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Undergraduates FYP: ArDT & GDRP

Guidelines to Adding Architecture Design Thesis (ArDT) & Graphic Design Research Projects (GDRP) to the Library

I. INTRODUCTION

The ArDT “Architecture Design Theses” (previously EPsn) are part of the ARCH 508/509 (Advanced Studio Thesis I & II) six-credit courses. The GDRP “Graphic Design Research Projects” (recently GDSP) are part of the GD 406/407 (Final Project Design and Research I & II) four-credit course and six-credit courses respectively. Effective May 2019, the project of depositing and preserving the ArDT and GDRP projects in the AUB Libraries’ Archives, and adding them to the AUB library catalog (in a procedure similar to the LDEM Capstone FYP projects, and to the Graduate theses) is being reinitiated in an effort to preserve students’ work, and provide access to them for future generations of students and scholars.
The submission is fully online; a print copy is no longer required.

II. PURPOSE

The overall purpose is to: a) preserve the students’ important contributions to research and knowledge producing efforts at the university; b) provide access to the projects; and c) clarify and unify the procedures to deposit these projects at the AUB Libraries. The below guidelines help ensure that all students’ senior projects are preserved and added to the library system in a timely, accurate and consistent manner, thus allowing the AUB community to have access to and benefit from the students’ unique work and contributions to their field of study.

III. PROCEDURES

1. Deposit

Depositing a copy of the thesis is a prerequisite for graduation. AUB libraries is responsible for receiving, cataloguing, preserving and providing access to the architecture and design projects.

In order to ensure the long-term preservation of and access to the ArDT and GDRP projects, it is advised that each graduating student deposits at the library directly.

Step 1: Students should first e-mail their whole thesis as a PDF file to their advisors for final approval.

Step 2: Once the final approval is received, students should then sign the Thesis/Project Release Form and get the Thesis/Project Approval Form signed by the advisor(s) (both can be signed electronically or by hand). As a final step, the student should deposit the work in AUB ScholarWorks as a complete PDF file including the preliminary content listed below and both forms signed.

Upon completion of submission to the Library, an online receipt will be submitted by the Library to the Office of the Registrar confirming the latter.

 

2. Content of Thesis

The thesis should be made up of the following three parts: Preliminary pages, body or text, and end pages. Each of these parts may be subdivided into sections and subsections, clearly reflected in the table of contents:

a. The preliminary pages should be ordered as follows:

  • A Mandatory Title page (Not numbered) that includes:
    • The full title of the Thesis
    • The full name of the student
    • Type of thesis: Architecture Design Thesis (ArDT) / Graphic Design Research Project (GDRP)
    • Title of the degree conferred
    • Name of the Department
    • Name of the Faculty
    • Name of the University
    • Place and the date of submission.
  • A Mandatory Thesis/Project Approval Form (Not numbered) inserted when signed into the final PDF as part of the final thesis.
  • A Mandatory Thesis/Project Release Form (Not numbered) inserted when signed into the final PDF as part of the final thesis.
  • Dedication (Not numbered and not counted in the pagination of the preliminary pages). Optional and placed before chapter 1 and without the word "dedicated”.
  • Acknowledgments, if any (Numbered as 1). Typing of the page numbers starts with this page.    
  • A Mandatory Abstract: The abstract summarizes the thesis’ main points: No word limit applies.
  • A Mandatory Table of Contents
     

b. The body should include:

Chapter titles and contents, including visuals, maps, etc. and documentation of final physical products (in the cases of physical items such as models, prototypes and other items produced for presentation purposes).
 

c. The end pages should include:

  • Appendices, if any
  • References or Bibliography

In case of audio-visual items, they can be submitted to ScholarWorks as accompanying material and should be in the following format/specs (with maximum file size = 500MB):

  • Audio: .ogg, or .mp3
  • Video: .mp4 (h264 and its audio acc)
  • And of the purpose of being preserved in the preservation server, it would be best to receive the digital file in its original format as well in the form of: .wav, .mov, etc. (as a second copy).

Please note that it is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the PDF and any additional content are readable and not too heavy in size (with the maximum size of a PDF being 40MB).

IV. COPYRIGHT AND ACCESS AUTHORIZATION

1. Student’s Responsibility

The Thesis/Project Release Form must be signed and dated by the student when the thesis/project copy is deposited at the library's repository ScholarWorks. Please include this form in the PDF file submitted to library, checking one of the boxes as appropriate. Once done, sign and date.

The compiled PDF and any additional content should be named properly, following the naming convention set on ScholarWorks:  LastNameFirstName_PublicationYear (i.e. RahmeDalal_2020) and LastNameFirstName_year_DocTitle... for the accompanying material.

 

2. Faculty’s Role

It is advisable for the faculty member coordinating and overseeing the ArDT and GDRP projects for that semester to ensure the following:

  1. Send a list with the graduating students’ names and the titles of their respective projects to Joyce Aways (ja48@aub.edu.lb) and Mona Assi (monassi@aub.edu.lb) at the Library, no later than three weeks prior to the end of the semester.
  2. Ensure that the student has filled in the correct release and access option, and correctly signed the form. (If there are any problems with the content or the forms, the Architecture and Design Department must contact the students and follow up on the pending issues.)
  3. To ensure that each faculty member advising students during that scholastic term fills out the correct Thesis/Project Approval Form for each of their students and shares it with the students after their final presentation and approval of their thesis.

V. CATALOGUING AND ACCESS

The Library staff catalogs the projects and creates a bibliographic record for each (and a link for projects to which online access has been approved) in the Library Catalog. Catalogued projects will be discoverable through the Library Catalog; those authorized will be accessible through a digital link. The projects can also be accessed through ScholarWorks.