example:
'higher education' (box one) AND 'social inequality' (box two) will instruct the database to look for theses which contain both search terms in the thesis abstracts or titles.
'social inequality' (box one) OR 'poverty' (box two) will instruct the database to search for each search term separately.
'higher education' (box one) AND 'social inequality' (box two) OR 'poverty' (box three) will instruct the database to search for articles which contain the first search term 'higher education' and either the second 'social inequality' or the third 'poverty'.
Try to keep your search terms simple especially when combining search terms. EThOS is a highly specialised database and over complicating searches may lead to a zero result outcome.
Help and Support
Library staff are available to help you to use all of our online databases and electronic journal services.
Contact us at library@uws.ac.uk or via the Self Service Portal.
