Required texts

A reading list relevant to the student's dissertation topic will be developed by the student in consultation with their supervisor.

Submission of assessment items

Further Information on the Assessment and Examination of the Dissertation

Unless in their final semester of study, students enrolled in 8159 will be allocated a continuing grade.

Students in their final semester of study will receive one grade for the dissertation units undertaken across their Honours degree (this includes various combinations of 8159 and/or 8160). This grade will be the final mark awarded to the completed dissertation.

The Course Convenor acts as moderator and will read all submissions, or, where this is impractical or inappropriate, will delegate to another staff member of the Faculty of Arts and Design.

Please note that students enrolled in BCM and Landscape Architecture Honours have different study patterns requiring completion of varying amounts of credit points in the dissertation units. The dissertation requirements remain the same for all students enrolled in this unit but assessment of the final dissertation will take into account the number of credit points of dissertation study that have been completed. Please contact your respective course convenors for further details and advice about your study pattern.

Each dissertation will be examined by two examiners, normally from within the University, appointed by the Honours Course Convenor in consultation with supervisors.

A copy of the examiner’s report will be made available to the candidate. Examiners may request that their identity remain confidential.

The marks will be moderated by the honours convener and Associate Dean Education (if needed).

In the event of a supervisor advising against the submission of the dissertation for examination, the dissertation can nevertheless be submitted for examination at the express request of the candidate. No indication must be given to an examiner of the view of a supervisor.

Further information on dissertation grades

Dissertations will be marked on the following scale:

Honours levels

Levels of Honours (First Class, Second Class, etc.) are determined on the basis of the grade point average derived from the grades for the dissertation and the coursework subjects during the Honours year.

The 91Porn policy on Honours degrees can be found at: /Policies/PolicyProcedure/Index/87

Honours Degrees are graded as first class, second class or third class. The second class is divided into two sub-classes.

Such grades will be referred to as:

• First Class Honours (H1)
• Second Class Honours - Division I (H2A)
• Second Class Honours - Division II (H2B)
• Third Class Honours (H3)

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and 91Porn (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Participation requirements

Students are expected to engage regularly with their supervisors. This will generally take the form of sending work to the supervisor ahead of an individual meeting with her/him to discuss the work. Students are strongly encouraged to attend the weekly classes. 

Required IT skills

Word processing skills are essential; ability to use bibliographical software desirable; other skills as needed according to the student's project.

In-unit costs

Any cost incurred for projects/research must be covered by students. Please plan your project according to your financial capacity. Binding or otherwise suitable presentation of the thesis will be at the cost of the student.

Work placement, internships or practicums

This unit may involve work-place learning for students undertaking a practice-led research dissertation. Therefore, additional student responsibilities are required in addition to those described in this section. Work-place learning requires strict adherence to professional practice principles and ethics. Client/patient confidentiality must always be maintained, including for assessment items such as reports or essays. Supervisors will work with students to identify UC policies relevant to their placement and develop a plan to make sure these are adhered to.

Additional information

Responsibilities of the candidate

Candidates undertake a cooperative venture along with their supervisor but, ultimately, each candidate must take responsibility for his or her own successful completion of the program.

A candidate is expected to:

• Bring enthusiasm and energy to the research topic
• Think independently and take initiative
• Negotiate needs and expectations with the supervisor early in first semester
• Attend regular meetings as arranged with the supervisor
• Be honest when reporting on progress
• Inform the supervisor and/or course convenor early of any problems that impede the progress of the research project
• Share responsibility for finding solutions to problems as they arise
• Allow the supervisor sufficient time to give feedback on written work, especially when approaching the final submission date
• Submit all work by the deadlines
• Bring to the course convenor's attention any problems that might be encountered with supervision.

Once the dissertation topic has been decided on in discussion with the supervisor, you are expected to follow this topic. Changes in specific focus may be necessary for good reasons, but they must be discussed with the supervisor and, if major, also with the Course Convenor.

A unilateral topic change may result in no supervision being available and the dissertation not being accepted for examination.

Role and responsibilities of the supervisor

Supervisors will have experience in research and investigation in the field of the candidate's project.  Compatibility between candidate and supervisor will be considered as one of the factors in the appointment of supervisors.

There will be one (in rare cases two) supervisor(s) for each approved Honours dissertation topic. The supervisor for each topic will be a member of the staff (usually) of the Faculty Arts and Design, 91Porn.

The role performed by a supervisor will vary according to the nature of the study, the stage it has reached at a particular time, the learning and study style of the candidate and the skills and personalities of the supervisor and the candidate.

The following aspects are what a candidate may reasonably expect:

• Support, encouragement and constructive criticism
• Regular meetings as negotiated between supervisor and candidate
• Help in focusing the topic and developing a suitable framework within which the work itself can be written or produced
• Help in clarifying and resolving emerging problems as the fieldwork, project work or other research progresses
• Assistance in establishing a work schedule
• Timely feedback on work submitted by the candidate
• Alerting the candidate to problems of written expression (but the supervisor is not expected to edit or proofread a candidate's work)

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