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Law Honours 201615 October 2015Presented by
Professor Judy CashmoreNatasha de ZilvaNicholas Condylis – former Law Hons studentFaculty of Law
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Honours: Basic Features
Supervised honours thesis
Undertaken for 12 credit points over one semester
12,000 word limit, including footnotes (but not footnote numbers or citations)
Standard for HD: a scholarly paper of publishable quality
Honours Award based on HWAM: double weighting of Honours Thesis mark
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Eligibility for admission to honours in 2016
Completion of at least 16 compulsory units (including Legal Research I and II) by the application closing date (14 December). This does not include 2015/2016 summer school results.
Satisfaction of the requirements of your first degree Meet the WAM cut-off – for 2016 this is 75
This WAM is based on all compulsory units taken at Sydney Law School, except Foundations, completed by the end of Second Semester 2015. This does not include marks for electives.
Submission of a complete Honours Application: this includes the research proposal and the supervisor’s approval/sign-off.
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What is Honours and why do it?
Independent and extended research extended essay or thesis An intellectual challenge in an area that particularly interests youResearch and writing skills trainingApprenticeship for postgraduate study – direct supervisionCompetitive advantage for postgraduate places, scholarshipsValue-adding for the employment market
SULS survey Nicholas Condylis
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Honours: Applications
Applications in penultimate year for all students intending to do honours in following year (in either semester)
Students are responsible for developing a topic and arranging supervision as part of the application process
Past Honours theses are available in the Sydney E-Scholarship Repository on the library catalogue in special collection: see
http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/6261
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Important Dates
15 October: WAM cut-off released 75 for 2016
15 October: list of available supervisors released and applications for Honours 2016 open
14 December 2015: applications close By early February 2016: notification of
successful applicants
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The application form
You must nominate the semester in which you wish to undertake honours
Include: proposed title, supervisor, research proposal and preliminary bibliography
You must obtain the approval of your supervisor before you submit the form
Successful applicants will be notified after results are processed and WAMs are calculated. This should be completed by early February 2016.
If successful, you must submit a departmental permission request to enrol in honours in Sydney Student.
Note: Putting in an application does not guarantee a spot in the Honours program.
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Finding a supervisor
The list of available supervisors for 2016 is available under the “How to apply” section of the Honours web page. This includes… The semester each supervisor is available Each supervisor’s research interests
Please note: supervision capacity is limited
http://sydney.edu.au/law/cstudent/undergrad/honours_program.shtml
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Finding a supervisor
When choosing a supervisor consider the following:
• The supervisor’s availability and expertise in the general field of study
• Read some of their published work before deciding esp if you have not had experience with then as a lecturer
• Knowledge and experience with the supervisor and useful feedback
• Likely compatibility of style and approach Make contact and discuss proposed topic with potential
supervisor
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Ethics approval
Consider early on whether you need to get human ethics approval – will you be conducting research that involves human participants?
This includes surveys, questionnaires, and interviews.
– Getting ethics approval may delay the commencement of your project so you should speak to your supervisor about this well in advance.
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Award of honours
Award based on HWAM = all compulsory and elective law units taken at Sydney Law School except Foundations with the Honours mark given double weighting
Note: Being in the Honours program does not guarantee an honours degree
Description HWAM
Honours Class I HWAM ≥ 80
Honours Class II (Division 1)
75≥ HWAM < 80
Pass HWAM < 75
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LAWS 3900
Developing your topic and research proposal
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Outlining your research proposal
Honours application requires a brief outline of intended research:
Maximum of 200 words – tight and concise
Your working hypothesis or research question
Rationale and background to the research – including brief reference to the relevant law literature and why it is worth doing
Brief description of your research methodology
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The good research question checklist
Will this question hold my interest and can I manage any potential biases I may have in this area?
Is the question right for the field?
• Will the findings be considered significant and contribute to knowledge? Contribute to change?
Is the question well articulated and terms properly defined?
Is the question doable? In time, resources, materials? Ethically?
Is the question of interest to potential supervisors?Zina O’Leary 2014 Doing your research project, p 45
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Developing your research proposal
Refining your choice of topic area to a research question:
What is already known what are the gaps in knowledge about this issue?
Why is this topic important, interesting or topical?
How do you propose to approach the topic in terms of methodology and argument?
What is the line of your overall argument?
Selected bibliography or sources
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Questions?
First point of enquiry: Honours webpageStill not clear? For both administrative and
academic queries, contact:
