Dissertation

Code:

500504

Acronym:

500504

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
CNAEF	Architecture and Urbanism

Instance: 2022/2023 - A

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Arquitectura (A)
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Master Degree in Architecture

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIARQ	370	MIARQ	5	-	30	-	810

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

Pursuant to the Regulamento Geral dos Ciclos de Estudos Integrados de Mestrado da Universidade do Porto, RG-CEIM-UP, (38/2022, January 13th, 2022),

article 7th, 1 - The integrated studies' cycle of 'mestrado' includes: [...]; b) One dissertation of scientific nature or a project work, original and specially produced for this purpose, or an internship of a professional nature subject to a final report;

article 9th, 1 - The elaboration of the dissertation, project work or internship must be supervised by PhD graduates in the scientific area of the dissertation, project or internship, or by holders of the title of specialist with recognized experience and professional merit, or by specialists in the domain of the dissertation, project or internship, considered as such by the faculty's competent scientific body(ies), after hearing the scientific committee of the study cycle.

Pursuant to the current Regulamento do Mestrado Integrado em Arquitectura, MIARQ, and Plano de Estudos (Estrutura Curricular), it has been a regular practise in FAUP the option for either modes of dissertation adressed to a speciality cientific theme-problem, or the development of a project work, or the critical reflection of an internship and other experiences of a professional nature.


The Dissertation Curricular Unit aims to:

1) promote scientific curiosity, knowledge integration, critical reflection on problems identified in academic, professional and multidisciplinary training contexts, related to the area of Architecture and Urbanism with the ethical and social implications and responsibilities of a 'mestre' architect;

2) meet the growing demand for this course of MIARQ by former students and graduates, national and international whose personal trajectories motivated research interests and renewed academic qualification in this Organic Unit of the U.Porto;

3) promote student autonomy towards the definition of personal research interests and focus on the theme, problem, nature and scope adjusted to the time and material resources for its implementation;

4) ensure a proper teaching space and time favourable to the framing and continuation of individual work in the context of a broad and critical discussion group, from the phases of defining the problem and its exploration, to the discipline of data collection, organization and referencing, as well as stimulus for communication of provisional results and communication strategies;

5) support the student's initiatives towards choosing an internal or external supervisor of FAUP, with an academic and scientific profile adjusted to the scientific, technical or artistic area(s), the theme and the research methods it proposes to develop and promote the timely preparation of the dissertation plan to be submitted for approval by the scientific committee of the course.

Learning outcomes and competences

The specific learning outcomes, in the attendance time of the curricular unit, consist of the development and deepening of skills needed for elaboration and presentation of a dissertation plan, which is a central reference and discussion document with the supervisor to be submitted to the approval of the scientific committee of MIARQ.

The approval of this document is followed by the elaboration and presentation of the dissertation, with application and provision of public proof, complying with the academic calendar of two seasons, normal and special, for cycle of studies completion of the respective year.

The following skills to be acquired by the student are considered essential:

1) ability to formulate a problem and delimit the field of investigation;

2) ability to substantiate hypotheses for their resolution through literature review, experimental work and/or obtaining documentary information;

3) ability to formulate consistent and appropriate methods for the nature of the problem;

4) ability to prepare the document that clearly translates, scientific rigor and originality, the research-reflection carried out;

5) ability to give an oral presentation of the work developed and defend its arguments and results.

Working method

B-learning

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Regulamento e Plano de Estudos (Estrutura Curricular) MIARQ-FAUP
https://sigarra.up.pt/faup/pt/cur_geral.cur_view?pv_ano_lectivo=2022&pv_origem=CUR&pv_tipo_cur_sigla=MI&pv_curso_id=45

- Orientações para a elaboração e apresentação de Dissertações do Mestrado Integrado em Arquitectura da FAUP (approved by the Scientific Council, January 20th, 2021; provisionally available at https://sigarra.up.pt/faup/pt/noticias_geral.ver_noticia?p_nr=68262)

Program

As a systematic space of collective framing, the didactic-pedagogical approach of the attendance time this curricular time is based on the holding of thematic cycles, with the participation of invited personalities in which the sequence of sessions seeks to enunciate general concepts and progressively clarify issues such as:

1) dissertation on a specialty subject, on a project, or an experience in professional context. Scientific Areas, Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary. Architecture and its fields (Project, Theory, History, Design, Construction, Urbanism). Nature of research in architecture. The figure of the advisor, intellectual independence and scientific humility;

2) culture of academic integrity as a fundamental competence for the realization of the dissertation or report, whose contents and methods produce rigorous and original results in the scope of architecture;

3) definition and circumscription of theme, disciplinary field, object, research problems and objectives; Adequacy of the formal structure of the dissertation to the nature of the problem and its instruments and research methods;

4) construction and interpretation of a body of references, articulation of heterogeneous references and referencing standards;

5) information and examples of the structure of scientific papers, research and communication methodologies according to standards of demand and academic excellence.

The exhibition of concrete research experiences, in the thematic and disciplinary areas specific to each guest, seeks to raise the debate around different interests, themes, methodological strategies and levels of development of the dissertations in progress or to be developed. Contact of students with structures and research projects in progress at FAUP's Centre for Architecture and Urbanism Studies or at other centres is encouraged.

The academic program is organized in two sequences, with correspondence to the dates of submission of dissertation plans, in normal and special end-of-course seasons. Since the sequences are similar in terms of objectives, the diversity of perspectives and approaches provided by different guests offers students who want to attend sessions throughout the school year to deepen the issues inherent in a research process at different stages of its development.

The thematic cycles are interwinned with esbocetos (drafts) that will enhance experience and progress sharing among students; depending on the academic calendar and hours their number and composition will be announced.

The open talks between FAUP alumni and their supervisors or arguers of the public discussion offer the students a better understanding of their contributions. The choice of the guests will also guides the consultation, organization and production of documental, bibliographic or own data bases, properly referenced. The invitation of researchers and professors representing the various scientific areas of the architecture course at FAUP and other schools, as well as personalities non-academic from the professional world, publishing and other areas with contributions to architectural culture, aims to promote interdisciplinary interaction, as well as exploration of strategies in the domains of representation/exhibition, presentation/comunication along diferent phases of the working process and taking into account a diversity of interlocutors.

 

Mandatory literature

Carlos Martí Arís; La^cimbra y el arco. ISBN: 84-933701-8-5
Iain Borden, Katerina Rüedi Ray; The Dissertation: An Architecture Student's Handbook, Architectural Press, 2006. ISBN: 0-7506-6825-3
Juan Antonio Ramírez; Como escribir sobre arte y arquitectura, Ediciones del Serbal, 2005. ISBN: 84-7628-171-4
Robert Stake; A Arte da Investigação com Estudos de Caso, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2016. ISBN: 978-972-31-1187-3

Complementary Bibliography

Tim Ingold; Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture, Routledge, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-415-56723-7
AMO, Rem Koolhaas; Countryside, A Report, Taschen, 2020. ISBN: 9783836584395
Rosie Parnell et al.; The Crit: An Architecture Student's Handbook, Routledge, 2007. ISBN: 9780750682251

Teaching methods and learning activities

The Dissertation Curricular Unit integrates two complementary curricular modalities.

1) The teaching time and the teaching team themselves serve a tutorial nature, with weekly plenary sessions that include support/debate sessions and thematic seminars, according to a schedule defined in accordance with the academic calendar.

The thematic sessions contribute to points of situation - consisting in the elaboration of an outline of the dissertation plan, with alternative dates depending on whether the student intends to complete the regular season or the special season of course completion. The delivery and presentation of the drafts is optional, but will bonify the attendance with one presence.

2) Individual guidance leads to the production and delivery of the dissertation, developed autonomously by the student under the supervision of the supervisor. Both the submission of the plan and of the dissertation, upon acceptance by the supervisor, will comply with the calendar published annually by the scientific committee of MIARQ on the academic portal of FAUP.

The supervisor must hold a doctoral degree or a specialist title, or be a deemed specialist. (RG-CEIM-UP, 38/2022, article 9th, item 1)
4 - The supervisor may be a national or foreigner, and it should always be ensured that the guidance team includes a doctoral candidate from the scientific area(s) of the study cycle belonging to the institutional perimeter of the U.Porto.
5 - The appointment of the supervisor and the co-supervisor, if any, shall be made by the legally and statutorily competent body of the Faculty, after hearing the scientific committee, the student and the supervisor(s) to be appointed.

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Defesa pública de dissertação, de relatório de projeto ou estágio, ou de tese	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Elaboração de relatório/dissertação/tese	200,00
Estudo autónomo	40,00
Frequência das aulas	40,00
Trabalho de campo	40,00
Trabalho de investigação	450,00
Trabalho escrito	40,00
Total:	810,00

Eligibility for exams

The attendance of the dissertation curricular is obtained fom the outcomes of three requirements and the result of the the public defense of the dissertation by a nominated jury.

REQUIREMENT 1. Minimum attendance of 50% of classes.

Effective since 2019-2020, once accomplished the compulsory attendance during the previous academic year or in two consecutive semesters, it remains valid until the dissertation delivery.
The presence in each class is validated by submission of a personal synopsis of the session throught the Moodle platform of the curricular unit.

Students under "student worker status" are ruled by the Work Code and legislation and other extraordinary situations of disability or impossibility of minimal attendance must be presented to the teaching staff.

If necessary, the student distribution between the two classes/teachers will facilitate the needs of fullfilment of requirement 1.

REQUIREMENT 2. Submission by the student of the dissertation plan to the scientific committee of MIARQ (the process is instructed by an application of the student and a declaraction of acceptance of the supervisor (s)).

The structure of the plan should indicatively consist of the following parts:

a) cover / identification elements (1 page): name of the student; title and eventual subtitle; name of the supervisor and eventual co-supervisor and respective affiliation institutions;

b) structure (maximum 1500 words):
- nature of the dissertation: research on a specialized theme, on an architectural or urban project, or on an internship with professional experience;
- purpose of the work (question or research problem);
- object (case study, authors' references, previous works, others);
- working methods (bibliographic, experimental, documentary, others);
- references (bibliographic, other sources, similar cases);

c) possible attachments (up to 3 pages): starting iconography (drawing, cartography, photography) or other suitable elements.

REQUIREMENT 3.  Presentation of the dissertation and application for public exam (the process will be instructed by a declaration of the student that the work is original, produced by himself and expressly prepared for the public act; a declaration of the supervisor (s) that the work is concluded and in terms of being submitted to evaluation of the jury).

The delivery of dissertations is exclusively carried out in digital format (RG-CEIM-UP, 38/2022, article 9th-A, item 1) and will comply with the document Orientações para a elaboração e apresentação de Dissertações do Mestrado Integrado em Arquitectura da FAUP, approved by the Scientific Council, on January 20th, 2021. The cover of the Dissertation must comply with the cover template published in the academic portal of FAUP.
(both documents provisionally available at https://sigarra.up.pt/faup/pt/noticias_geral.ver_noticia?p_nr=68262)

The abstract in Portuguese and English will be an integral part of the dissertation, as well as the indexes (of the structure of the work, references of any figures inscribed in the work) and bibliographical references and other sources.
The structure and contents of the parts or chapters are the responsibility of the student, who must enjoy the freedom to carry them out, assisted by the supervisor.

DELIVERY DATES

Requirements 2 and 3 must regard the deadlines defined in the academic calendar for the presentation both the normal period and the special period of course completion that is published annually by the scientific committee of MIARQ on the academic portal of FAUP.

APPROVAL of dissertation in public act

After aproval in the public act, the dissertation must be delivered to the office desk of FAUP (one digital copy ot the dissertation including up to 6 key-words), considering a thorough review of typos and suggested corrections proposed by the jury. Only after this delivery is allowed the application of a degree certificate of the conclusion of the cycle of studies.
It is desirable the deposit of a printed copy of the work to integrate FAUP Library.

Under the terms of the RG-CEIM-UP, 38/2022, article 12th, 8 - In case of failure in public examinations or annulment of approval, the student will have the right to renew registration in the same study cycle, if his or her registration is valid, or, if he or she has lost it, to re-enter. (see also item 9)

Calculation formula of final grade

Pursuant to the RG-CEIM-UP, 38/2022,

article 12th, 5 - The dissertation [...], including the public exams, will be given a numerical classification expressed in the entire scale from 0 to 20, that results from the average of the classifications given, individually, by the jury members.

article 13th, 1 - The academic degree of 'mestre' is given a final classification expressed in the range 10-20 of the whole numerical scale from 0 to 20 [...]. // 2 - The final classification is calculated by the weighted average of the classifications obtained in the course units, in the dissertation, in the project work or in the internship report.

According to Regulation of MIARQ, the calculation of the final course classification is done according to the following formula:

CF = 0,80 x MPC + 0,20 x CD
CF - final classification;
MPC - weighted average, rounded to the hundredths, of the marks obtained in the curricular units corresponding to 270 ECTS credit units, CD excepted;
CD - classification of dissertation.

Classification improvement

Pursuant to the Regulamento Geral para Avaliação dos discentes de primeiros ciclos, de ciclos de estudos integrados de mestrado e de segundos ciclos da Universidade do Porto (1535/2018, february 13th, 2018), article 17th, 4 - No classification improvement can be performed on dissertations, internship reports, project work or thesis.

Observations

- Regulamento Geral dos Ciclos de Estudos Integrados de Mestrado da Universidade do Porto, RG-CEIM-UP, (38/2022, January 13th, 2022);

- Regulamento Geral para Avaliação dos discentes de primeiros ciclos, de ciclos de estudos integrados de mestrado e de segundos ciclos da Universidade do Porto (1535/2018, february 13th, 2018);

- Orientações para a elaboração e apresentação de Dissertações do Mestrado Integrado em Arquitectura da FAUP (approved by the Scientific Council, January 20th, 2021);

- Estrutura Curricular do Ciclo de Estudos integrado de mestrado conducente ao grau de mestre em Arquitetura pela Universidade do Porto (4673/2012, april 02th, 2012);

- Regulamento do Mestrado Integrado em Arquitectura, MIARQ-FAUP (2011-08-24).