Journal Title: Procedia Engineering 2011.

Article: A Study of Contribution Factors to Building Failures and Defects in

Construction Industry
Information
Elements/Stage
Establishing a
territory via topic
Generalization

Indicating a gap

Example
Failures and defects are common phenomena in
construction industry. Negative impacts may arise
towards cost, duration and resources of project.
Failures and defects can cause unnecessary
expenditure and delays. (
Defect is defined as lack of something
necessary for completeness; shortcoming. It is
also defined as an imperfection; fault; blemish.
Another term for defect is deficiency.
(Webster's Dictionary)
an unacceptable difference between
expected and observed performance; also the
termination of the ability of an item or system
to perform an intended or required function .
(Farlex Dictionary)

Adding to what is
known
Announcing the
present research

Stating to the value

of present research
Outlining the
structure of the
research paper

This study is aimed to identify contribution factors to

building defect and failures, which frequently occur
in construction project especially in Penang area in
order to minimize time and cost involved.
This study is succeeds in identifying the common
contribution factors of structural defects and failures
in construction project.
Based on the result of the data analysis for building
defects and failures, it was found that the low
quality of construction material is most common
factors that lead building defects and failures at
northern region,

Journal Title: Journal Of Performance Of Constructed Facilities

Article : Study of recent Building Failure in the United States.
Information
Elements/Stage
Establishing a
territory via topic
Generalization
Indicating a gap

Example

Announcing the
present research

Our paper presents a study of implementing a failure

report system as one of the strategies in preventing
construction failures (Ortega 2000).
This study is intended to serve as an information
basis that may be needed by engineering and
construction professionals, especially, to achieve a
better understanding about the rcent facts and
trends of buildings failures.
The purpose of this paper is to continue earlier
studies conducted by the writers to examine failure
of buildings in the United States between 1989 and
2000.

Stating to the value

of present research

Adding to what is
known

Outlining the
structure of the
research paper

Engineers have realized the importance of collecting

information regarding failures of constructed
facilities.
Our study shows that many people are still reluctant
to share failure information due to lega reasons and
fear of ruining their reputation. Hence, except for
those published, not too many repositories of failed
buildings can be readily found

Journal Title: The Twelfth East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural

Engineering and Construction
Article : What Goes up, Shouldnt Come down: Learning from
Construction and Engineering Failures
Information
Elements/Stage
Establishing a
territory via topic
Generalization

Indicating a gap

Adding to what is
known

Example
The prevalence of design errors and their resultant
cumulative negative impact upon the structural
integrity of buildings and the financial performance
of organizations and projects is a recurrent problem
within the construction and engineering sectors
(e.g., Wantanakorn et al., 1999; Wardhana and
Hadipriono, 2003). The collapse or distress
contained within a structural element can be a result
of an error.
Despite such modifications and
improvements, inappropriate organizational and
managerial decisions, practices and procedures
prevail
within many design and construction firms, which
can adversely impact an individuals cognition
Errors contained within design documentation have
been identified as a major problem during the
construction of projects (Manavazhi, 2004).