12 Dissertation Writing Tips for Architecture Students

1.    Writing is the key. This might seem obvious for a literary project – but many students leave it far too late. The key is to start early. It takes time to learn this new craft, especially if you’ve spent the last 6 years drawing and not working on an extended text. Editing takes even more time than ‘writing’. Do not ‘do’ the research and then write it up. Write as you go, after all, there is no research and no dissertation unless you write.

2.    Select a topic that you can manage. Topics that are too broad fail to add anything new. If you’re interested in, say, Postmodernism, pick some case studies and focus on them rather than trying to cover the entire genre – you can always ‘pan out’ and discuss the broader issues in the intro and conclusion. A 10,000 word dissertation has to be very specific.

3.    Primary data. The goal of every dissertation should be to gather and then interpret new data. Go beyond merely descriptive writing and move towards analysis and interpretation. Make sure you can get hold of the data you need. It is usually better to use local archives that you can readily access, otherwise be prepared to travel. Collections are being digitised and this is great for our research, but there is no substitute for seeing the actual artifact in question.

4.    Wider Reading. This is all about establishing the state of the art. We are trying to understand what and how other scholars have contributed to your subject/theme/canon. Write about it – this will form your literature review chapter. A good dissertation can easily include 70 citations.

5.    Speak to people. Don’t let silly things like Ethics committees get in the way of undertaking interviews and encounters with humans. How can we possibly design good architecture and understand our world if we do not speak to people and find out how they live, work, be?

6.    Tutorials. These are essential to shape and develop your ideas. If you cannot describe your work within a couple of minutes it probably isn’t sufficiently resolved. Come prepared to tutorials – this will mean sending your tutor a draft of your current work at least one week in advance of the meeting. It is a good idea to set up a tutorial schedule (and writing schedule) at the beginning of term so that you have a structure to work with (and your tutor is more likely to keep to the schedule).

7.    The dissertation doesn’t have to have an immediate practical ‘use’. Knowledge for its own sake is perfectly valid. Architecture students seem intent on solving the world’s problems and trying to make everything better through design rather than fully understanding the problem through data gathering and interpretation. The point here is to not quash ambition or well-meaning investigations – but it is unlikely a 10,000 word dissertation is going to solve irrigation in Bangladesh or generate new means of high-rise fa?ade detailing. This kind of dissertation will, at best, provide a useful Literature Review of current research findings [see no.3], or provide the initial study for a PhD.

8.    Allow fermentation. Starting with ‘The Question’ is great, but allow the gathering of data to also shape and inform the topic and final question. You write the title, intro and abstract last.

9.    Follow academic writing conventions and always cite your sources. You should ‘cite as you write’ rather than adding the references just before the hand-in. Keep a track of the referenced page numbers – it is very painful to find them again later on.

10. Playing to our strengths: use images, drawings, maps, surveys and time lines to explain your findings effectively. We can explain complex ideas through simple drawings (and very large datasets through software such as Tableau).

11. Tell a good story and ensure your dissertation is easy to read. Avoid obscure words and complex sentence structures, and always attempt to say more with less. Double spacing and Garamond can also help the reader.

12. Be careful with [French] Philosophy. Just because you’ve read a bit of translated Derrida/Foucault/Barthes doesn’t mean you are Derrida/Foucault/Barthes or indeed as skilled as they are. A lot of dissertations pretentiously tag on references to these thinkers. It can seem rather trite. Good old fashioned empirical research frequently trumps attempts at grand theory.