Agriculture and Food Related Theses and Dissertations Available on the Web

Abstract

ABSTRACT Electronic theses and dissertations (ET/Ds) produced by graduate students in agricultural and food science programs at land-grant universities provide current research results as Web-based information that can be accessed from one's own computer. Those land-grant universities that are members of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) participate in the addition of their electronically submitted or digitally scanned theses and dissertations to NDLTD's union catalog. Full-text access is also provided through the contributing library's Web page. Additionally, access may be provided through the library's online public access catalog (OPAC). Google and Google Scholar searches may also procure ET/D information. The relative merits of searching for ET/D information through an NDLTD catalog, Google, Google Scholar, and a library's Web page and its OPAC are discussed. This study looks for the presence or absence of an abstract, keywords, full-text availability, classification number, and subject headings for citations obtained by each of these Web-based methods of access. Comparison of search options, the description of types of information in ET/D citations, and the appendix, a webliography of the sites discussed in the article, encourage efficient, effective electronic retrieval of agricultural and food information.