Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND
This is the part that is supposed to give the reader a clear idea of what your research is all about. Remember,
clear idea. So you cannot just go discussing anything you come across without understanding how it relates to what
you want to achieve in the end.
Here are some of the points you have to cover to make sure that you are writing your Introduction properly.
A proper Introduction will give the reader a strong vision of the direction you want your project to take.
1. Present the problems and concerns which brought you to choose to work on your proposal. You should do this
without using the word I and without presenting your proposal just yet.
2. Inform your reader of the present scenario -- the present conditions and the problems that you feel need to be
solved . These would include such aspects such as technical problems; absence/incompatibility of present site;
need for proper planning; need for recognition of potentials; etc. Make sure, though, that you stick only to the
relevant factors. Try not to lose focus so early, okay?
3. State the reason/s why it is necessary to conduct the study which will lead to your solution. This is sometimes
called the RATIONALE (which is also a tip: this is where you rationalize what you are doing. Why in the world
must you do this!? Will it make the world a better place?)
4. Does your problem have a historical background? Most problems do. Trace it. Then present it clearly and
coherently. But be careful about delving too much on the historical context. Once you've connected the historical
events with present developments and the problem at hand, move on.
5. Ask yourself these questions: Do you have a clearer and deeper understanding of the conditions pertinent to your
problem? Do you want to find a way to solve it? If there are already existing ways of solving it, are you interested
in going the extra mile to come up with a better solution? If your answer to these questions is a resounding YES!,
then tell your reader so (again: do not use I and do not actually address your reader). All you have to do here is
convince your reader that your project is worth your effort and the readers attention.
6. Describe the conditions of your study locale. You should do this in an informative manner which is not too
technical for readers with no background in architecture. And you should do this whether the locality is being used
as a source of basic data or a targeted site for application.
7. Wrap up. Before you start with the next part, make sure that you have linked all the things youve discussed. Do
not leave the reader wondering where on earth you got the idea of conducting this study. If you can come up with
a clever parting statement here, then by all means, DO!
Since you will be focusing on several RESEARCH TOPICS, you may be able to come up with different
specific needs that may be addressed by your thesis. The specific needs that you have identified are supposed to
make your project unique from other studies. Let your reader know this by stating your problem in a SIMPLE,
CLEAR and DIRECT manner.
ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH GOAL/OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES
ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH GOAL. There is one very important word here and that is
ARCHITECTURAL. You can begin selling your project here by defining what kind of STRUCTURE you
want to see in the translation of your study. A brief description of the outcome could also help so that a conceivable
image may be formed. Keep in mind that you are doing an architectural thesis. Refrain from devising
PROGRAMS for the operations of your project.
OBJECTIVES Objectives are more SPECIFIC targets which eventually leads to the attainment of your
architectural goal. You may want to group them by certain categories as determined by your goal, or arrange them
according to importance. For time-specific objectives, a chronological arrangement may be more advisable.
Though you havent defined your conceptual and theoretical frameworks at this point, you must have a
clear idea of what their basis would be (clue: RESEARCH TOPICS?). Therefore, make sure that your objectives
are consistent with the topics that you want to work on. Again remember the keyword: architectural!
Strategies are simply particular actions you have to do to achieve each specific objective. Forget about
architectural for a while and focus on RESEARCH WORK. What do you need to know, study, research on, survey,
observe, estimate or program in order to create a body of knowledge that will lead to meeting your objectives.
It would, therefore, be more comprehensible if you follow the succeeding outline in stating your thesis
goals, objectives and strategies.
As you enumerate the objectives and strategies, keep checking their relevance to your goal. If you do not
see a direct relationship, scrap the objective before you get carried away identifying the strategies. And please be
consistent with your sentence structure. If you begin the GOAL and the first OBJECTIVE with To + verb...., use
the format until you ran out of objectives to state. Strategies are a totally different thing. They are structured in
the imperative form (the better to scare you into doing them, perhaps?).
locale, the users, the activities, what? Then (as you may have already guessed) you have to explain why. Then lets
say you stop. Good.