5 replies to this topic

[Gibbo]

Glasgow, like many universities, now requires successful PhD and MPhil students to submit an electronicial copy of their thesis as well as a paper one. These are posted on the university library's website. The abstract is always available, but some people have restricted access to the full thesis for copyright reasons or to protect sources ahead of publication.

I have started separate threads on theses dealing with WWI and its aftermath, but there are a number of others on military history subjects: See this link for all the history ones.

[LenT]

Hours of reading there! Already started the thesis on the 51st Highland Division. And Medieval Scotland too. A veritable treasure trove.

                                   Len

[JoMH]

Great stuff. Thanks for letting us know about these. I have saved a couple - 'British strategy & oil' being one of them.

Joanna

[Staffsyeoman]

Many of these are also lodged with the British Library and can be downloaded free from there as well. It encompasses more universities.

[Phil_B]

Some of those research topics are very rarified. Do the researchers have to finance themselves?

[Gibbo]

Some people receive grants. Some finance themselves. A lot of the self-financers work and study part-time, giving them 5-6 rather than 3-4 years to complete their thesis. Others, such as myself, are mature students with savings to support them during their research. Many of the full-time students will have part-time jobs in bars, supermarkets etc and some will do some paid tutoring of undergraduates. Students may receive funding to cover fees, subsistence and research expenses, but there are also awards that cover just expenses of trips to archives.

Grants may be offered for somebody researching a particular topic that's thought to need study, but obtaining finance is generally dependent on the grade of your Master's and undergraduate degrees than your topic. You have to do something that hasn't been done before, which is leading to theses studying a narrow area in great detail.