Assignment 1: Research Proposal & Literature Review
Literature Review & Research Proposal
Choose a region identified by the United Nations as rapidly developing (or another similar region). Students will study both traditional and modern building styles in order to establish a vernacular typology for that particular region. From there, study the thermodynamic principles that apply to the identified systems within the social and cultural context of their chosen region.
Through lectures and hands-on demonstrations, students will explore a number of basic topics (convection, conduction and radiation; psychrometrics) as well as some more advanced and emerging ideas (phase change materials, thermal bridging, etc.). Proper research methods and scientific writing will also be discussed as students develop their research question.
Part 1: Abstract
A research abstract is a short summary (under 300 words) of your planned research study. It is intended to describe your work without going into great detail. Abstracts should be self-contained and concise, explaining your work as briefly and clearly as possible. Abstracts help the reader decide if they are interested in reading your full paper and if the work is meaningful to their own particular research project. Additionally, abstracts are used to help libraries catalogue publications based on the keywords that appear in them. This will be a preliminary version of the abstract and should be revised when your project is complete at the end of the semester. An effective abstract should include:
Part 2: Literature Review
A literature review is an overview of previously published works on a specific topic. It will provide the researcher (as well as the audience) with a general image of the existing knowledge on the topic under question. A good literature review can ensure that a proper research question has been asked and a proper theoretical framework and/or research methodology has been chosen. It is often said that a literature review will situate the current study within the existing body of literature to provide context for both the researcher and the reader.
Part 3: Research Proposal (presented in class Feb 8)
(you can prepare a PDF, PPT, or present directly off your website)
Each team will have 15 minutes to present
See grading rubric below
Due: Tuesday, February 15th 2:30 PM (upload to website – ‘proposal’ and ‘background’ pages)
Choose a region identified by the United Nations as rapidly developing (or another similar region). Students will study both traditional and modern building styles in order to establish a vernacular typology for that particular region. From there, study the thermodynamic principles that apply to the identified systems within the social and cultural context of their chosen region.
Through lectures and hands-on demonstrations, students will explore a number of basic topics (convection, conduction and radiation; psychrometrics) as well as some more advanced and emerging ideas (phase change materials, thermal bridging, etc.). Proper research methods and scientific writing will also be discussed as students develop their research question.
Part 1: Abstract
A research abstract is a short summary (under 300 words) of your planned research study. It is intended to describe your work without going into great detail. Abstracts should be self-contained and concise, explaining your work as briefly and clearly as possible. Abstracts help the reader decide if they are interested in reading your full paper and if the work is meaningful to their own particular research project. Additionally, abstracts are used to help libraries catalogue publications based on the keywords that appear in them. This will be a preliminary version of the abstract and should be revised when your project is complete at the end of the semester. An effective abstract should include:
- Motivation (purpose) and problem statement
- Methods
- Results (will be a hypothesis at this point)
- Conclusions (what are the larger implications of your study? I.e., who cares?)
Part 2: Literature Review
A literature review is an overview of previously published works on a specific topic. It will provide the researcher (as well as the audience) with a general image of the existing knowledge on the topic under question. A good literature review can ensure that a proper research question has been asked and a proper theoretical framework and/or research methodology has been chosen. It is often said that a literature review will situate the current study within the existing body of literature to provide context for both the researcher and the reader.
- 4-5 sources (per person)
- 2-3 pages (750-1000 words per person)
- Use proper citations and don’t forget the bibliography!
Part 3: Research Proposal (presented in class Feb 8)
(you can prepare a PDF, PPT, or present directly off your website)
Each team will have 15 minutes to present
See grading rubric below
- Research question and hypothesis
- Background (literature review) – explain the work in the field
- Preliminary construction/fabrication strategy.
Due: Tuesday, February 15th 2:30 PM (upload to website – ‘proposal’ and ‘background’ pages)