Searching for theses

Birkbeck theses 2000 -

Birkbeck PhD and MPhil theses from 2000 onwards are kept in a closed access store.  To request one of these theses fill in and submit the online form.  Requests placed on Sunday to Thursday will be available after 13:00 the next day. Requests placed on Friday and Saturday will be available after 13:00 on Monday.  

Birkbeck theses up to 1999

Birkbeck PhD and MPhil theses up to 1999 are not accessible through Birkbeck Library.  These Birkbeck theses can be consulted at Senate House Library (SHL)  on request. See University of London theses below

The Library does not hold PhD theses for the following subjects: Classics, German, History and Law.  Theses in these subjects are held in the Libraries of the appropriate Institutes of the School of Advanced Study of the University of London and in Senate House Library (SHL) .  

Searching for theses on the Library catalogue  

Birkbeck PhD and MPhil theses from 1980 onwards are on the catalogue.  If you require further details of a pre-1980 Birkbeck thesis, please ask at the Enquiry Desk.  You will need to know the author and the subject area of the thesis. 

Searching by author and title: If you know the author and title of a thesis, use the Author and Title search, entering the author’s surname and a distinctive word from the title. If just the author or title is known, use the Author Alphabetical or Titles Alphabetical searches from the drop down menu. Title Keyword searches can also be carried out in the Advanced search screen. 

Searching by subject: NB. The following subject search is only comprehensive for theses from 1987 onwards.
To find a thesis submitted to a particular Birkbeck department, select Subject Keyword. Enter the department and “theses” and click on ,  e.g. enter "biology theses" to retrieve a list of theses submitted to the Biology department from 1987 onwards.

Searching by shelfmark: To look for theses held for a particular year, choose Shelfmark in the Advanced search screen.

• For the years 1981-1986 inclusive, records are prefixed by 3/, for example 3/1984
• For 1980 and for 1987 onwards, theses records are prefixed by THESES/, for example THESES/1993

University of London theses

Copies of all University of London research degree theses are kept, and may be consulted, within Senate House Library (SHL).  

For pre-1981 theses use the thesis card catalogue in the Middlesex South Reading Room (4th floor). This allows you to search for University of London theses by author. 

Theses from 1981 onwards appear on Senate House Library’s online catalogue.  As with Birkbeck theses, if you know the author or title of a thesis, use the Author, Title, or Author/Title search on the catalogue.

To search for theses on a particular topic, use the Theses Keyword search and enter term(s) for the subject area you are interested in.

All Birkbeck students are eligible for a Senate House Library ticket. All Senate House Library theses are stored off-site. To consult a thesis, students need to ring the Information Centre telephone (020-7862 8461 or 8462) at least two working days in advance to order the title(s) they require.

Full details of access to theses at SHL are available at http://www.shl.lon.ac.uk/resources/theses.shtml

Other UK theses

Index to Theses provides bibliographic references to all theses published by British and Irish universities, with coverage dating back to 1716. Almost all entries from 1986 onwards, as well as some from the period 1970-1985, include abstracts.

You can check Birkbeck and other University of London theses on Index to Theses by selecting, e.g. ' London, Birkbeck College ', in the University option of the Simple Search.