Browse this page for tips on:

 For further assistance with finding or sharing work, please get in touch with us.

Searching and discovery in the Tufts Digital Library (TDL)

General searching

Use the search bar on the TDL homepage to do a keyword search. This will search the record for each object in the TDL (title, creator, description, etc.) and the full text of pdf & TEI documents. 

Once you run a search, you can limit that search to title, creator/author, or subject using the dropdown menu in the search bar on the results page. You can also choose to refine your search using the facets on the left side of the page. See "Searching with facets," below, for more information.

Using advanced search

For a more specific search, you may wish to use the advanced search page. From this page you can search multiple fields at once.

Searching with facets

Facets to narrow down your search results are available on the left side of each results page under "Limit your search". You can facet by format, names, year, subject, or collection. When you open a facet, options will appear in order of frequency within your search results. When faceting by names, subject, or collection, you can use the "more" button at the bottom of each list to see more options. Once you select a facet, the results page will reload to account for the facet you have chosen, and you may then add additional facets to further refine your results. To remove a facet, click the X next to the facet. You can only apply one facet per facet category at a time.

Format: Faceting by format restricts your results to a type of digital object (text, video, image, audio, collection guide, generic object, collection creator, or dataset). Faceting to text, for example, will yield results that are only PDF or encoded text, while faceting to collection guide will yield results that are only archival finding aid documents. Faceting to generic objects will yield results that are a mixture of formats, or a format that falls outside the categories of text, video, image, audio, collection guide, collection creator, or dataset.

Names: Facet by name(s) associated with the items, typically by creator.  

Year: The year facet provides two methods of faceting: using a date range box, or via a date slider. To facet using the date range boxes, simply enter the years of the range you are interested in and then click "limit." To facet by a single year, enter that year as both the start date and the end date and then click "limit." To use the slider, click and drag the “start” and “end” blue dots until they encompass the timespan you want, then click "limit." 

Subject: Faceting by subject allows you to refine your results based on their subject heading. Subject headings are standardized terms used by librarians & archivists to describe items so that material on similar subjects will be described in the same way and can be found together in a search. For example, a book about the history of Tufts may have the standardized subject heading “Tufts University—History.” NOTE: not all items in the TDL have subject headings and relevant items may be excluded from your search if you use the subject facet. 

Collection: Faceting by collection allows you to refine your search to items within a specific collection of material within the TDL. This may be particularly useful if you have a particular archival collection of interest, or if you are looking for theses and dissertations.

Finding scholarship from a specific Tufts department

We’re actively working on processes to make it easier to find scholarship written by authors from a specific Tufts department. In the meantime, the best way to search for a particular department is to follow these steps:

1. In the search box, do a search for the department you’re looking for. For longer department names, you can use a few keywords rather than the full name

2. On the results page, open the “Names” facet on the left side of the page and browse for the name of the department you’re looking for. You may need to click “more” if the name doesn’t appear in the box. 

3. Once you’ve found the department and selected it, find the grey horizontal “Filtering by” box at the top of your search results and remove your original search term by clicking the red X next to it. Now you’ll have all results from your chosen department. 

4. If you’d like to narrow your results further, use the facets on the left of the page to choose additional filters

Finding theses, dissertations, and other student scholarship

Searching for theses & dissertations

In general, most masters theses and PhD dissertations written at Tufts after 2010 can be found in the TDL. Many Arts, Sciences & Engineering undergraduate honors theses are also available for the same period. Many theses for the Fletcher School are available from 2001.

Please note that the Tufts Digital Library doesn’t contain a complete collection of Tufts theses. Additional theses and dissertations may be available in electronic form in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses @ Tufts (current Tufts log-in required).  

In addition to providing searching by author and title, we are actively working on processes to make it easier to find theses & dissertations by department or school in the TDL. In the meantime, to browse masters theses and PhD dissertations:

1. Visit the Student Scholarship collection

2. Open the “Names” fact on the left side of the page and browse for the name of the department you’re looking for. You may need to click “more” if the name doesn’t appear in the box.

To browse senior honors theses:

1. Visit the Advanced Search page in the Tufts Digital Library

2. Enter the name of the department in the "Creator Department" search box. Note that for longer department names you can use a few keywords.

3. Click Search

4. On the left side of the results page, open the Collections limit and click "Senior honors theses"

Note that this may not bring up 100% of the theses or dissertations for a particular department, but it will be at least most of them available through the TDL. If you need assistance finding a thesis or dissertation, please contact us.

Finding theses and dissertations that are not available digitally

Theses and dissertations submitted to the University before 2011 can generally be found using JumboSearch. These theses typically include an archival copy in print format (available at Tufts Archival Research Center (TARC)) and circulating print copy available at a Tufts library. To access a print copy of a thesis, you can visit the library it’s located in, or contact archives@tufts.edu for information about access.

Archival copies of print theses through 2015 are also listed in TARC’s University Theses and Dissertations Collection on Archives at Tufts. Senior Honors Theses dating from 1929-2015 are listed at Archives at Tufts.  Items listed in these guides can be requested for review in the TARC Reading Room or for digitization.

Requesting a digitized copy of a Tufts thesis or dissertation

To request a digitized copy of a Tufts thesis or dissertation, contact archives@tufts.edu for assistance.

Depositing scholarship in the Tufts Digital Library

Types of scholarship that can be deposited

You can deposit a wide range of scholarship into the digital library using our deposit form, including:

● Published & unpublished scholarship: articles (including pre-praints, accepted manuscripts, and open access articles); conference papers, proceedings & posters; working papers and technical reports; books & book chapters

● Senior honors theses 

● Undergraduate Summer Scholar & Tisch Library Undergraduate Research Award projects

● Fletcher School Capstone projects

● Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Education Qualifying Papers

● Masters in Animal and Public Policy theses

● PHPD Field Experience/Capstone projects 

If you have other content to deposit, such as teaching materials, other types of student research output, collections of research materials, or collections of faculty papers or university records, please contact us for assistance.

How to deposit scholarship

You can deposit scholarship in pdf format via our online deposit form. If you have scholarship in formats other than pdf, including audio, video, or images, please contact us for assistance.

After you log in, you will upload your file(s), provide some descriptive information about your work, and agree to the Tufts Digital Library terms and conditions. 

Once you’ve deposited your work, library staff will review the submission, catalog it based on the descriptive information you’ve provided, and make it available in the digital library. You’ll receive an email notification when it’s available. 

Certain types of material, such as Senior Honors Theses, require approval from their relevant school or department before they are made available. There may be a period of several months between when they are deposited and when they become available in the digital library. 

If you have completed your degree and graduated but would now like to deposit your thesis or capstone project, please contact us.

For further assistance 

Please contact us with any questions about sharing work in the Tufts Digital Library. 

We also offer support in copyright, open access, and publishing.

Using archival material in the Tufts Digital Library 

What is in the Tufts Digital Library 

The Tufts Digital Library is one of several systems used by Tufts Archival Research Center (TARC) to provide access to digital content. The best place to start a search for DCA collections is Archives at Tufts. The Tufts Digital Library (TDL) contains digitized or “born digital” content that is open to all researchers, including photographs, University publications, yearbooks, and theses and dissertations.  As not every item in every collection is digitized, the TDL does not contain every item held by TARC.  

Searching archival material in the Tufts Digital Library 

You can search the Tufts Digital Library (TDL) for archival material using the keyword search. You can use the facets on the left-hand side to limit your search by date, type, or collection (see Searching with Facets, above). Browse all materials associated with a collection by filtering to that collection or by clicking on the collection title from an item. 

Browsing and searching collection descriptions 

To browse or search through TARC’s collection descriptions and finding aids, please visit Archives at Tufts. From here you can search, browse, filter, and request items for review in our reading room. If the item you are interested in is available digitally, a link will be provided to you in the finding aid. 

Citing archival material in the Tufts Digital Library 

There is no single correct way to cite material from the Tufts Archival Research Center (TARC) found in the Tufts Digital Library (TDL). For more information on how to cite archival material at DCA visit our “Help with citations” page on the TARC website. 

Further assistance with archival material 

Please contact us for further assistance on using archival material in the Tufts Digital Library.