Until recently theses and dissertations (Masters and Doctoral) were only available in printed form. Now, worldwide, institutions are digitising their collections putting pdf copies into the public arena. Theses can be traced via Google, GoogleScholar or from a particular institution's theses repository, usually from the Library's webpage.
For UKZN theses go to ResearchSpace
For South African theses go to SABINET ONLINE - see the UCTD collection and Current and Completed Research
For a more comprehensive search of theses from other institutions go to Library theses databases page.
Until recently theses and dissertations (Masters and PhD) were only available in printed form. Now, worldwide, institutions are digitising their collections thus putting these resources into the public domain. See the centre column for information about UKZN's digitising project and the right hand column for access to national and international resources.
To search for print copies of UKZN dissertations and theses use the World Cat Local : icatalogue option and limit results to UKZN. If you know the name of the author or the title of the dissertation, you can do a keyword search for those. Once you get a results list, limit by 'theses' from the left hand column under Format. Theses are treated like books and arranged on the shelves in number order. Print copies of more recent theses are only available in the thesis collection.
If a digital copy of a thesis is available, the URL will be provided, otherwise click on the Research Space tab on the library website which is the repository for UKZN digital theses. Please note that the digitising of theses is an ongoing project so earlier theses may not yet be available.
UKZN theses and those from other institutions can usually be traced via Google.
Increasingly, all institutions are digitising their theses starting with the most recent ones. If you cannot access a thesis via the Google link, go to the institution's library website and search within its digital theses.
Union Catalogue of Theses and Dissertations (UCTD)