Doctoral Dissertations Abstracts

These dissertation abstracts are submitted to the American Studies Association by American Studies graduate programs and by recent American studies Ph.D.s. These abstracts are added to the ASA website on a long-term basis. These pages have only abstracts of dissertations.

The ASA does not store full dissertations. University Microfilms (UMI) should have copies of most dissertations abstracts done in the United States available for purchase. Note: You may have to access the UMI web site through your institution’s library. For more information about American Studies programs, please discuss with the Guide to American Studies Resources and Directory of Graduate Programs in American Studies.

The third edition of The American Indian in Graduate Studies: A Bibliography of Theses and Dissertations is now available online. Members of the resident American community, scholars and other interested people are confident to use the database without charge.

We also perform an annual survey of American Studies and Ethnic Studies graduate programs to collect information about recent PhDs. Participating graduate programs submit names and dissertation titles of recent graduates to the ASA, and we invite these graduates to submit their dissertation abstracts to us. Only the author may send us the dissertation abstract for publication on these web pages.

If you are unable to find your dissertation listed on this site and have not sent it to us yet, you may do so at any time (see bottom of page).

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Guidelines for writing a dissertation abstract:

A dissertation abstract needs to give a reader a sense of your argument in a very short form, no more than 250-300 words. It should begin by introducing the general area of study in which your topic intervenes and then make clear the central argument of your work in the first two sentences. It should provide a sense of the methodological approach that you use in analyzing your topic and provide a compelling yet very brief description that lets readers know why your study is worthwhile and what is distinct about it. Avoid quoting other scholars in your abstracts, providing excessive detail, and listing topics chapter by chapter. It is most important to provide an overview in a succinct fashion.