Sociology Graduate Student Resources

Graduate Division: Dissertation/Thesis Preparation and Filing

Are you planning to include an article--or a figure--that you've published in a journal as part of your dissertation?

Be sure you review the author agreement you signed with the journal publisher to determine if you have the right to do so. Publishers typically acquire copyright, unless you published in an open access journal.

• Publisher Policies: Thesis content and article publishing (MIT Libraries)
• SHERPA RoMEO: Publisher copyright policies / determine if a journal is open access

What does copyright cover? (More info)

• Original work of authorship
• Expression fixed in a tangible medium
• Creative work, including literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, audiovisual, & architectural works

How do I know if something is under copyright?

• Digital Copyright Slider

Do I need to seek permission?

• UC Guidance on Fair Use

• ProQuest UMI Guide to Copyright, includes sample permission letter (PDF)

Literature Reviews

• Access titles focused on assisting you with the literature review

Dissertations and Thesis Calculator

• Tool to help you plan your research project with guidance specific to UC Merced

Research Data Curation

• The UC Merced Library provides services to assist with preparing data management plans, file management, metadata creation, and data sharing and archiving.

Sage Research Methods Project Planner

• Tool to guide you through the stages of a research project including topic development, conducting a literature review, research design, data collection, analysis, and writing up results. 

You have free access to University of California dissertations and theses:

Library Databases by Format: Dissertations