Posted: November 17th, 2015

ARC334H1F: Urban Design HTC Case Study History and Theory Analysis DUE Nov. 24, 2015 Midnighton Blackboard—15% (2% late penalty per day)

Instructions:

Using the questions developed in your visual and spatial analysis, write a 1000 word essay on a topic of your choosing that applies urban design theories/concepts to the same case study. The essay should incorporate descriptive analysis generated in the visual and spatial analysis along with additional research.

 

Themes, theories, and concepts for your topic may include, but are not limited to:

• Comprehensive neighborhood/community planning
• Planning utopias
• Real estate development motives and outcomes
• Modern planning tools
• Suburbanization
• Historic Preservation / Nostalgia / Gentrification
• Theming / Tourist Bubbles
• Discipline and Control
• Enclaves
• Everyday production of space / Tactics / Contestation
• ? ? ?

 

 

The purpose of a research question

A strong research question does the following: indicates the research topic, explains what your research problem is, and indicates why your reader should take this problem seriously.

 

Brainstorming Formula:

I am trying to learn about ________ because I am trying to find out who/what/where/whether/why/how _________ in order to help my reader understand _________.

 

The research problem addresses the question: So what if you can’t answer the research question? What’s at stake? It asks you to look at the bigger picture of what matters.

 

Example: I am studying stories of the Alamo because I want to understand why voters responded to them in ways that served the interests of local Texas politicians.

[So what?]

I am studying these stories in order to help readers understand how regional self-images influence national politics.

 

**Use this formula to direct your research and help shape your thesis statement**

During the 1980s, stories of the Alamo were reworked as a cautionary tale about foreigners, namely Mexicans, whose immigration status was contested at both state and national elections. Local Texas politicians focused on the Alamo as a way of pushing forward a xenophobic, racist platform, but their emphasis on local history did not resonate beyond the state’s borders, as evidenced by the liberalization of immigration policy.

 

 

Find and Observe

Avoid the “data dump” or summary report of information

Use questions to focus the research stage of the project

 

Different Types of Sources:

Primary Sources

**Your visual, textual, and spatial analysis IS your interpretation of these primary sources**

• Archival material (Toronto City Archives is an excellent source)
• Produced by the architect, firm, institution, client
  • Keywords: drawings, models, correspondence, reports, notes, manuscripts, interviews
  • This includes photographs or film documenting the building as well as the building itself
• Produced by the building’s contemporary audience
  • Material includes: journal or newspaper reviews, stories, or criticism reporting directly about the building or architect

 

Secondary Sources

• Published material
• Primarily produced by academics who interpret primary sources.
  • This includes biographies, journal articles, monographs, dissertations that are usually written later on

 

Tertiary Sources

• Dictionaries
• Encyclopedias
• Handbooks
  • These sources are helpful for fact-checking or to gain a general overview of a subject or topic but do not contain original material

 

How to Find Sources

Research Database for Architecture

http://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/resources/shore-moffat-library/selected-web-resources

 

Recommended Research Sources

Architecture:ca/a-z/subject.cfm?subject=7″>http://resource.library.utoronto.ca/a-z/subject.cfm?subject=7

Landscape Architecture:http://resource.library.utoronto.ca/a-z/subject.cfm?subject=185

Design:http://resource.library.utoronto.ca/a-z/subject.cfm?subject=130

Urban Studies:http://resource.library.utoronto.ca/a-z/subject.cfm?subject=87

 

A note on web-based sources:

Be careful about self-published Academia.edu essays. Many of these are term papers by undergraduate and graduate students. They are not considered reliable sources.

You should never trust personal websites.

 

Evaluate Sources

Just because a source exists does not mean you should use it! Before spending time fully reading and summarizing a source, do a quick assessment of whether or not it will be useful:

• Determine whether the content is fact, opinion, or propaganda
• Consider the language (objective or emotional?)
• What sources does the author use (primary and secondary sources)
• How dated is the source?
• Does the author support claims with adequate evidence?

 

Summarize Information

In your own words, summarize the most important information in each of your sources. Focus on prioritizing what is significant rather than trying to list every single detail. If you have specific questions or criticisms about your source, be sure to include them in your notes for later use.

• Read for evidence
• Read for argument
• Read critically (question whether claims are fully supported by the author)
• Distinguish between your summary/paraphrase and actual quotations (record page number)

 

 

How not to plagiarize:

• You must give the source reference as soon as you’ve mentioned the idea you’re using, not just at the end of the paragraph.
• When possible, name the author, “X states” and then indicate your own position, “An examination of the text suggests, however…” This indicates where your borrowing starts and stops
• Even if you put the ideas into your own words, you must cite your source
• Facts that are easy to look up (i.e. common knowledge) do not need to be cited. Example: Armistice Day is on November 11. If the fact is up for debate, you must cite your source of information
• If you use a long quotation, be sure to provide your own commentary rather than letting the words stand on their own. I need to know where you stand in relation to the quotation
• In most cases, unless the quotation is especially memorable, you’re better off summarizing the source’s words and emphasizing the points that are most relevant to your argument. This paraphrased quotation must be cited.

 

Endnote citation format:

Endnotes are located at the end of the essay text, not at the bottom of the page or as in-text parentheses.

Book:

First name Last name, Book Title (Publication location: Publisher, Date), page number.

Subsequent citations: Last name, Book Title, page number.

 

Essay in a book:

First name Last name, “Title,” inBook Title, ed. First name Last name, page numbers (Publication location: Publisher, Date).

Subsequent citations: Last name, “Short version of title,” page number.

Article in a journal:

First name, Last name, “Title,” Journal name, Vol. 1, no. 2 (Month or Season, Year): page numbers.

Subsequent citations: Last name, “Title,” page number.

Webpage:

First name Last name, Title of webpage (Publisher if any), available from Full URL.

Subsequent citations: Last name, Title of webpage.

 

It is absolutely essential that you property cite all sources and indicate within the text how and why you are using that source. Otherwise I cannot tell whether it is your idea or someone else’s.

 

 

Examples of how to integrate your references into your essay:

• Quotations, paraphrases, or summaries:
  • Endnote: “As Morris puts it in The Human Zoo, “we can always be sure that today’s daring innovation will be tomorrow’s respectability.”[i]
• Specific ideas used as evidence for your argument or interpretation:
  • Endnote: “Other recent researchers agree with X’s contention that….”[ii]
• Distinctive or authoritative ideas, whether you agree with them or not:
  • Endnote: “In 2003, X declared that theory was dead. In light of the continuing debates and new insights about theory that counter X’s claims, the question remains why theory continues to be so contentious.”[iii]

 

Assignment SubmissionChecklist:

 

• Endnotes (See section on how not to plagiarize)
• Works cited/Bibliography at the end of the document (AT LEAST 3 TEXTUAL SOURCES)
• Illustrations with brief captions and Image Source List at the end of the document

 

Grading rubric:

Approximate weight	Content (15% weight)	Content  (20% weight)	Content (25% weight)	Composition (25% weight)	Composition (15% weight)
	Overall impression: adds new insight and synthesizes research and analysis about the topic and site, engages with a course theme, theory, or concept.	Clear thesis (argument/interpretation) that lets the reader know what the author is communicating and why it is worth knowing about (the so what?)	Evidence is compelling, accurate, and effectively used. Relevance of sources is clear. Ideas are connected to the evidence. Visual and spatial analysis effectively used	Organization of text is logical, intro includes hook main argument, and roadmap, topic sentences relate back to the thesis, effective concluding remarks.	Written in a clear and effective language, free of distracting spelling, grammar, and syntax errors, sources properly integrated and cited

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Endnotes Examples:

[i] First name Last name, Book Title (Publication location: Publisher, Date), page number.

[ii]Last name, “Short version of title,” page number.

[iii] First name, Last name, “Title,” Journal name, Vol. 1, no. 2 (Month or Season, Year): page numbers.