ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 23, 2005 - From a little-known composer of spirituals to the Toyota production system, best-selling doctoral dissertations published by ProQuest Information and Learning cover a broad range of American culture. Publishing a dissertation is a requirement for earning a doctorate degree from many universities. Dissertations summarize the original independent research of scholars pursuing an advanced academic degree, such as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). ProQuest Information and Learning, a unit of ProQuest Company, is an electronic publisher of content for libraries and educational institutions worldwide.

What does it take to make a best-seller in the dissertation realm?  Like popular writing in any format, sometimes it needs a good story.  American composer Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949) was internationally known for his Negro spirituals, many of which remain standards today.   He was relatively unknown in the United Statesduring his lifetime. 

His best known works – such as   “Steal Away to Jesus,” “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” and “Nobody Knows” – were certainly familiar to his teacher and fellow composer, Antonin Dvorak, who was inspired by Burleigh’s melodies when he wrote “Symphony No.9 (“From the New World”) in 1893. 

The 2003 best-selling dissertation by Jean Snyder, PhD, throws the spotlight on his work in “Harry T. Burleigh and the creative expression of bi-musicality: A study of an African-American composer and the American art song.”  Snyder wrote her 486-page study at the University of Pittsburgh in 1992.  Continuing interest in Burleigh and his work are reflected in the sale of more than 100 copies of her dissertation.

Second-place honors went to George Lewis Tanner, PhD, with his dissertation titled “The problem of ‘world order’ when the world order is your village versus your globe.”  In third place was the dissertation written by Catherine Lynn Murensky, PhD: “The relationships between emotional intelligence, personality, critical thinking ability and organizational leadership performance at upper levels of management.”

Who buys dissertations and master’s theses?  Scholars, students, and amateurs in the finest sense of the word, who need access to the information they contain.  Universities and other learning and teaching institutions value this collective knowledge as their intellectual history, a record of their scholarship through time.

Other best-selling dissertations on last year’s top-ten list (actually 11 because of a tie for sixth place) included three on leadership behavior, three on knowledge management, two on health care management, and one on the Toyota production system. They ranged from a hefty 486 pages to a petite 97 pages.  A complete list of titles and authors appears below.

An equally important part of an institution’s intellectual history, master’s theses had their own best-sellers last year.  Like their doctoral counterparts, they were similarly varied in format and subject matter.   David J. Boenitz, M.S. topped the list with “Customer Value Measurement (CVM) and its impact on business results.”  He wrote the 52-page theses in 2001 at California  State  University, Dominguez Hills.  In second place: Mario A. Martinez, M.S., “Network security: A theory for securing computer networks against denial of service attacks.”  Rounding out the top three was Linden Skjeie, M.S., “Successful environmental supply chain management in an electronics firm.”

About ProQuest
ProQuest creates specialized information resources and technologies that propel successful research, discovery, and lifelong learning. A global leader in serving libraries of all types, ProQuest offers the expertise of such respected brands as Chadwyck-Healey™, UMI®, SIRS®, and eLibrary®. With Serials Solutions®, Ulrich's™, RefWorks®, COS™, Dialog® and now Bowker® part of the ProQuest brand family, the company supports the breadth of the information community with innovative discovery solutions that power the business of books and the best in research experience.

More than a content provider or aggregator, ProQuest is an information partner, creating indispensable research solutions that connect people and information. Through innovative, user-centered discovery technology, ProQuest offers billions of pages of global content that includes historical newspapers, dissertations, and uniquely relevant resources for researchers of any age and sophistication—including content not likely to be digitized by others. Inspired by its customers and their end users, ProQuest is working toward a future that blends information accessibility with community to further enhance learning and encourage lifelong enrichment.

For more information, visit www.proquest.com or the ProQuest parent company website, www.cig.com.

TOP 10 DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS 2003

 

1. “Harry T. Burleigh and the creative expression of bi-musicality: A study of an African-American composer and the American art song,” by Jean Elizabeth Snyder, PhD, University of Pittsburgh, 1992, 486 pages
   
   
2. “The problem of ‘world order’ when the world is your village versus your globe,” by George Lewis Tanner, PhD, University of Hawaii, 1996, 345 pages
   
   
3. “The relationships between emotional intelligence, personality, critical thinking ability and organizational leadership performance at upper levels of management,” by Catherine Lynn Murensky, PhD, George  Mason  University, 2000, 152 pages

 

4. “Accountability in nurses who practice in three different nursing care delivery models,” by Cathy Elizabeth Boni, PhD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2001, 97 pages

 

5. “The Toyotaproduction system: An example of managing complex social/technical systems. Five rules for designing, operating, and improving activities, activity-connections, and flow-paths,” by Steven J. Spear, DBA, Harvard  University, 1999, 465 pages

 

6. (TIE)  “Assessing knowledge management initiative successes as a function of organizational culture,” by Vincent Michel Ribiere, DSc, The George Washington University, 2001, 158 pages

 

(TIE)  “Sharing knowledge through a knowledge management system: The relative effectiveness of formal control and organizational support,” by Peter Vincent Marks, Jr., PhD, University of Pittsburgh, 2001, 146 pages

 

7. “An empirical study of factors affecting successful implementation of knowledge management,” by Yong Suk Choi, PhD, The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2000, 140 pages

 

8. “The relationship between, transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles of the senior executives/department heads and their immediate subordinates’ perceived satisfaction, extra effort, effectiveness, and organizational culture typology in the hospital setting,” by Eleanor Tolbert Lawrence, DBA, Nova Southeastern University, 2000, 179 pages

 

9. “Understanding the significance of socially constructed conditions and business information exchanges in group task-goal dynamics,” by Yvette Carolyn Burton, PhD,
   The Fielding Institute, 2001, 150 pages

 

10.   “Transformational leadership: A cross-cultural study of the moderating effects of culture on perceived leader behaviors,” by Josephine Sosa-Fey, DBA, Nova  Southeastern  University, 2001, 160 pages
    
    

 

TOP 3 MASTER’S THESES IN 2003

 

1. “Customer value measurement (CVM) and its impact on business results,” by David J. Boenitz, MS, California  State  University, Dominguez Hills, 2001, 52 pages
   
   
2. “Network security: A theory for securing computer networks against denial of service attacks,” by Mario A. Martinez, MS, University of Houston-Clear Lake, 2001, 46 pages
   
   
3. “Successful environmental supply chain management in an electronics firm,” by LindenSkjeie, MS, San Jose  State  University, 2001, 102 pages