Architecture, Building and Planning Term Paper Writing Guidelines

Writing guide
Posted on February 4, 2019

You can produce a supreme quality architecture term paper with proper planning. First of all, you have to decide on an interesting and challenging topic, then find a specific angle and a good thesis statement for the chosen subject matter. Next, make sure to put your ideas in order in a clear and concise outline. Start writing. When you’re done with the first draft, don’t forget to revise and proofread your piece until you are 100% satisfied with the ideas, thoughts and their expression within the text. In the following sections of this architecture term paper guide, we will discuss in turn each of the issues mentioned above.

The Topic: How to Choose the Best One

Are you unsure what topic would become the best fit for your architecture term paper? It’s time to conduct some research. Take into account the topics related to architecture area and pick on two or three that you find the most attractive. Besides, you can spend some time searching for the articles in architecture magazines or newspapers in order to find out what issues get the biggest buzz in the architecture world today. In the process, ensure to keep in mind the length of your term paper and do your best to select the topic that you can explore in detail without producing too little or too much prose.

Stay away from the issues that have been already done to death. Give your preference to something fresh and slightly explored or something popular and then research the topic from a completely different perspective. The point here is that a relevant, insightful and captivating topic will motivate you to get started as soon as possible and will make it easier to collect supporting evidence. And here are a few suggestions:

  • What Are the Types of Architecture that Are Established According to the Needs of Its Different Institutions?
  • Vernacular Architecture and Its Straightforwardly Utilitarian Design;
  • The Impact of Globalization on Architecture and Architectural Ethics;
  • Using Recent Architecture Innovations: What Is the Downside of Architecture Inventions in Modern World?
  • Do Digital Tools Make Architects Less/More Productive at Studying or Work?
  • Rampant Imagination in the Field of Architecture: Should be There Any Limits?
  • The Peculiarities Of Light As a Quality in Architecture;
  • Has The Modern Architecture Changed the Way People Live?
  • The Impact of Globalization on Contemporary Architecture.

The Importance of a Thesis Statement for Architecture Term Paper

If you happen to choose the topic that is quite broad, make certain to narrow it down now. An effective architecture term paper should take a certain angle on a more general topic or cover only one aspect of it. It’s necessary to sum up your topic into a single sentence i.e. the thesis statement. Compose your thesis statement with due attention since it’s the trickiest part to produce.

According to the manual provided by The Tutoring Center Bucks County Community College, the thesis sets the overall point of your term paper. Craft it in accordance with the type of the project you’re assigned with. The thing is that not every term paper teaches, and not every term paper persuades. The key goal of your architecture term paper will help you to tailor the best thesis statement.

  • Analytical: This type of term paper breaks down a complex topic in order to better research and understand one. For instance: “The types of architecture depend upon social formations and may be classified in accordance with the role of the patron in the community.”
  • Expository: The term paper of this kind illustrates or teaches a certain point. For instance: “The most impressive monuments are the so-called stūpas that are of gigantic size and have considerable antiquity but usually reconstructed throughout the centuries.”
  • Argumentative: The architecture term paper of an argumentative type makes a claim, or supports a viewpoint, to change the opinions of the other people. For instance: “Even though contemporary architecture hadn’t allowed the expression of conflicts of function between various spaces, in deconstruction, it permits intersecting angled beams and clash of various functionless spaces.”

Find a good place for a thesis statement. Taking into account the role that the thesis plays, it should be placed at the beginning of the term paper, usually at the end of the first paragraph. Even though many of your readers may expect to see the thesis statement somewhere at the end of the opening paragraph, the actual location depends on a range of factors like the length of the intro or the term paper itself.

How to Prepare an Impressive Introduction

An introduction of the architecture term paper provides an overall review of your project, as well as includes a couple of slightly different issues from the abstract. It introduces the topic and sets one in a broader context, narrowing the topic down to a particular research issue, hypothesis and thesis. A complete introduction explains how the author is going to handle the research problem, as well as provides the hints to make the target readers want to read more and more of your work.

Feel free to introduce the architecture topic through a quotation, a historical fact or an anecdote. When working on architecture or science term paper, you can find dozens of ways to start your intro and announce the topic. An illustrative quotation or anecdote can generate interest in your project and demonstrate an engaging author’s style.

  • Humor is a great way to hook your audience. If you use an entertaining quotation, ensure it’s short and relevant for your research. If you work on “The Development of Architecture Design in the 20th Century”, mentioning the following words would be good: “Good design is all about making other designers feel like idiots because the idea wasn’t theirs.” (Frank Chimero) or “A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines.” (Frank Lloyd Wright).
  • Like in thousands of Hollywood movies, the first task in this section is to set the initial scene. This will provide your architecture term paper with a context, as well as enable your readers to see how this paper is relevant to the previous research in the area. The introduction can be based on a historical narrative. You can chronologically outline the very first research performed in the field and gradually proceed to the present day. For instance, the first identified architect in history was Imhotep, who lived in 2600 BCE in Egypt. The earliest architecture items in Greece, China or Egypt were the first buildings that allowed us to outsource and store our knowledge. As for the new study researches, mention Carmel Place – the micro-unit apartment building provided by “nArchitects” (New York City), where the classic New York skyscraper is virtuously combined with the loft-like rental apartments look.

It is important to assume that your term paper is aimed at the readers, who can boast of having a solid working knowledge of your particular discipline. For instance, a term paper on the creation of the open floor plan-designing rooms that flow and open out into each other Frank Lloyd Wright contributed to needs not go into too much detail about the most famous architect in the U.S. It’s assumed your target readers are already aware of his relationships and beliefs.

The Body of an Architecture Term Paper

Even though it may sound quite irrational, producing your introduction first may be harder than starting with the central part of your paper. If you begin your architecture project by writing the main points in order to back up your thesis statement, you’ll be able to slightly change and replace your ideas and facts.

  • Ensure to support every thesis statement you make with strong evidence. Taking into account the fact that you’re working on a term paper now, there should not be any issues that you provide that cannot be supported by the points directly from your research. If you inform your readers on the fact that “In the USA, late 18th century architecture and early 19th century building designs were usually based on Greek and Roman architecture” or that “A spectacular example of iron-and-glass construction is the well-known Henri Labrouste’s nine-domed reading room that is located at the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris”, it’s important to support the claims with the facts provided by the trusted researches like “Late 18th Century Architecture” and “Henri Labrouste and the Lure of the Real” respectively.
  • Keep away from using many direct quotes that are too long. Without a doubt, your term paper is based on an in-depth research; however, your task here is to provide your own ideas. Unless the quote you include is 100% necessary, paraphrase and analyze it using your own words instead.

Not sure the body of your paper is up to the task? If yes, ensure to isolate the first sentence of every paragraph. Together, they should sound like a complete list of logically structured evidence.

Master the Secret of an Effective Conclusion with Architecture Term Paper Tips from Our Experts

What is the conclusion of an architecture term paper? Well, it’s one of the crucial moments in the assignment of the type, accomplished in progress of its creation. First of all, you have to draw a parallel between the introduction and the conclusion. These two segments must be interconnected.

Start with the justification of relevance and proceed to the argumentation of the research goal, the achievement of which was the result of the term paper. Having described the problems you have solved and the goals you’ve achieved, switch your attention to the results of the practical work. Ensure to substantiate their importance, prove why it was crucial to introduce these actions in practice, as well as argue the personal opinion on the phenomena, processes, and methods of solving the arising problems.

At the end of the section, make sure to sketch up the plans for future research, as well as suggest the ways of possible improvement and modernization.

A good example of the conclusion for the architecture term paper on “How Nature Can Provide Reliable and Sustainable Building Solutions” would be the following:

“Green Architecture is the most significant architectural movement at the present moment. As has been seen, the ecological damage caused by modern buildings (mainly by the heating and air-con systems, e.g., by the use of unsustainable materials in the process) can be recorded in real figures, such as the amount of carbon dioxide the modern buildings produce in terms of how much these buildings contribute to global warming. As has been observed, there are tons of pressures on the architects, and on the industry as a whole, to create high-quality buildings. This will only keep on increasing in the future. For that reason, architects, such as Eugene Tsui, who consider buildings as living organisms, are not so far-fetched.”

Ensure You’ve Got a Style

You use dozens of outside sources? Make sure to find out what citation style is set by your academic institution, APA or MLA (or any other style if you don’t live in the United States). Every style has its own notation system; however, if you’re not sure about the rules, it’s recommended to use one of the manuals available online for APA, Harvard, Chicago or any other style.
Peppering your term paper with quotes is a good thing to do, but make sure your “meal” isn’t too “hot”.

  • Keep away from cutting and pasting from the projects written by someone else. By all means use the thoughts of the wise men of your field to support our own thinking but avoid saying nothing else but “N says” or “N claims…”. Your audience wants to know what the author of the paper says intimately.
  • Sort out the bibliography from the very beginning in order to avoid the last minute panic.
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