Boggess, Carol B. "Following River of Earth from Source to Destination: A Critical and Contextual Study of James Still's Appalachian Classic." Thesis. 1995, University of Kentucky.

England, Rhonda George. "A Literary Biography of James Still; A Beginning." Thesis. 1984, Morehead State University.

Hull, Ruth Fister. "Tentative Proposal for Kentucky in American Letters; A Biobibliographical Study of Selected Twentieth Century Kentucky Writers." Thesis. 1984, University of Kentucky.

Shelby, Anne Gabbard. "Appalachian Literature and American Myth: A Study of Fiction from the Southern Mountains." Thesis. 1981, University of Kentucky.

McCoy, Terry. "James Still: A Coal Field Agrarian." Thesis. 1980, Tennessee Technological University.

Briley, Rebecca Luttrell. "The River of Earth: Mystic Consciousness in the Works of James Still." Thesis. 1980, University of Kentucky.

Wing, Fred Edward. "James Still: An Inquiry into the Intrinsic Value of the Works of a Regional Writer." UMI (1980): Colorado State College.