<p>I assume you've looked online, though I'd be amazed if a 1980s master's thesis was online.</p>

<p>Ask one of the authors: they should have read the thesis before citing it, which suggests that at least one of them has access to a copy or, at least, had access at the time they wrote the paper. If that fails, try asking your university library.</p>

<p>Also, although the citation doesn't mention it, be prepared for the thesis to be in Russian.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-09T11:46:29.030Z
I think that very often we cite material without reading it. Also, they may have had access at some point but not anymore. So I am not that positive this may be a solution, although definitely it should be tried.
someone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-09T12:11:17.397Z
@someone We *should* read material before citing it! (Unless, perhaps, the citation is of the form "Smith[1] credits this result to Jones[2]" because we couldn't get hold of a copy of Jones's original work) But I agree that it's possible that they no longer have access or that they have only a hardcopy of the thesis.
David Richerby
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-11T07:47:17.223Z
At least if you contact the authors, they can tell you why they cite this thesis. If they did not read it, maybe somebody told them what is its content. After a quick search, the thesis is cited by other paper as well, some of them with the note that it is in Russian.
Bruno
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-07T13:11:58.963Z
2014-12-09T12:11:52.563Z
2014-12-09T12:11:52.563Z
David Richerby
<p>Is there a place to locate the reference
"[Smi88] D. V. Smirnov, ``Shannon's Information Methods for Lower Bounds for Probabilistic Communication Complexity,'' Master's thesis, Moscow University, 1988"
mentioned in this paper <a href="http://cs.au.dk/~bromille/Papers/asym.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://cs.au.dk/~bromille/Papers/asym.pdf</a>? </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-09T22:46:29.020Z
If you are able to get in touch with someone at the university, they may be able to physically locate a copy of the thesis....
usul
<reference-request>
Reference for unpublished but quoted manuscript
Turbo
# Reference for unpublished but quoted manuscript

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-07)

Is there a place to locate the reference
"[Smi88] D. V. Smirnov, ``Shannon's Information Methods for Lower Bounds for Probabilistic Communication Complexity,'' Master's thesis, Moscow University, 1988"
mentioned in this paper <http://cs.au.dk/~bromille/Papers/asym.pdf>?

**Tags:** reference-request
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: If you are able to get in touch with someone at the university, they may be able to physically locate a copy of the thesis....  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-12-07. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

I assume you've looked online, though I'd be amazed if a 1980s master's thesis was online.

Ask one of the authors: they should have read the thesis before citing it, which suggests that at least one of them has access to a copy or, at least, had access at the time they wrote the paper. If that fails, try asking your university library.

Also, although the citation doesn't mention it, be prepared for the thesis to be in Russian.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: I think that very often we cite material without reading it. Also, they may have had access at some point but not anymore. So I am not that positive this may be a solution, although definitely it should be tried.  
> **username_2**: @someone We *should* read material before citing it! (Unless, perhaps, the citation is of the form "Smith[1] credits this result to Jones[2]" because we couldn't get hold of a copy of Jones's original work) But I agree that it's possible that they no longer have access or that they have only a hardcopy of the thesis.  
> **username_4**: At least if you contact the authors, they can tell you why they cite this thesis. If they did not read it, maybe somebody told them what is its content. After a quick search, the thesis is cited by other paper as well, some of them with the note that it is in Russian.  

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