Many senior projects were written about Cal Poly, and can be useful as a primary source or a secondary source, depending on how you use the source. Senior projects date back to 1942, which is when our collections start. You can search senior projects in the library's catalog and access them either in the library or online.
Senior projects pre-2009 are only searchable by author name, author's department, and project title. There are no subject headings, keywords, abstracts, or full-text searching of pre-2009 senior projects.
Note: It was optional for students to submit senior projects to the library, so specific senior projects may not be included in the library's collections.
Senior Projects prior to Fall 2009 are on microfiche (miniaturized cards) and are available to view in Crandall (Bldg 60) during open hours. You can identify these older Senior Projects by using OneSearch. You will be able to retrieve them and view them on the nearby microfilm readers, and you can also scan to a flashdrive or take pictures with a smartphone.
Senior Projects AFTER Fall 2009 are available digitally at the DigitalCommons@CalPoly. You can search by title author or keyword on DigitalCommons or on OneSearch..
How do I Find both older and newer Senior Projects in OneSearch ? Use ADVANCED search: set lefthand pull down to LOCAL COLLECTIONS and type in Senior Projects. Then type in author and/or title information as relevant in another box.
MA Theses 1968-2009 can be searched and viewed online in the Proquest's Dissertations and Theses California Polytechnic State University.
MA These 2009 to the present can be searched and viewed online in the DigitalCommons at CalPoly. You can search by title author or keyword on DigitalCommons or on OneSearch.
NOTE: Print copies of theses that are listed in OneSearch are NOT available during the renovation relocation.
Because a search will only search the title of the senior project, wildcards are a useful way to search more broadly.
If you use an astrisk (*) at the end of a word or part of a word, anything starting with those letters will be included in your results.
For example: Poly* will search Poly AND Polytechnic (and polymers, polyhedron....etc)