An Exploration of Changing Dissertation Requirements and Library Services to Support Them

To more fully support PhD students, librarians must be mindful of and responsive to changing dissertation requirements. Based on input obtained through an online questionnaire from directors of chemistry, political science, and English doctoral programs and from details on department websites, this paper examines what alternate forms of dissertations are increasingly acceptable in the different disciplines. Article-style dissertations are often routine in the sciences and growing in acceptance in the social sciences, so training related to the publishing process would be helpful. The humanities stand at the forefront of recognizing digital and Web-based dissertations, so training related to the digital humanities might also be suitable.