The Dissertation：An Architecture Students Handbook（Second Edition）Presenting.pdf

5Presenting The presentation of the final dissertation is obviously an integral part of the assignment. After all the hard work selecting, researching, develop- ing and writing your dissertation, this is the final stage necessary to ensure that you present your efforts in the best possible manner. It is surprising, however, how many dissertations are let down at this stage by relatively small errors which detract from what would otherwise be a much better product. Architecture students can occasionally be some- what slap-dash with their dissertation in a way that they would never countenance for their design work as drawings, models or renderings. General Presentation In most cases, dissertations are not intended as exercises in graphic or typographic design, so considerable efforts in this direction will not usu- ally gain extra marks from the examiners (although a different set of cri- teria may apply to the kinds of alternative dissertation discussed in Chapter 4). Nonetheless, all dissertations, of whatever format, should meet certain standards. You should consider the following: Multiple copies. You probably will have to submit more than one copy of your dissertation, so if your architecture school asks for three copies of your dissertation, give them that number. Many schools return one copy to you. In many institutions, one of the sub- mitted copies can be a best version or top copy containing, for example, full-colour or laser-copied illustrations, while the others can be of a slightly lower reproduction standard. If this is the case, ESJH_TDSC_CH005.qxd 8/23/2005 4:59 PM Page 70 70 you may want to check in advance that the superior version is the one which will be returned to you. No matter how many copies your architecture school asks for, and whether one is going to be returned to you or not, it is always a good idea to make an additional best ver- sion for yourself. Although your school should look very carefully after dissertations submitted to it, there is always a chance that your dissertation may be mislaid during the examination process. Print output. A clear text will enable the reader to work more easily through the text, and so better comprehend what you have said. To achieve a high print standard, use word-processed or typed text, ide- ally printed on a high-standard laser or letter-quality device. Inkjet printers are usually acceptable, but old dot-matrix printers should be avoided. Print on one side of the paper only. Paper. Print on a good quality paper, at least 105 gsm rather than 90 gsm, which will prevent too much show through from one page to another. Do not use very thick paper, however, as this will unnec- essarily bulk out the dissertation. Size and shape. In general, most dissertations use an A4 portrait or US letter layout. Some institutions may insist on only one size. You are well advised to adopt this format unless you have a particular reason to do otherwise. If you do use a different paper size and shape, particularly anything larger than A4, bear in mind that this must be transportable and legible. Binding. Many architecture schools require submitted dissertations to be properly bound at a professional binders, with specific con- ventions as to colour, lettering, dating etc. Other schools simply ask for spiral or another suitable binding system. Whichever system your school requests, make sure that you follow the rules precisely most PhD theses, for example, will simply not be accepted unless they exactly follow university requirements. You should also allow plenty of time for binding to be done it can easily take a whole day to take your final manuscript to the copy shop, make copies, and bind the result. If you are using a professional binder, choose one well in advance, and preferably one who is based locally. Professional binders often need 23 days in which to turn a job around, and possibly even more during busy examination periods. Title and title page. Many architectural students give their disserta- tions a graphic front cover, often with one large illustration relating to the dissertation subject. If you do this, make sure your name and the year of submission is also included on the front cover and/or on the spine. Immediately inside, the first page should then include the same information, together with the title and sub-title of your dis- sertation. As with your original proposal, this title should be meaningful, indicating the subject matter as well as the kind of inter- pretation you have undertaken. Presenting71 ESJH_TDSC_CH005.qxd 8/23/2005 4:59 PM Page 71 Contents page. Include a contents page with a listing of all chapter or section headings, together with page numbers. Acknowledgements. You may wish to include an acknowledgements page, where you can thank teachers, friends, family, archive staff etc. who have helped you in your work. If you have completed a PhD, then this list will probably be quite extensive, less so for a shorter undergraduate dissertation. Whatever the kind of disserta- tion, try to keep the acknowledgements relatively short, as lengthy and overly effusive acknowledgements are often seen by examiners as being somewhat indulgent. List of illustrations. It is good practice to include a list of all the illustrations used in the dissertation, together with their figure number (see below) and the source from which they have been obtained. Font. As for the draft, use a 10- or 12-point serif font for the main text of your dissertation, such as Bookman, Palatino or Times for the main body of the text. Sanserif fonts like Avant Garde, Ariel, Helvetica or News Gothic can also often be used. Do not use screen fonts like Monaco, Geneva or Chicago. Paragraph formatting. Arrange the main body of the text with lines that are double-spaced, and with no more than 20 words per line (although 1315 words is more usual). These conventions help the reader to locate the beginning of the next line more easily without getting lost on the page. Dissertations should normally be set with the text left-justified and right-ragged (meaning that the left-hand edges are all flush together, while the lines vary in length creating an uneven right- hand side). You can set your software to produce fully justified text (flush on both left and right sides) but be aware that convention dic- tates that this is usually done only for published documents such as books and journal articles. Resist the temptation to use right-justified and left-ragged text, or, worse still, centred text. These formats, if used at all, should be deployed extremely sparingly for header quotations, chapter or sec- tion titles etc. Section and chapter headings. These are usually set in bold, some- times also with capitals and in a larger font size than that used for the main text (e.g. 14- or 18-point). Double-check that the headings cor- respond to the numbering and titling given on your contents page. Sub-headings. Clearly distinguish sub-sections in your main text with sub-headings. These can be set in bold or italic, and in the same font size as that used for the main text. Quotations. Separate quotations (i.e. those which are not run into the main body of the text) are usually inset slightly in from the left edge by about 1 cm, and are also often single-spaced. You do not need quotation marks for quotations formatted in this manner. 72The Dissertation ESJH_TDSC_CH005.qxd 8/23/2005 4:59 PM Page 72 Resist the temptation to set quotations in italics, as this style can get rather tiring after a few pages. Amendments to quotations. Often you will need to slightly modify a quotation in order that it suits the grammar of your own prose, or for other purposes. For example, you may wish to start a quotation at a point which is mid-sentence in the original. This is usually dealt with by adding a capital letter within square brackets. Thus the sentence It is possible to say without equivocation that today in Australia a new form of ecological architecture, dependent on both natural resources and political commitment, is emerging may be quoted as: Today in Australia a new form of ecological architecture, dependent on both natural resources and political commit- ment, is emerging. Conversely, but using the same rule of putting amendments in square brackets, the original sentence of, for example, No-one is more focused on bodily architecture than Kas Oosterhuis could be inserted directly into your main text (i.e. not used as a stand-alone quotation, but embedded in the main flow of your own writing) as no-one is more focused on bodily architecture than Kas Oosterhuis. The same rule of using square brackets to identify your own actions also applies to omissions within quotations. For example, if you wish to miss out part of a quotation, you can add an ellipsis a series of periods and spaces to indicate this omission. There are various ways of doing this, but one of the most accurate is to use an ellipsis in square brackets, thus indicating that this is your own act, and not that of the original author. Thus, the quotation about Australia above could be further edited as: Today in Australia a new form of ecological architecture is emerging. Finally, you may wish to emphasise some word in the quotation that the original author had not emphasised. The way to do this is to note your act in square brackets. Thus, the original sentence Architecture is a purely imaginative activity may be reproduced as: Architecture is a purely imaginativeactivity. emphasis added Note that because this is a frequent practice on the part of aca- demic writers, when the emphasis has not been added but is indeed in the original, the dissertation writer may acknowledge this fact. For example, Nothing is more central to pleasurable architecturethan gender, sexuality and bodily matters. emphasis in original Presenting73 ESJH_TDSC_CH005.qxd 8/23/2005 4:59 PM Page 73 Footnotes and references. This material can be placed at the bottom of the page, at the end of the relevant section or chapter, or collected together at the end of the dissertation. The font is usually the same type and size as the main text, but can be smaller (say 9-point) and use a different font face (if a serif font is used for the main text, a sanserif one might be used for footnotes). Footnotes and referencing can be either continuous and run in one range from beginning to end of the dissertation, or can be reset at 1 for each new chapter or section. Formatting should otherwise follow the instructions given in Chapter 4. Page numbers. Page numbers (sometimes referred to as folios) should be included on every text page, and are normally placed cen- trally at the base of the page, or in the top right-hand corner. It is often not essential to number pages with only illustrations on them, although different schools may have different rules about this. Bibliography. The font type and size for the bibliography is normally the same as that used for the main text of the dissertation. As for footnotes and references, formatting should otherwise follow the instructions given in Chapter 4. Appendices. An appendix is a useful place to put any extra data, tables, interview transcripts or other material which is original to your dissertation but which is too detailed or too obtrusive to include within the main body of the text. An appendix is not the place to put any extra thoughts, interpretations or any other infor- mation which is essential for the reader to understand your investi- gation. For example, an architectural dissertation might use an appendix as a place in which to put a complete list of buildings by an architect and which are otherwise unrecorded, a set of illustra- tions that have not previously been published, or such things as additional statistical analysis of, for example, different construction methods used in a large house-building programme. The font type and size for an appendix is normally the same as that used for the main text of the dissertation. Index. An index is not usually required for a dissertation. Illustrations Which illustrations to include in your dissertation is considered in Chapter 4. When it comes to presenting your final submission, however, there are several other factors to consider. Quality. Make sure that the illustrations you include are of a good quality. For an architectural dissertation, you will frequently need to depict a high degree of detail, so a laser copy, print or high-defini- tion scan will frequently be required. Note also that quality degra- dation will also set in rapidly if you make copies of another copy. The 74The Dissertation ESJH_TDSC_CH005.qxd 8/23/2005 4:59 PM Page 74 higher quality the original, the better you can prevent this image quality from falling with subsequent copies. Colour. Colour copies may look good, but they are expensive and may not add anything to your argument. Indeed, many people prefer the look of black and white illustrations. However, in order to get a high- quality black and white reproduction you have to use a colour copier or printer in order to get a good definition grey-scale reproduction. If you are not sure about this, the trick here is to experiment with some dif- fering processes for one or two different kinds of image. You can then pick the process which gives you the best quality/cost compromise. Size. You may need to include images which are larger than your dis- sertation, in which case will need to fold these into the binding, or into a pocket at the back, or other such technique. Or you may wish to request to be allowed to submit a landscape-format or oversize dissertation that can more easily cope with your illustrative material. Positioning. In general, it is a good idea to position illustrations next to or near to the text to which they refer. Usually, it is considered adequate to place illustrations on separate pages, inserted between text pages at appropriate intervals. Alternatively, you can place them on the same page as your text, in which case be sure that your paste-up and/or computer skills are good enough to do this effec- tively and neatly. You should normally avoid placing all illustrations together in one part of the dissertation, although in some cases there may be a particular reason why you might want to do this, for example when comparing the evolution of a particular building type or detail over time. If you need to refer to an illustration on several occasions, you do not have to reproduce it more than once just refer back to the previous usage. Figure numbering. You should give all your illustrations a unique fig- ure number. As with footnotes, this numbering can either run in one continuous range from beginning to end, or can be divided up into sections. In the latter case, it is conventional to use 1.1, 1.2 etc. for illustrations in Section 1, then 2.1, 2.2 for