diff --git a/torchvision/datasets/cifar.py b/torchvision/datasets/cifar.py
index 36101a28692..c6139ee4ef8 100644
--- a/torchvision/datasets/cifar.py
+++ b/torchvision/datasets/cifar.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ def __init__(self, root, train=True,
             self.train_labels = []
             for fentry in self.train_list:
                 f = fentry[0]
-                file = os.path.join(root, self.base_folder, f)
+                file = os.path.join(self.root, self.base_folder, f)
                 fo = open(file, 'rb')
                 if sys.version_info[0] == 2:
                     entry = pickle.load(fo)
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ def __init__(self, root, train=True,
             self.train_data = self.train_data.transpose((0, 2, 3, 1))  # convert to HWC
         else:
             f = self.test_list[0][0]
-            file = os.path.join(root, self.base_folder, f)
+            file = os.path.join(self.root, self.base_folder, f)
             fo = open(file, 'rb')
             if sys.version_info[0] == 2:
                 entry = pickle.load(fo)
diff --git a/torchvision/datasets/mnist.py b/torchvision/datasets/mnist.py
index 10acef91a5c..7d526b4aa5a 100644
--- a/torchvision/datasets/mnist.py
+++ b/torchvision/datasets/mnist.py
@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ def __init__(self, root, train=True, transform=None, target_transform=None, down
 
         if self.train:
             self.train_data, self.train_labels = torch.load(
-                os.path.join(root, self.processed_folder, self.training_file))
+                os.path.join(self.root, self.processed_folder, self.training_file))
         else:
-            self.test_data, self.test_labels = torch.load(os.path.join(root, self.processed_folder, self.test_file))
+            self.test_data, self.test_labels = torch.load(os.path.join(self.root, self.processed_folder, self.test_file))
 
     def __getitem__(self, index):
         """
diff --git a/torchvision/datasets/phototour.py b/torchvision/datasets/phototour.py
index d44449bb6a9..1eaa107120f 100644
--- a/torchvision/datasets/phototour.py
+++ b/torchvision/datasets/phototour.py
@@ -51,9 +51,9 @@ class PhotoTour(data.Dataset):
     def __init__(self, root, name, train=True, transform=None, download=False):
         self.root = os.path.expanduser(root)
         self.name = name
-        self.data_dir = os.path.join(root, name)
-        self.data_down = os.path.join(root, '{}.zip'.format(name))
-        self.data_file = os.path.join(root, '{}.pt'.format(name))
+        self.data_dir = os.path.join(self.root, name)
+        self.data_down = os.path.join(self.root, '{}.zip'.format(name))
+        self.data_file = os.path.join(self.root, '{}.pt'.format(name))
 
         self.train = train
         self.transform = transform
diff --git a/torchvision/datasets/stl10.py b/torchvision/datasets/stl10.py
index 908543b6c1a..a4928849862 100644
--- a/torchvision/datasets/stl10.py
+++ b/torchvision/datasets/stl10.py
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ def __init__(self, root, split='train',
                 self.test_list[0][0], self.test_list[1][0])
 
         class_file = os.path.join(
-            root, self.base_folder, self.class_names_file)
+            self.root, self.base_folder, self.class_names_file)
         if os.path.isfile(class_file):
             with open(class_file) as f:
                 self.classes = f.read().splitlines()
diff --git a/torchvision/datasets/svhn.py b/torchvision/datasets/svhn.py
index 5a093bd2792..17b8a5ce127 100644
--- a/torchvision/datasets/svhn.py
+++ b/torchvision/datasets/svhn.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ def __init__(self, root, split='train',
         import scipy.io as sio
 
         # reading(loading) mat file as array
-        loaded_mat = sio.loadmat(os.path.join(root, self.filename))
+        loaded_mat = sio.loadmat(os.path.join(self.root, self.filename))
 
         self.data = loaded_mat['X']
         self.labels = loaded_mat['y']