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ADT@UOW

• Search ADT database
• Browse UOW digital theses
• Search UOW digital theses
• Background & rules
• FAQ
• Procedures for deposit

Background & rules

• The University of Wollongong is a participant in the Australian Digital Theses Program
• The ADT program is a national initiative involving a distributed database of Australian university postgraduate research student theses. All information is made available worldwide via the Web and the program aims to improve access to and promote Australian research to the international community.
• Benefits include:
  • increased visibility of UOW research output in Australia and Worldwide via the Web
  • improved access to research information contained in theses
  • increased access and use of an under-utilised but valuable information resource
  • greater opportunity for recognition by the international research community

University Regulations and Participation

The University's General Course Rules now require all UOW higher degree research students (i.e. Masters by Research and Doctoral submissions) to provide two bound copies and one digital copy of their thesis. The bound copies will be retained by the Faculty and the University Library and the digital copy will be made available for worldwide access via ADT and the Web.

Students who completed a research degree in recent years and who still have an electronic copy of their thesis are also encouraged to make their thesis available via ADT. Please contact Lisa McIntosh for further information.

Printed Theses

• One bound copy is provided to the Library and kept in the Thesis Collection
• Theses are made available via the Library Catalogue and the Australian National Bibliographic database KINETICA
• Theses are available for consultation only within the Library
• People outside the University of Wollongong who wish to read the thesis must visit the Library in person or apply for a copy through document delivery. Document delivery can be a costly and time-consuming exercise as the complete thesis must be photocopied or microfilmed.

More information about the Thesis Collection.

Digital Theses

• The Office of Research provides the Library with the student's electronic files for deposit to the ADT database
• Before deposit to the ADT database, Library staff ensure all files have been converted to PDF format with ADT required security settings
• Library staff create a record on ADT including an abstract and keywords and attach files
• The digital thesis and record are loaded to the UOW ADT site.
• The record and abstract are then added within 24 hours to the national ADT database.
• The metadata attached to the thesis record allows searching and retrieval by sophisticated search engines such as Google
• Web links to the digital thesis will be provided from the Library catalogue and from Kinetica
• Each theses deposited to the ADT database has a unique URL
• The URL can be distributed to prospective employers and research colleagues etc.

Success Stories

Read some of the University of Wollongong Success Stories and how ADT has assisted the distribution of research. If you have a success story or interesting anecdote about how ADT has assisted you, please let us know.

Statistics

• The UOW ADT site was accessed over 880,000 times in 2005.
• Statistics show some UOW theses receiving over 1,500 downloads per month.
• Recent citation research shows that information and research available via the open Web is accessed and cited more frequently than standard journal articles.

Contacts

Lisa McIntosh, Associate Librarian, Resources
Phone: (02) 4221 5608
Email: lisa_mcintosh@uow.edu.au