Year
2019
Units
4.5
Contact
6 x 180-minute seminars per semester
Assumed knowledge
That gained through a History Major
Course context
Core
Assessment
Assignments, Tutorial Participation
Topic description
This topic provides introduction to the Honours program, and the expectations of higher degree academic research. It consists of 5 days of intensive interactive workshops designed to provide a working knowledge of:
  • Library research and information and retrieval and management,
  • The formulation and refinement of research proposals,
  • Awareness of variations in research methodologies, and
  • The creation of literature reviews.

The topic would also ensure students are thinking about their thesis, and provide them with a starting point for their further research, through the submission of a literature review and annotated bibliography relating to their thesis.
Educational aims
This proposed honours programme would:
  • Provide students with a solid foundation in higher academic research and writing,
  • Retain the current first semester historiography topic in its entirety,
  • Integrate the Research Seminars into the assessment program to demonstrate ‘History in Practice’, and enable deeper engagement with practicing historians, and
  • Reduce the workload of students, allowing them to focus on their thesis in second semester while still providing them with an awareness of, and engagement with, current historical topics and practices through the weekly research seminars.
Expected learning outcomes
On successful completion of this topic students should be able to:
  • Students will be able to plan and design a research project
  • Identify and assess sources of information
  • Position research questions explicitly in the context of existing scholarship
  • Synthesise differing viewpoints and account for inconsistencies between existing historical accounts.