EI had to teach architecture....1 would strive to inculcate in my pupils a keen sense af control--unbiased judgment and of the “how” and the““why:”” E would encourage them to ‘cultivate this sense til their dying day. But I would want them to base it an.an objective seriesof facts, Facts are fluid and changeable e speciall y nowadays, so Ewould teach them to distrust formulas and impress on them that everything is relative Le Corbusier FOREWORD Your THESIS is the ane project that should integrate all your learning in your 4-year (oro...) stay in BS Architecture. It is suppose to justify your right to graduate. Sa, you will have to dig into all the knowledge that you have acquired (architectural and otherwise) to come up with a project that is not anly feasible, but is also believable and distinctive. Itbegins with a prablem, and ends at finding a solution to that prablem. This is not an easy task With a series of reseureh works and evalustions (and wevaluations... and probably more research work), you need to came up with enough proof that your solution is right, Bul that's getting abead of the job... Right now, you are faced with one big problem. That is, HOW DO YOU COME UP: WITHTHE PROBLEM? But before we get into that, you have to choose a certain topic first, This will help you mmow dawn the number, thee xtent and the magnitude of the problem you want (?) to salve. SUG TED PROBLEM AREAS Formulation ar development af a project that does noexist yet Generation of useful technical data or technical properties of new material or process 3. Improvement af existing knowledge 4. New application of an existing knowledge S. Comparative study of two ar more entities or development of an improved version of ane xisting one 6. Physical development of a research work 7. Documentation CRITERIA FOR CHOOSING A TOPIC OR PROBLEM ‘The research topic must be one which YOU selected. Ht rmast be within your interest. rust be within your specialization Ht rast be based on your competence to tackle the necessary work Ent be within your financial capabilityArchitecture Thesis Man wal danaera.CRLaione 6. It should have definable limits to suit your available resources 7. lt must be researchable and manageable. 8. lt must be-compleied within a reasonable span of time. 9. Its solution must sequite original, ertical and reflective thinking 10, It must be significant, important and relevant to the present time and situation, 11, Ht rust contribute to the-national development goals for the improvement of quality of lite 12. It ust contribute to the Institute's “body of knowledg. 13. Bt must notundermine ner compromise the moral and spiritual values of the people. 14, It rust advocate changes in the present onler of things. 15, Bt must offer same kind of return for your efforts 16, It must not involve any hazards such as physical, social or legal ‘These criteria, by the way, are aol the only bases for your selection, You may have some criteria of your own that will help you decide, PROPOSINE PROJECT When you have already set your mind on a certain topic or problem, the next step is, to find out its physical application. Your thesis, after all, does not just invalve research Most of the time, the topic or problem chosen must be translated int a structure or a set ‘of guidelines. Here are same questions w belp you determine what kind of project you may carry out to interpret your research, 1. What are your interests? Do you know of any organizations or groups that support your interest? They may have possible projects 2. De you know of any possible proposal by a government ageney and unit which you can furtherdevelop? 3. Are you aware of any new concept, technology or project which may be tested for feasibility in Local application? 4. Again, you may have other bases that you might want to add to these Now that you're set at zeming in an the topic and the project that you want to wark ‘on, il might be really useful in the fulure to list them down, Read anid reread them, Ione des not sound good to you, maybe it does not deserve to be in the list. This means you will have to wrack your brains one more time to come up with another one, but then again, ithas a big chance of being better than the one you struck ut, right? ‘To further assist you in the final decision, you can use a table such as the ane shawn in Figure 1CRITERIA Project | Project | Project | Rating: 1 2 3 = Poor availability of data 1 2. personal interest 3. fimancial capability 4- Very Good 4. time requirement Excellent 5. etc 6 - Figure 1. Selection of Project Please note that this exercise is not part of the book, but for sure you would do things like this to-ease your way. After all, the acceptance af the responsibility of undertaking “whatever” is needed to meet your goals is the most important part in selecting a topic, aside from truly understanding every purpose, scope and requirements af the project. Lastly, here are some hasic rules in writing your thesis. In this exercise, it is not enaugh that you know the data, have analyzed them and made your own conclusions based on them. It is also very important that you know why and haw you should present such data an yourthesis book DOs AND DON'Ts in writing your paper 1. Don’t ever copy text from any published works. That is a capital offense in thesis ‘writing, In case you don't know il yet, you could be jailed for that! Write in your own words. Your comprehension of the things you write can anly be shown by your ability to summarize reports 2. Don’t include photocopied texts in your book exce pt as an appendix 3. Do acknowledge and cite your source. This applies to all possible data sources including personal interviews, This will sive you a Lot of effort in explaining some concepts that are not really your own to begin with. 4. Do read and check your work. Checking includes grammar, spelling and composition, Remember, it's always nice to be short and sweet, @ 5. Do include pictures, graphs, maps, charts and sketches. Architecture is a visual medium so always reinforce your ideas with figures. OF course, there should be proper captions. Make yourreader understand the signifieanee of that graph that took you hours to make! Don'tuse abbreviations, and unnecessary acromyins and contractions. Do make the effort to intraduce new ideas, new chapters, etc. This will create a smoother flow of your discussions 8. Don’t be afraid of computers. They will facilitate editing and help you come up with better viswal presentations