Hi there,

I would very much like to view some examples of various dissertations written within the History/Classics field. This is to facilitate my own methodology and structuring of my chapter list, and to gain a general idea of the format or template that is used. If anyone has a good website with example theses, or is able to give some advice on this matter please let me know. Thanks!

I will of course be reading over a few finished theses by recent graduates within my department, but the more I can get my hands on the better! My field is Early Medieval urban life, but all periods are welcome. Thanks again!

hello! You can have a look at this digital library of theses (all US, but still could be useful) http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/
This link gives you information about a British library service where you can order a thesis:
http://www.bl.uk/services/document/brittheses.html
Another trick I have used to have a look at social sciences tehses - my field - should work for history is to type the following phrase in scholar.google.com
"Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy" and any other keywords you need, of course. This will give you a possibility to search through tehses whose authors were kind enough to leave them in cyberspace.

Hullo,

I'm another early medievalist (nearing completion). As for structure, it depends on what you are trying to say - what is your thesis?

Your supervisor should really be guiding you with structure; but I might be able to suggest some comparable works that could be useful to take a look at???

Have you been on the IHR website? There's a big list there:

http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Resources/Theses/

Also, your own university should have kept a copy of all theses submitted - ask at the library.

In my opinion, the great difficulty for the historian is and will always be the structure. My advice would be: come up with a provisional structure, write down your chapters, you'll find out they don't make any sense, then is when you need to do some serious editing. I'm talking 4th year.