Thesis and Dissertation Research is a strategic bibliographic guide for architecture, city planning, urban design, and landscape architecture graduate students beginning their professional report, thesis, or dissertation work. The guide will be especially helpful to students starting a literature review.
To get started, check out Library Services for Graduate Students for a description of the many practical library support services available. As your research takes you into unfamiliar disciplines remember to identify the library subject specialist(s) best placed to help you.
Deconstruct your topic to uncover its complexities and hidden conceptual connections, to focus your research, and to increase your search vocabulary. Another term for deconstructing a research question is 'concept mapping;' see the Rhode Island School of Design Library's slide show, Concept Mapping, for a visual tutorial.
Note that many of the books listed in the General Research Methods section also include good advice on how to put together a proposal.
Selection of titles to get you started on your writing journey. Find more: Search the library catalogs by subject--Dissertations, Academic.
Is English grammar a challenge? See The Little, Brown Handbook, H. Ramsey Fowler, Jane E. Aaron. New York: Longman, 2010.
Selection of titles on writing, focusing on specific discipline requirements.
Note that information on writing literature reviews is also available in some of the general writing and research titles listed in this guide.
Find more: Search the library catalogs by subject--Authorship. Style manuals.
Managing bibliographic citations is a necessary and tedious aspect of written research. Use the following computer-based bibliographic management programs to manage citations, format papers, and create bibliographies in a variety of styles. Each program allows you to download citation information directly from selected online databases into your own bibliographic database.