Dissertation Research Help: Finding Free, Online Scholarly Sources

While university libraries are the best starting place for dissertation research, not everyone has access to one!  Perhaps you're completing an online PhD program. Maybe you're completing your dissertation remotely, and don't live in the same city as your institution.  Or maybe your library doesn't subscribe to online databases that provide access to the kinds of scholarly sources that you need.  Where can you turn for dissertation help? Luckily, there are more and more scholarly sources available online, and for free.

Open Access Scholarship

The Open Access movement aims to promote the use and dissemination of scholarly research by making scholarship freely available.  Open Access journals don't charge for use.

Open Access Journal Directories

The Directory of Open Access Journalsis a database that allows you to search over 10,000 free scholarly journals, covering every imaginable academic discipline. This directory is a great dissertation research resource, as it functions as a one-stop shop for free scholarly resources.

Some academic publishers produce open access journals. For instance, Wiley Blackwell and HighLine both provide online directories of their free, open access journals.

BestOnlineColleges.com also has a useful list of 99 academic journals that you can access for free.

Open Access Through Universities

Many universities encourage their faculty and students to make their scholarship available through open access platforms.  Research by Duke University faculty, for instance, is available through the Duke Library DukeSpace, while Washington University offers a similar service through their Open Scholarship site.  A quick Google search for “university open access” brings up numerous similar university-administered open access directories.

One of the largest university-administered open access services is the University of California's eScholarship. eScholarship provides full-text access to sources that include articles, conference proceedings, dissertations, and research studies by scholars at the University of California and around the world.

Need Dissertation Research Help?

Whether you need help developing a research strategy, or guidance on how to find sources, a dissertation consultant from Thesis Editor can help. And once you're past the research stage, a Thesis Editor or dissertation formatting expert can help make sure that your dissertation is free of formatting errors.  Whatever dissertation help you need, Thesis Editor is here! < Self-Care During COVID-19 EndNote: An Introduction >