One of the greatest fears of dissertation writers is that someone else is writing a better dissertation with better primary sources than you are.  The best way to overcome this fear is to communicate with your peers and see what others are doing.  Hence this list, which will let you stake your academic claim and show you what other people are doing.

The list is alphabetical, and if the author's name is blue and underlined, you can email him/her directly.  Entries also include the author's working title or area of interest, school, department, progress, and degree sought.  Progress is broken down into three stages:

RESEARCHING: The writer is still gathering sources.
WRITING: The writer is working on his/her first draft.
REVISING: The writer has finished his/her first draft and is responding to the feedback of committee members and peers.

Josh Barkan. Transition to post-industrial economy and entrepreneurial strategies of urban management.  University of Minnesota: American Studies.  RESEARCHING.  PhD.

Fred Campbell. Perceptions of class through gambling in late Victorian England.  Villanova: History.  RESEARCHING.  MA.

Bartlomiej Dzik. Individual rationality and gambling behaviour. Graduate School for Social Research, Polish Academy of Sciences: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology. RESEARCHING. PhD.

Darlene Dunston. Women of the Strip: A Gender Study. University of Hawaii, Manoa. History. WRITING. MA.

Angelika Regina Heimann. Towards trainable staff competencies in identifying and managing problem gaming, thus creating responsible gaming culture in casinos. Business Psychology at the University of Westminster London, UK. MSC

Jae-Hong Kim.  Comparative Analysis of Casino Operations in Atlantic City and the Las Vegas Strip.  UNLV: Hotel Administration. WRITING.  MA. 

Gretchen Pendell. Pathological Gambling and Low Self Control: A Partial Examination of Gottfredson and Hirschi's General Theory of Crime. University of Flordia: Criminology. Finished. MA.

Heather Lusty.  Heroine Gaming and Moral Vice in 19th Century Literature.  University of Nevada, Las Vegas: English.  Finished.  MA. 

Inga Maes.  The Development of Las Vegas from the 1980s to the Present.  University of Antwerp (Belgium): American Studies.  RESARCHING. MA.

Ron Miller. History of Art in Gaming. Syracuse University: Advertising Design. RESEARCHING. MA.

Silke Oetsch. The Integrated Body in Architecture: Hotel and Casino Architecture in Las Vegas. Bauhaus-Universitaet- Weimar, Architectural Theory. RESEARCHING. PhD.

Jeffrey Sallaz. Gambling with Development: The Birth of Casino Industries in South Africa and on Indian Lands in the U.S. UC Berkeley: Sociology. FINISHED. PhD.

Marienka Sokol.  Illusions of Abundance: Urban Water Use in the Arid Southwest.  University of Wisconsin, Madison: History.  RESEARCHING.  PhD.

Tara Vaughan Tremmel.  Las Vegas and the Political and Sexual Economy in the United States, 1945-1975.  University of Chicago: History.  RESEARCHING. PhD.

Claytee White.  Eight Dollars a Day and Working in the Shade: The History of African Americans in Las Vegas.  College of William and Mary: History. WRITING.  PhD.

Andrea Wilbon. The relationship between casinos and crime rates in all Louisiana parishes from 1990-2000. Tulane University: Sociology. WRITING. MA.