An electronic thesis submitted by K-State student Lara Fackrell has won an Innovative ETD (Electronic Theses and Dissertations) award from the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD). The NDLTD is an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations.
Fackrell, a graduate student in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional and Community Planning, completed her Master of Landscape Architecture degree in May 2008. Her thesis, Equestrian communities: Design Features and Development Process (PDF), was submitted electronically and can be viewed in the K-State Research Exchange, a service that provides permanent access to scholarly materials created by K-State faculty and students.
In her thesis, Fackrell employed color, multi-column layouts, visual motifs, maps, photographs, and illustrations to create a dramatic and engaging research paper. She extensively used Adobe’s InDesign software, available in the Media Development Center, in creating her thesis. While meeting the content requirements of the Graduate School and her department, her thesis has the appearance and impact of a proposal or presentation a landscape architect would deliver to a client.
The ETD Awards Program, sponsored by Adobe Systems Inc., recognizes students whose ETDs make innovative use of software and serve to transform the genre of print dissertations. Award winners receive $800. Full details on the awards can be found on NDLTD’s ETD Awards webpage. Information about K-State’s Electronic Theses, Dissertations and Reports program can be found at www.k-state.edu/grad/etdr.
