Honours in European Languages and Studies gives you the opportunity to better your knowledge, research skills and career prospects.

1. Benefits
2. Structure
3. Eligibility
4. Enrolling
5. Majors
6. Submission requirements

Benefits

The honours year offers you the opportunity to study in detail aspects of your chosen subject which particularly interests you. 

You can choose from:

Honours in European Studies

Honours in French Studies

Honours in Italian Studies

Honours in German Studies

It is possible to begin honours in first semester and complete it over one calendar year; or you can enrol in second semester and continue over the summer vacation, completing it in first semester the following year. If you prefer to work part-time while completing honours, your course can be completed over three or four semesters.

Students interested in doing honours should contact the appropriate honours coordinator for a preliminary discussion.

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Structure

• Level 2 and/or Level 3 units (total 24 points)
• honours dissertation (24 points)
• honours seminars (at the discretion of the discipline chair and subject to numbers).

Honours students taking these courses are expected to perform at a higher standard than students in the pass degree. 

If there are insufficient units available in a given year that a student has not already completed in their pass degree, it may be possible, in consultation with the Discipline Group Chair, Associate Professor John Kinder, to arrange a reading unit or special honours unit (subject to student numbers and teaching commitments). 

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Eligibility

You should contact your subject area co-ordinator to discuss your eligibility:

• European Studies
  Dr Kati Tonkin
• French
  Professor Hélène Jaccomard
• German
  Dr Alexandra Ludewig
• Italian
  Associate Professor Luciano Pinto

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Enrolling

• Deadlines for enrolments in honours.
• How to enrol in honours in the School of Humanities.

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Planning your major

If you are thinking about doing honours in the future, you will need to take the availability of units into account when you plan the units in your major. The four Level 2 units will usually be run every year. For Level 3 units, two of the five are usually offered each year on a rotating basis (and subject to staff availability). Which two of the Level 3 units are offered in a given year will not usually be decided until the June of the preceding year.

If you have any queries about your major, please contact the Discipline Group Chair, Associate Professor John Kinder. 

Honours students are welcome to discuss their coursework and research projects with any of the academic staff in European Languages and Studies, especially their supervisor.

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Submission requirements

Dissertation

You will need to negotiate a topic and supervisor. In the first instance, this should be discussed with the discipline chair.

If you are still unsure, staff can suggest potential topics. 

• A formal written proposal developed in consultation with your supervisor is due around week six of the semester. Your supervisor will give you the exact date.
• The dissertation, of 10,000-15,000 words, is due on the last teaching day of the second semester.

There will be two examiners, neither of whom can be your supervisor. Students are expected to submit three copies of the dissertation and an electronic copy for archive purposes.

Students are also required to give a formal presentation on their dissertation topic at the end of the second semester. This presentation forms part of the assessment of the dissertation.

Honours seminars

In addition to the final formal presentation, students may be required to participate in honours seminars throughout the year.

These may include discussions of research methodology, presentation and discussion of students' formal proposals, and presentations on students research topics leading up to the final presentation.

The honours program is viewed as part of a broad education, and students are encouraged to develop their knowledge across the discipline, beyond the dissertation topic and unit content. Students are expected to attend academic seminars, and are strongly encouraged to attend relevant symposia or conferences.

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