Thesis and Dissertation Research in Environmental Design: Getting started

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.

Note that many of the books listed in the General Research Methods section also include good advice on how to put together a proposal.

• Developing effective research proposals, by Keith F. Punch, 2nd ed. London: Sage, 2006. Particularly helpful to students writing professional reports. 
• Proposals that work: a guide for planning dissertations and grant proposals, by Lawrence F. Locke, Waneen Wyrick Spirduso, Stephen J. Silverman, 5th ed. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2007.

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.

• Destination dissertation: a traveler's guide to a done dissertation, Sonja K. Foss and William Waters. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, c2007.
• The Dissertation journey: a practical and comprehensive guide to planning, writing, and defending your dissertation, by Carol M. Roberts. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Pr., 2004.
• Guide to the successful thesis and dissertation: a handbook for students and faculty, by James E. Mauch and Jack W. Birch, 5th ed. NY: M. Dekker, 2003. Online ed.: 1998 ed.
• Line by line: how to edit your own writing, by Claire Kehrwald Cook. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985.
• A Manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for students and researchers, by Kate L. Turabian, 7th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2007. 
• Succeeding with your master's dissertation: a step-by-step handbook, Maidenhead: McGraw Hill/Open University Press, 2011.Online version also available.
• Surviving your dissertation : a comprehensive guide to content and process, Kjell Erik Rudestam; Rae R Newton. SAGE Publications, 2007.
• Writing empirical research reports : a basic guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences, by Allan A. Glatthorn and Randy L. Joyner. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2005. Online table of contents.
• Writing the doctoral dissertation: a systematic approach, Gordon B. Davis, Clyde A. Parker. 3rd ed. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's, 2012.

Selection of titles on writing, focusing on specific discipline requirements.

• The Dissertation: an architecture student's handbook, by Iain Borden and Katerina Ruedi. London: Routledge, 2014. Useful for dissertations with an urban design flavor.
• Making sense: a student's guide to research and writing geography and environmental sciences, by Margot Northey, David B. Knight, Dianne Draper, 4th ed. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford Univ. Pr., 2009.
• A Short guide to writing about art, by Sylvan Barnet, 10th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2011.
• Writing empirical research reports: a basic guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences, by Fred Pyrczak and Randall R. Bruce, 6th ed. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Pub., 2007. Includes chapter on writing the literature review.
• Writing for design professionals: a guide to writing successful proposals, letters, brochures, portfolios, reports, presentations, and job applications for architects, engineers, and interior designers, by Stephen A. Kliment. NY: Norton, 2006.
• Writing for social scientists: how to start and finish your thesis, book, or article by Howard S. Becker, 2nd ed. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 2007.

Note that information on writing literature reviews is also available in some of the general writing and research titles listed in this guide.

• Conducting research literature reviews: from the Internet to paper, Arlene Fink Los Angeles: SAGE, 2010.
• Preparing literature reviews: qualitative and quantitative approaches, by M. Ling Pan, 3rd ed. Glendale, CA: Pryczak Pub., 2008.
• Systematic approaches to a successful literature review, Andrew Booth, Diana Papaioannou, Anthea Sutton, London : Sage, 2012.
• Writing literature reviews: a guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences by Jose L. Galvan, 5th ed. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak, 2013.

Find more: Search the library catalogs by subject--Authorship. Style manuals.

• Instructions for preparing and filing your thesis, UCB Graduate Division. See also their guide, Publishing Your Dissertation in Dissertation Abstracts.
• The Chicago manual of style, 15th ed. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 2003. 2006 online ed.-UCB Only
• Citing your sources (UC Berkeley, Library) Includes helpful tables comparing bibliographic citation and footnote reference styles. Links to online and print versions of APA, Chicago, and MLA style guides.
• Columbia guide to online style, by Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor, 2nd ed. NY: Columbia Univ. Pr., 2006. One of the most thorough guides to citing electronic resources available.
• The MLA style manual and guide to scholarly publishing, 3rd ed. NY: Modern Language Assoc. of America, 2008.

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.

• Zotero: A full-featured, free, open-source citation manager especially useful for new media sources (emails, websites, blog posts, maps, etc.). It can be used with Firefox, Chrome, or Safari browsers. Zotero makes it easy to annotate, attach PDFs, and take snapshots of websites for future reference. It also facilitates collaboration and backup by synching to an online server. Learn how to use Zotero using this guide.
• RefWorks - UCB Only. RefWorks is a web-based bibliographic management service licensed by The Library for use by all current UCB faculty, staff and students. To sign up for an individual account, use the RefWorks New User form.
• EndNote: A proprietary bibliographic management software and a powerful tool for reseachers. Offers sophisticated, flexible tools for organizing references for creating bibliographies.
• Online tutorials (UC Berkeley, Library) Here's a helpful directory of online tutorials for using citation managers such as Zotero, RefWorks, EndNote, and others.