Thesis

Tutor
Website tutor: Vibeke Gieskes

Title
Thesis

Context
The scale of the detail, the building, the city and the landscape.

Credits
15 ECTS points

General
The writing of a ‘Bachelor Thesis’ is an important part of the final year at the Rietveld Academie. In the thesis students must show that on the basis of the research that they did they are able to contribute to the ongoing debate in the field of architecture, public space and interior architecture. The thesis must be combined with one of the graduation projects. Integrating and intertwining thinking, research, writing and design will enrich both project and thesis and will make them complementary to each other.

Participation
Working as a team in the beginning on writing exercises and choosing the subject of the thesis. Working individually on research and writing.

Educational philosophy
Choosing the subject of the Bachelor Thesis is often the first stumbling block in the process of writing the thesis, the second being the fact that many students feel reluctant towards writing or starting to write. During the first four weeks of the course the students will attend group meetings, focussing on choosing a topic that should be concise enough.
After four weeks, the meetings will be held more individually.

Methodology
Writing a thesis starts with a plan and a schedule that indicates the structure of the work. The table of contents, which plays a leading role in structuring the writing process, shows the chapters and preferably also subchapters, if any. A thesis is in fact a complex argument: you work step by step to an answer to the main question (‘hypothesis’).
The research of the thesis should be based on theories and discussions (also from literature), or theories and discussions that are relevant to this particular topic. The thesis shows the capability of the writer to reflect in a critical way on sources and theories and has a volume of about 7,000 words.