Undergraduate Research in Architecture

Book excerpt: Undergraduate Research in Architecture: A Guide for Students supplies tools for scaffolding research skills, with examples of undergraduate research activities and case studies on projects in the various areas of architecture study. Undergraduate research has become a common degree requirement in some disciplines and is growing rapidly. Many undergraduate activities in music have components that could be combined into compelling undergraduate research projects, either in the required curriculum, as part of existing courses, or in capstone courses centered on undergraduate research. Following an overview chapter, the next seven chapters cover research skills including literature reviews, choosing topics, formulating questions, citing sources, disseminating results, and working with data and human subjects. A wide variety of sub-disciplines follow in the remaining chapters, with sample project ideas from each as well as undergraduate research conference abstracts. The final chapter is an annotated guide to online resources. Included are some inspirational quotations concerning architecture’s commitment to research, and some examples of professional research that support the focus of the chapter. All chapters end with relevant questions for discussion.