This page gives a brief summary of The ADT Distributed Database user interface.
There are two ways to search for theses. The Home/Search allows you to search for one or more words or phrases. You can restrict the search to one field type, or search across all fields.
The Advanced Search allows you to formulate a more fine-grained search. You can combine searches for different fields and for each search you can either include or exclude terms.
The results of simple and advanced searches are returned as record summaries. You can click on the "More Information" link to view detailed information about a thesis. The "Next" and "Prev" links allow you to page through the record summaries.
You may browse by the family name of an author, the title of a thesis, the school that issued the thesis, or the date the thesis was awarded and the date the record was last updated on the database.
You can enter all or part of the first word you want to browse in the top box and click GO, or choose a browse option from the lower box and click on a letter.
Many of the records on ADT have the full digital thesis available online. Just click on the highlighted "title" or the highlighted link in "identifier".
Some records do not have a full digital copy online. You can usually get these on interlibrary loan from the university that awarded the degree. Click on "More Information" for the thesis you want and contact the library listed under "Availability".
You can store a search query to run later if you have set up an account. When you login with your account username and password you can run the search without having to remember what you used last time.
When you get a group of records from a search you can refine the results by author, title, subject, date, school or department, and URL. The Refine search button appears at the top of every screen.
You can add things to your cart and view them as a group later, which may make printing the records easier. If you set up an account and login with it you can email the things you put in your cart to the email address you included in your account.
Login takes you into an account you have set up already. An account lets you store a search for later use and email search results in your cart to the address you registered with your account.
It is a good idea to logout when you have finished using your account, especially if you are using a computer in a public area. Click on the Logout link on the left. Restart your web browser to end your session if this does not work.
Please note that you can do the following activities WITHOUT having to login into an account:
You can change your account password at any time. Login with your current password and click on the "Change Password" link on the left. Fill in the form and click the "Change password" button. You are assigned a password when you first set up an account. You may want to change this to something that is easier for you to remember.