Writing a Built Environment Dissertation (PDF)

As a built environment student you are likely to be required to
research, write and submit a dissertation as a core component of
your degree studies. As a vocational profession, students of the
built environment often have strong practical aspirations.
Writing a Built Environment Dissertation provides practical
guidance and will help to steer you into a position where you can
develop a good dissertation by mixing your practical strengths with
more theoretical tools.

The book is ordered around a common dissertation structure: that
is, it starts with material that should be in the introduction and
finishes with material that should be in the conclusion. Each
chapter provides a commentary on the kind of information that you
should put in each chapter of your dissertation, supported by a
variety of examples using a range of methodological designs. The
book has a strong focus on data collection, data analysis,
reliability and validity - all areas where student
dissertations are often weak. Material that will help you think
about study skills and ethics is embedded throughout the book, and
the chapters on qualitative and quantitative analysis will show you
how to carry out a rigorous analysis while avoiding some of the
complexity in statistical work.

If you are an under-graduate student in the final year of an
honours degree programme in the built environment, or perhaps a
student at masters or PhD level and have been away from academic
study for some time, then this book will help you to write a more
innovative and thorough dissertation.