You are required to write a research paper eight pages in length, or approximately 1800 words. All papers must be typed and must adopt the format outlined below. Points will be deducted for papers that do not meet either the page length or fail to follow the guidelines. Grading will be based on such criteria as appropriateness, ambitiousness, originality, clarity, organization, and format. I have put several papers from past classes on the course reserve as models of what I expect from your paper.
1. Paper Proposal ——– (DO NOT NEED!!!)
You are required to submit a two-page paper proposal of your topic. Once you’ve chosen a subject (see below) for your paper, you will submit a paper proposal describing as fully as possible its content and thesis (see below), generally a short paragraph of a few sentences; an outline of how you’re going to develop and layout your subject; and relevant bibliography of at least three published sources (not internet sources). Do not include the course text as a bibliographic source. The types and availability of resources, of course, will vary with each topic. Therefore, find a subject that is relatively well covered in published materials (e.g., books, articles, etc.).
2. Choose a subject and do some reading and research
Select a single building that is representative of a particular period, style, interior, or designer’s work that interests you (e.g., Prairie School style, the Bauhaus, Mies van der Rohe, Green design, etc.). If you have difficulty, try flipping through the course textbook (Pile), or a general history of modern architecture (e.g., William Curtis, Modern Architecture Since 1900, on the course reserve), and choose a work that catches your fancy. This work will give you the opportunity to study in greater depth the social, political, cultural, and aesthetic issues that surround design. (You’ll have to decide what your focus or perspective will be.) Once you find your subject, try to narrow its focus by doing some basic research. (Check the bibliography in the back of Pile, for example.) Identify the common facts about the work by comparing what several authors have to say about it. Do they agree on some significant fact about the design? That may be the starting point for your thesis.
3. Decide on a point of view (i.e., thesis or argument)
You need to be concise and orderly in your analysis. Work with a thesis–some point of view or argument–that permits you to examine the building from a particular perspective (e.g., “Mies’ Seagram building became the ubiquitous post-war emblem of corporate power;” “Green design has generated a radical reconfiguration of traditional building types.” etc.). The thesis, which does not have to be original in this case, should be stated at the outset of your paper in a relatively short paragraph (normally not more than eight to ten terse sentences). It should essentially tell your reader what the paper is about, what you want to say about the subject you’ve chosen, and something of the paper’s content.
Think of the thesis as a road map for your reader to follow. It removes your discussion from the realm of pure description or historical narration; it gives direction and meaning to your analysis. Try to be as specific as possible in your statement. The bulk of your paper would then develop the details summarized in your thesis, each paragraph reinforcing and building on the last.
4. Organize your paper by devising an outline
Once you’ve decided on a thesis, organize your paper so that the subsequent paragraphs (your thesis is your first paragraph) clearly develop your argument in a logical manner, generally moving your discussion from general considerations (e.g., history of the commission, plan of the building, etc.) to particular details (e.g., interior furnishings, materials, etc.). This is best accomplished by creating an outline of your paper. Begin by simply listing the general areas of your discussion (e.g., relevant background history, style, plan and composition, interiors, etc.), then go back and fill in the pertinent details of each section. For example, after your thesis statement your reader will want to know some general information about the main subject itself (e.g., the building or the interior you are discussing). Don’t forget, your reader is not as familiar with the subject as you are; but don’t bore your reader either by giving a two page history. Set the stage for your discussion (i.e., tie it into your thesis and show how it is relevant to the points you want to make).
Then you can turn to more definite design features, always moving from the general to the particular, from the broad ranging to the more narrowly focused aspects of the building’s design. Here’s where you start to delve into the details of the interiors, their furnishings and decoration, etc. For example, if you’re discussing Mies’ Crown Hall as a representative example of his concept of an “architecture of almost nothing,” once you’ve explained this idea, you then analyze its application in both the exterior and interior of the building. Then, lastly, you might conclude by either summing up your discussion or taking it a step further by showing the significance of the overall design in some way you hadn’t considered previously.
Keep the outline and your thesis flexible as your ideas develop and your research progresses. You’ll find that as the paper grows, ideas that you initially thought were important are no longer necessary, while others may have become more central and still others may need further research.
5. Make the title of your paper reflective of its contents.
Once you’ve finalized your thesis, don’t forget to reassess your title. (For example, from “The Bauhaus” to “The Bauhaus: A Paradigm of Early Modern Architecture;”or from “Mies’ Seagram Building” to “An Emblem of Corporate Power: Mies’ Seagram Building.”) The title should clearly reflect the focus of your discussion.
6. Some fundamentals
a. Symptoms of a weak or missing argument: an insatiable desire to talk about everything at once in no explicable order and without sentence breaks; a paper that is two pages rather than six; copying whole passages from other authors word for word without critical paraphrasing, so that the paper reads like one long quotation.
b. Keep your sentences short and concise. Ask yourself if it clearly and accurately states your intent or can it actually mean something you didn’t intend. If in doubt, recast the sentence.
c. Begin your paragraphs with a guiding thought. Each paragraph should develop a single idea that is the logical outcome of what came previously and what comes next. If your narrative seems disjointed and abrupt, then return to your outline to figure out the problem.
d. Avoid using resources to quote basic factual or descriptive material. That’s sheer laziness. Put such information in your own words. If you feel it is necessary to quote an author, don’t take it for granted that your reader understands the point you want to make with the quote. Immediately after the quote, state the relevance of the idea presented in the paragraph to your thesis. And don’t forget to note the source of the information in a footnote. Papers that are nothing but quotations do not receive good grades.
e. Use a spell checker and edit your paper carefully. Take the time to reread your paper or have someone else read it for you, paying attention to content, clarity, grammar, etc. Study the model papers I have on reserve for the course.
7. Researching your paper
You will have to do research of both a general and specific nature. There are a number of ways you can research your topic: by period and country; by architect; by building type; or by style. Try browsing through these sections in the library. At the back of the course textbook by Pile, you can find a basic bibliography on your building to get you going. Check the bibliography in those other sources as well. Basic encyclopedias of Furniture, Architecture, Architects, and Designers can give you detailed background information, including additional bibliography.
You are not permitted to use internet sites. All documentation within the paper must be copied and attached to the final paper.
Beside the Design Library at Harrington, you can also use I-Share, a collection of some 50 libraries. Don’t delay beginning your paper!
Format
It is taken for granted that all papers turned in for this course will be typed. The paper should be in the Chicago Manual of Style format (found in Barnet). I reserve the right to accept or not any paper that varies from these formatting guidelines.
1. Materials Papers must be typed on 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper and printed on only one side. Use 12-point type, no larger, and Times New Roman font.
2. Cover Page Add a cover page to your paper. On a separate sheet, place your name, the title and number of the course, including the section, your e-mail address, or a number where you can be reached, the date, and the title of the paper. This can all be single-spaced. The title should be in the center of the paper. This page is neither numbered nor counted as part of the pagination.
3. Pagination Number the pages consecutively throughout the essay in the center bottom or the upper right hand corner of the page. Number the pages using numerals (e.g., 1,2,3…).
4. Margins Leave margins of 1 1/2″ at the top and 1″ along the left, right and bottom edges of the paper. These margins are the same for every page. This will give you approximately 24-26 lines per page with an average of 14-16 words per line. (24 x 14 = 336 words per page x 6 = approximately 2000 words)
5. Spacing The paper should be double-spaced throughout, except for footnotes and bibliographic entries. Lengthy quotations (three lines or longer) are single-spaced, set off from the main text by narrower margins, and centered under the body of the text from which it is separated.
6. Paragraphs Begin each paragraph with an indentation of about 5 spaces. No extra space between paragraphs is required.
7. Bibliographic Entries You will only need to list bibliographic citations in the third paper (unless you do research for the other papers, which is not required). On a separate sheet of paper at the end your essay, list in alphabetical order all the sources you consulted in researching your paper. List the authors by last name first, then the title of the work in italics, followed by the city of publication, the publisher and the date of publication. For example: Joncas, Richard. The Rise and Fall of Dough. New York: Dough Institute for Advanced Cooking, 2004. List your Internet sources separately and below the main entries.
8. Footnotes If you cite quotations, or take ideas from other authors, or paraphrase statements made by others, you must document that information by noting its source. Place your notes at the end of the paper before the bibliography. The first time you cite a work you give it a full bibliographic treatment. Subsequent references can be abbreviated: Joncas, Dough, p. 23. If you cite several books by the same author be careful to distinguish them in your notes. I prefer that you not run notes into the text, but if you do be careful to list the author, brief title of the work, if more than one title by the same author is used, and the page of the citation. Failure to cite the sources of information constitutes plagiarism. You are required, therefore, to use foot or end notes in the body of your paper.
9. Illustrations If at all possible, include illustrations of the buildings you discuss. Carefully identify the images and reference them in your text (e.g., ill. 1 should appear both in the text and under your illustration). Don’t take it for granted that your reader knows the illustration to which you are referring. Place the illustrations at the end of the paper, not in the body of the text.
RESEARCH PAPER CHECK LIST
A THIRD OF A LETTER GRADE WILL BE DEDUCTED FOR EACH MISSING OR INCOMPLETE ITEM:
o Cover page with all identifying information (name, course title, date, title of the paper topic, etc.)
o Thesis statement
o Illustration of building/interior/garden, etc.
o Chicago Manual of Style format or other format as long as it is consistently used in the paper
o Paper has been uploaded to LiveText
AN ‘F’ GRADE MAY RESULT IF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING EITHER IS MISSING OR INCOMPELTE:
o Paper proposal with my initial comments
o Turitin.com report (include only the first page as evidence that you reviewed it)
o Footnotes:
o sequentially listed by numbers (1,2,3…) and placed at the bottom of the page
o with page numbers or full Internet citations listed for each (previously approved and only .org or .edu sites)
o Bibliography
o Copies of citations
o Each clearly identified
o Numbered and filed in order of footnotes
o Cited passages highlighted
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]