Architecture 156, 157 & 158 Writing a Research Paper

This handout Is intended to clarify how a research paper should be written and the expectations for your work in this class in order to receive a good grade. Make sure you read through this and familiarize yourself with all of the points before beginning any writing assignment in class or outside of class.

Forms of Research Papers

Ultimately a paper is a documented record of your research. It can take on many forms, here are some examples:

There are papers which bring to public attention new ideas, research or discoveries. For example, new scientific discoveries must be published in a paper detailing what the discovery was and how it was found. This requires a detailed documentation of the experimentation methods and data collected so that the results can be duplicated.

There are papers which reinterpret previously accepted historical evidence or theories. These papers may be written about a new historical interpretation of the negative effects of slavery in the South, of John F. Kennedy’s conduct in the Cuban Missile Crisis, or the role of women in pioneer settlements. These types of papers rely heavily on intensive research through original sources to construct a new theory and then support it through documented evidence. These papers are very hard to write in architecture history but are more common on topics that involve human judgment or cultural ideas and how they shaped historical events. A few topics do exist in architecture history – for example how ancient monuments such as Stonehenge and the Pyramids were built is always being reexamined ad new theories proposed. This is typically not the type of paper you will be writing for this class

There are papers which are documentations of student learning and research. These are the types of papers you will be writing for this class and for most of your other classes on campus as well. These papers ask you to document currently existing facts, knowledge and data which are generally accepted by the majority of scholars and historians and to assemble your information in a coherent readable format.

Originality

The Western educational system places a high value on original thought and creative work. Some areas of the world ask for students to repeat back facts and place minimal or no value on how the information is repeated back. Reciting from the textbook may be considered acceptable in some parts of the world – you have learned the facts and can repeat them back. But the Western method of education asks you not only to learn the facts, but to internalize them so that they become your own, and to repeat them back not only in an accurate form, but with your own words.

Research Process

When you start to write a research paper, you should first begin by collecting data related to your topic. This data must be cited whenever you have recorded it. For example, if you are beginning to write a paper on the Parthenon, the great Greek Temple located on the acropolis, the first step is to begin to collect information related to your paper. This information should generally move in scale from the

Architecture 156, 157 & 158 Writing a Research Paper

biggest pieces to the smallest. For example for a paper on the Eiffel Tower, you might start with the larger geographical context of Europe, then go to the local urban or regional context of Paris, then through political and cultural characteristics of the 19th Century, then the biographical information of the Engineer Gustav Eiffel, and then finish with technical details and information related to the tower itself.

This doesn’t mean that the paper always has to be written in that order, but it’s a good idea if you’re not sure where to start. Its all about telling a story, and some stories begin in sequential order, and others, like a mystery novel, may start with the crime and work backwards constructing all of the prior events.

Internalization of the facts

Next, you need to process this information so that it becomes your own. Allow yourself some time, either in days, or weeks to review the information, formulate your thoughts on the matter and make the information your own. Why should you do this? Because by taking time to process and internalize the information you have collected, the information becomes your own, part of your thinking, and you have the ability to access it at any time and use it for solving problems.

For example, the paper you wrote on the Eiffel tower may contain a lot of information on how Iron was important in the development of engineering tall structures in the 19 th century. It may also discuss properties of steel frames. It may include challenges that Eiffel faced in dealing with the neighbors close to the tower who thought is would fall over. And it may include how many prominent French citizens protested the tower because they thought it would be ugly.

Armed with this information you become a better architect, thinker, student, even a better citizen, because you are able to use this information to help you make decisions, to stay positive when you encounter difficulties or to put events in historical context. For example:

A computer engineer at your firm has a new idea which is meeting with resistance. You remember how Eiffel met with resistance to his idea and decide that perhaps the computer engineer’s idea is worth looking at in more detail.

A neighbor is protesting a building which your architecture firm has designed for a prominent public area. You remember how Eiffel met with resistance to the tower design from the neighbors and how he responded to their concerns.

A radio tower needs to be constructed in an area that has high winds. You remember that Eiffel made the tower in Paris very open so that it had minimal resistance to wind load.

Or, let’s look at Frank Lloyd Wright. After his house caught fire in Taliessin and his wife was murdered, he carried on with his architectural practice and persevered with some of his greatest designs. Knowledge of these facts may influence how you perceive obstacles when you encounter them later in life.

The list goes on and on. The main idea here is that by studying the lives and works of others you will enhance your ability to build upon their successes and mistakes, and to have perspective and maintain a

Architecture 156, 157 & 158 Writing a Research Paper

positive morale for yourself when you reach obstacles in your life and work. The ability for you to absorb these facts, relate them to yourself, the world around you and to reflect on them, so that they become permanently part of your broader knowledge is essential to your development.

Writing the Paper

Once you have absorbed the facts and can remember them, it is time to write the paper. The paper must be written in a way that is fluid, in an unbroken series of ideas and concepts that flow from one topic to another. What will help is to create an outline for how you wish to structure your paper. Once again this outline should be created from your memory of what you have researched.

Once the outline is written, you can always go back and modify it, but it must be from your own internal thoughts and dialogue - how you wish to tell the story. If you construct your outline in this manner, you will create a paper which is unique to yourself and will provide a fresh retelling of the information.

If you don’t want to tell the story, either choose a new topic that interests you if time permits, or seek out sources that get you inspired about the material. Not all research material is created equal, some books will pull you in and make you excited about the topic, others will put you to sleep.

Credibility

The paper must be written so that every statement is verified through references to where you obtained your data. For example read the following paragraph from a student paper about Greece:

“Also found in the agora was the Council Chamber, built in 500 BC, which was the birthplace of democracy. The members of this form of government acted as senators, who would vote by putting a pebble in a certain pot. There was also another method of voting, where a name of a senator was written onto a stone that would decide who would be exiled. The name of this citizen would be chosen if they were gaining too much power that put the democracy in danger. Although Pericles was never exiled, the former leader of the Delian League, Aristedes was chosen.”

What is wrong with this paragraph? It contains no references to where the information came from. To an informed reader, the information appears true, but to someone who is reviewing the paper with no knowledge of Greece there’s no assurance that the information is accurate. And to your professor, who very often already knows this information, it’s not that the information appears wrong – it’s that the documentation is not adequate enough to convince him that the student’s work is academic enough to merit the highest grade for his research.

Furthermore, the paragraph could be a wild concoction of ideas from a student with a vivid imagination. For example, here is another more contemporary example to give you the idea:

“In 1982, Barak Obama was a professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls. Although he never played in an official game, he gained an enormous amount of knowledge of the Chicago political system through the connections he made with the team management. It was through

Architecture 156, 157 & 158 Writing a Research Paper

these connections that he managed to develop his campaign donations for his presidential bid in 2013.”

Obviously this paragraph is not true. But how do we know? It makes a number of statements but there are no references included to show where the information came from.

References

Let’s go back to the Greek paper to show how a paragraph needs to be substantiated with references so we know its factual. We’ll begin by breaking the paragraph down into concepts:

“Also found in the agora was the Council Chamber, built in 500 BC, which was the birthplace of democracy.”

We need a reference her to verify that the Council Chamber was really built in 500 BC. A numbered footnote could be inserted, or a paragraph could be inserted with the author and page number where the information came from like this: (Thackston, Pg 197)

Footnotes are a little more professional and also don’t interrupt the flow of the reading as much as paragraphs. You can use them in Microsoft word by using the footnote command. If you aren’t familiar with this command, press F1 to get the help menu, or go online and use Google to find how to do it. It’s very easy and can make a great difference in your paper.

Now we go to the second statement: “The members of this form of government acted as senators, who would vote by putting a pebble in a certain pot.”

We need a reference here as well to identify where this idea came from. Once again you could use footnotes or parentheses. Its not so important which format you choose but the main idea is that it has to be there in one form or another.

Now the last statement: “There was also another method of voting, where a name of a senator was written onto a stone that would decide who would be exiled. The name of this citizen would be chosen if they were gaining too much power that put the democracy in danger. Although Pericles was never exiled, the former leader of the Delian League, Aristedes was chosen.”

This is a third point where we need a reference. The author or source should be identified after this statement so we know that it’s true, but more importantly to develop the paper as a record of the students’ research.

Referencing Other Authors Text

Here is a sample of a student’s paper which received no credit. The student later returned and asked that the grade be reconsidered because she had cited references but the grade was not changed and the paper reported to the dean to be kept on record for academic dishonesty. Let’s review what is wrong with this approach to creating a paper.

Architecture 156, 157 & 158 Writing a Research Paper

The following text is from the Parthenon by Susan Woodford, an older book which is also available on the internet and provided in the course reader on reserve in the library.

“At the time the Parthenon was being built not everybody approved of spending so much public money on such a thing. Political enemies of Pericles accused him of misusing the League funds for his building projects. They reproached him “gilding their city and ornamenting it with statues and costly temples, as a proud and vain woman decks herself out in jewels”. Many people must have agreed with them, for when Pericles asked the Assembly of citizens if they thought he was spending too much, they said yes.

“Very well then”, Pericles retorted, “do not let it be charged to the public account but to my own, and I will dedicate the buildings in my own name”. A great roar went up from the crowd and the people cried out that Pericles might spend as much as he wished on the buildings-from the public treasure.

Here is a paragraph from the student’s paper:

However, at the time the Parthenon was being built, not everybody agreed of spending so much public money on such a thing. Political enemies of Pericles accused him of misusing the League funds for his building projects. They blamed him with “Gilding their city and ornamenting it with statues and costly temples, as a proud and vain woman decks herself out in jewels”. Many people must have agreed with them, as well as the citizen. But then Pericles decided to let it be charged to his own account, not from the public. As a result he changed people’s mind and got permission to spend as much as he wished on the buildings. (The History of Parthenon, 9)

Compare the two. Of course, a reference is included, but that is irrelevant to the fact that the majority of the entire paragraph is copied with a few modified words and a concluding sentence. The entire paper was written like this. Although references are shown, the work is not the work of the student, it is merely information retrieval from the instructors course reader, not academic writing.

If you are going to include other author’s words they must be kept to a minimum and immediately called out that they belong to another author. For example, from the paragraph above only a sentence or two is really appropriate to include in your paper, and should be written in the following way:

Pericles decided that without the support of the Athenians, he would have to resort to using his own funds to finance the Parthenon. This was due to the fact that the Athenians did not support his use of the Delian League funds to build the temple. According to Susan Woodford, the Athenians accused him of “Gilding their city and ornamenting it with statues and costly temples, as a proud and vain woman decks herself out in jewels”. (Woodford, Pg 9)

Architecture 156, 157 & 158 Writing a Research Paper

Use of the Internet

The internet is very popular. Much of this class and other classes uses links to sources on the internet. So when do you use the internet and when do you use books?

The first rule: Books are always the best. Use them whenever possible.

Books appear more academic in your paper, they get you to use the library, they are more time consuming to copy (there’s no cut and paste allowed like on internet sites) and they also contain the most in-depth information. Also books are agreed upon and verified by many people before they go to print, the Internet is not edited or validated for accuracy. Wikipedia is validated by its readers but even then some people still complain about its accuracy.

Remember: Books are the best. A book is a more credible source of information because it has to go through a manuscript developed by the author, an editor who checks it, a publisher who has to finance the printing of book because they think it will sell, and an audience of readers who will buy the book, review it and support it as an important text. This is not even mentioning the fact that the book may be used by universities, libraries, and other research institutions who will vouch for the credibility of the author and the book’s information.

As for the internet, it’s a great source for getting you oriented, finding additional details or information or enhancing you knowledge. Its also very fast because you can scan through a document and pick up facts very rapidly.

But keep in mind that in order to find knowledge on the internet, you have to have knowledge in the first place. A student seeking information on Italian architects building in wood will probably need to have some prior knowledge of this subject in order to do an effective search. A student seeking knowledge about Greek temples will likely need some knowledge of key terms and vocabulary to get pointed in the right direction.

Furthermore the internet is a generally good source for popular media and mainstream information, but it is not a good source for academic information on specialized topics which are presented at college level. For example, if you wanted to know about Roman brick masonry techniques, the internet is not the primary source you would use, because there is an enormous lack of information on this topic. Or if you wanted to know about the Egyptian methods of constructing the pyramids, the internet contains some information, but it is nowhere near as complete as certain books, for example Mark Lehner’s book on the Pyramids put together with NOVA and PBS, or the definitive book Sticks Stones and Shadows which details enormous amounts of information on how pyramids were constructed.

Furthermore, on a more philosophical, cognitive level, the information on the internet is so easy to come by that it prevents you from engaging in a deeper, more meditative process of calming your mind, finding a quite place to study, reading carefully and absorbing the information through careful study.