Find Theses and Dissertations

Research methods and literature reviews

• Find books and articles for research methods/methodologies from the Library Search.
• The Sage Research Methods database provides a collection of books, journals, videos and case studies that focuses on research methods. The tools and literature in this database will help you plan your research project, identify methods or methodologies for your research, collect/analyse data sets, and write your research.
• Writing guides provided by Learning Advisors are available on the Library website >  For PGs.
• Learn how to conduct a systematic review from the Systematic review guide.

Further help:

• Get writing advise from a Learning Advisor by making an appointment online.
• Contact your liaison librarian or book an appointment for any assistance on finding research resources.

Academic phrasebank

The Academic phrasebank (University of Manchester) is a general resource for academic writers. It aims to provide you with examples of some of the phraseological ‘nuts and bolts’ of writing organised according to the main sections of a research paper.

LaTeX

A good tool for writing technical and scientific documents. Find more details in our LaTeX guide.

Overleaf provides LaTeX templates for academic writing including thesis templates.

Format of a thesis

Consult the AUT Postgraduate Handbook (access via Student Hub Online) for requirements relating to the formatting and presentation of your thesis or dissertation.

Referencing and referencing software

• You should use a referencing style, e.g. APA, agreed with your supervisor or Faculty, to cite references in your thesis/dissertation.
• A referencing software will help you organise your references and cite sources. Find our online guides for more details.

Proofreading

Read Proofreading Guidelines and contact your faculty administrator for an updated list of proofreaders.

Turnitin

You are required to upload a copy of your thesis, dissertation and exegesis to Turnitin prior to the submission of the final examination. Turnitin is an originality checking tool for preventing improper citation and potential plagiarism.

• Learn more about Turnitin from the Library website
• Postgraduate research students should access Turnitin via Blackboard > PG_Me

Third party copyright

• Any copyright material created by someone other than yourself.

Reproducing tables, figures and images in your thesis, dissertation or exegesis

Remember that your thesis/dissertation/exegesis will be published online on the Tuwhera Open Research Repository. If you are going to reproduce any copyright material from books, journals, Library databases or websites in your thesis/dissertation/exegesis, you should obtain permission from the copyright owners. 

• This applies especially to the reproduction of the following resources: artistic works, drawings, photographs, diagrams, tables, charts, maps and other images. 
• If you compile information from multiple sources into a single figure, you will need to include multiple permission statements, one for each source.
• If the copyright status of a source is not clear, contact the author or the publisher for more information. 
• If the copyright holder is not the original author, you should give credit to both the original author and the copyright holder.

Notes: You should start getting permission during your writing process. Do not leave this to the latest stage of your writing as requesting permission from copyright owners may take months. 

When permission has been granted, you should include “Reprinted with permission" in the note or caption under the table or images. 

•  Find a sample permission request letter from the Copyright at AUT page.
• Our Referencing style guides provide referencing examples on how to cite tables, figures and images.

Thesislink - AUT's blog for postgraduate research students, provides you with information, stories/experiences, commentaries and suggestions to inform your research.

Research Whisperer -  a blog dedicated to the topic of doing research in academia: finding funding, research culture, and building academic track-records.

Thesis Whisperer - a  blog newspaper dedicated to the topic of doing a thesis and is edited by Dr Inger Mewburn, Director of research training at the Australian National University.

Early career researchers - an Elsevier blog.