CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, April 2, 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.

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.

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 States during 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.

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