PhD (doctoral) theses
Accessing our collection of Goldsmiths PhD (doctoral) theses.
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Print theses in the Library
Until 2020, a single copy of all Goldsmiths PhD (doctoral) theses were deposited in the Library, in the same year that they were awarded. In the 2020-21 academic year, PhD candidates were asked to deposit their final thesis in digital format only as an interim adjustment due to Covid-19. Please see the Graduate School guidance on thesis deposit formats.
All print copies of PhD theses held in the library are discoverable on Library Search.
Printed theses are for reference only and cannot be borrowed, because they are unique. Theses are not available for browsing on the open shelves and are instead held in our store.
Print theses can be consulted in the Library upon request by using the ‘Place a hold’ function on Library Search. Guidance on using the ‘Place a hold’ function is also available. Requested theses can be collected from the Library Help Desk during opening hours.
Most printed theses may be photocopied, but do check the coversheet inside as that will tell you what permission the author has given for copying. If no restrictions are specified then you can copy no more than 5% of the thesis, or one chapter, provided it is for research or private study.
Please note that University of London theses were held at Senate House Library until 2010, but were then transferred back to the home institution so there are no print copies of Goldsmiths theses held at Senate House Library.
Digital copies in GRO and EThOS
Digital copies of many Goldsmiths PhD (doctoral) theses are available from two sources:
- Goldsmiths Research Online (GRO)
- EThOS, the British Library's collection of UK theses
Theses completed on or after 1 June 2010 are collected in Goldsmiths Research Online (GRO) and also made available in the British Library's EThOS service.
Copyright restrictions mean that it is not possible to make all theses available in GRO or EThOS. In some cases, embargoes are requested by authors following the completion of their thesis. This means that the bibliographic details and abstract of the thesis is available on GRO but the full text cannot be downloaded. Embargoes are not permanent and it is rare that an embargo will extend beyond the standard length of 36 months.
Theses from before 2010, originally deposited in Senate House Library, which are not yet available digitally can usually be requested for digitisation from EThOS. You will need to register with EThOS to make a digitisation request, but there is no charge for requesting a digital copy of a Goldsmiths thesis, because Goldsmiths is an open access sponsor of EThOS.
Some theses completed before 2010 have been digitised and are available in GRO and ETHoS. If you completed your thesis at Goldsmiths before 2010, we would encourage you to make a digital copy of your thesis available. Please contact the Goldsmiths Research Online team on gro (@gold.ac.uk), if you would like to know more about making a digital copy of your thesis available.
How to find theses on Library Search
All print copies of PhD theses held in the Library are on Library Search. Theses with access to the full text on GRO can also be found on Library Search. Some theses from other UK universities that are available on the British Library EThOS service can also be found on Library Search (you will need to register for a free EThOS account in order to download theses through the service).
To find a specific PhD thesis, you can search for the author or title on Library Search.
The results may include both print and digital copies of the thesis.
Digital copies will have an ‘Online access’ or ‘Full text available’ link. For Goldsmiths theses, the ‘Online access’ link will take you to the copy of the full text thesis on Goldsmiths Research Online. For theses from other institutions, the link will take you to the record held on the British Library EThOS service.
Print copies will list the Dewey classmark.
To find theses on a particular subject area or discipline, you can perform a keyword search on Library Search and then use the ‘Refine my results’ options on the right of the results page to filter your results to ‘Theses’.
You can also use the ‘Advanced Search’ function to search for theses only by selecting ‘Theses’ in the ‘Material Type’ field.
How to find theses on GRO
GRO offers some search options that are not available on Library Search and it is recommended if you wish to find theses produced by a specific department or find theses which make use of practice research or creative writing methods.
Please note that some theses listed on GRO are under embargo and full text is not currently accessible.
Navigate to GRO. From the landing page, use the drop-down menu on the right hand side to select "Advanced Search". In "Advanced Search" select "Thesis" as the item type.
In the "Departments, Centres and Research Units" field, select the appropriate department. To select more than one department, hold down the "Ctrl" (PC) or "Cmd" (Mac) key while clicking on the relevant departments.
In the “Full Text Status” field select “Public” to search for theses with full text availability. If you want to see all theses held on GRO for the department regardless of full text status leave all the boxes unticked.
Hit the “Search” button at the bottom of the page.
Navigate to GRO. From the landing page, use the drop-down menu on the right-hand side to select "Advanced Search". In "Advanced Search" select "Thesis" as the item type.
In the keywords field enter the word "Practice". Although alternative terms are used to describe this type of research, entering the term “Practice” will retrieve the fullest range of results in GRO.
In the “Full Text Status” field select “Public” to search for theses with full text availability. If you want to see all theses held on GRO for the department regardless of full text status leave all the boxes unticked.
Hit the “Search” button at the bottom of the page.
Navigate to GRO. From the landing page, use the drop-down menu on the right hand side to select "Advanced Search". In "Advanced Search" select "Thesis" as the item type.
In the keywords field enter word "Creative Writing".
In the “Full Text Status” field select “Public” to search for theses with full text availability. If you want to see all theses held on GRO for the department regardless of full text status leave all the boxes unticked.
Hit the “Search” button at the bottom of the page.
If you need further help accessing our doctoral thesis collection please contact gro (@gold.ac.uk).