Theses and Style Manual Guide

General Guides | Theses Indexes | Other Sources | Discipline Specific Bibliographies | Style Manuals

This guide assists in finding information on theses and style standards for report writing.

General Guides

All doctoral and masters theses and some honours theses produced at JCU are collected by the Library and shelved in Special Collections (on the first floor). To locate theses attached to a JCU Department or School use the Tropicat search option - key words in institution names. eg. james cook marine biology. JCU theses are assigned the year and the author's surname as a call number eg. 1995 SMI.

Borchardt, D.H. & Thawley J. (1981) Guide to the availability of theses. Munchen, NY: KG Saur.
TSV R 013.379 BOR

How to locate Australian theses: A guide to theses in progress. (1979). Canberra: ANU Library. (Exhaustive for earlier decades only) 
TSV R 013.3750994 AUS

The world of learning. London: Europa. 1960+
TSV CNS R 378 P16

Theses Indexes

Dissertation abstracts international (part A and B). Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms. 1966-1969. 
TSV Online (via FirstSearch) R 013 P2

ASLIB Index to theses accepted for higher degrees in the universities of Great Britain and Ireland and the Council of National Academic Awards Vol. 16 (1965/66) - v. 32 (1983) London: Aslib. 1950-1986.
TSV 013.942 P1

Union list of higher degree theses in Australian university libraries. Hobart: University of Tasmania Library. 1965-1990. 
TSV CNS R 013.994 P1

Other Sources

• Digital Dissertations (UMI Proquest) lists international dissertations and can be searched by geographic area, keywords, author, subject, degree, etc. Citations and abstracts are available for current 2 years.
• FirstSearch contains the OCLC database WorldCat which searches international library holdings.
• The JCU Library homepage provides a link to other library catalogues.
• Australian Digital Theses Project aims to provide a national collaborative distributed database of digitised Australian PhD and Masters by Research theses.

Discipline Specific Bibliographies

•  To locate bibliographies of theses from specific disciplines use Tropicat search options:

• Many databases and large subject indexes and abstracts index dissertations. Refer to relevant documentation eg. the subject guide for your discipline, and your faculty librarian.
• University and research publications, especially reports and conference proceedings from specific disciplines may contain otherwise unpublished thesis material.

Style Manuals

Listed below are the most popular style guides used by students at JCU. Consult your lecturer or supervisor about the correct guide for your subject area.

American Psychology Association. (1994). Publications manual of the American Psychology Association. (4th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychology Association.
TSV CNS R 150.149 AME 1994

Australian Government Publishing Service. (1994). Style manual for authors, editors and printers. (5th ed.). Canberra: Aust. Gov. Publishing Service. 
TSV CNS R 808.02 STY 1994

Council of Biology Editors. CBE Style Manual Committee. (1994). Scientific style and format: The CBE manual for authors, editors and publishers. (6th ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.
TSV CNS R 808.02 CBE 1994

Gibaldi, J. (1995). MLA Handbook for writers of research papers. (4th ed.). New York: Modern Language Association of America. 
TSV CNS R 808.066 GIB 1999

Howell, J.B. (1983). Style manuals of the English-speaking world: A guide. Phoenix: Onyx Press.
TSV R 808.02016 HOW

James Cook University of North Queensland. Thesis guide: The preparation, submission and examination of theses at the James Cook University of North Queensland. (1985). Townsville: JCU. 
TSV CNS R 808.02 JAM 1985

Turabian, K.L., Grosman, J. & Bennet, A. (1996). A manual for writers of term papers, theses and dissertations. Chicago: University of Chicago. 
TSV CNS 808.02 TUR 1996

See also the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Site for electronic referencing information from the 5th edition of the Publication Manual.

Report writing and authorship handbooks and the instructions for authors in individual journals, may also be useful.