Doctoral dissertations and master's theses are rich information resources. In the past, they have been very difficult to obtain, but many are now readily available through various databases and repositories.
Dissertations and theses generally provide original research, but they also offer:
In addition, if you are contemplating graduate study, performing a search on keywords related to your interests can give you a sense of what research graduate students are pursuing at different institutions, and skimming the dissertations and theses of your potential departments (or even potential advisors) can give you an inside look into the nature of research there (hint: read what students write about their advisors in the acknowledgements section!)
