The University of SydneyPage 1 Law Honours October 2015 Presented by Professor Judy Cashmore Natasha de Zilva Nicholas Condylis – former Law Hons student Faculty of Law

The University of SydneyPage 2 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 2

The University of SydneyPage 3 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 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. 3

The University of SydneyPage 4 What is Honours and why do it? Independent and extended research  extended essay or thesis  An intellectual challenge in an area that particularly interests you  Research and writing skills training  Apprenticeship for postgraduate study – direct supervision  Competitive advantage for postgraduate places, scholarships  Value-adding for the employment market  SULS survey  Nicholas Condylis 4

The University of SydneyPage 5 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 5

The University of SydneyPage 6 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 6

The University of SydneyPage 7 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  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. 7

The University of SydneyPage 8 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  8

The University of SydneyPage 9 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 9

The University of SydneyPage 10 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. 10

The University of SydneyPage 11 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 11 DescriptionHWAM Honours Class IHWAM ≥ 80 Honours Class II (Division 1)75≥ HWAM < 80 PassHWAM < 75

The University of SydneyPage 12 LAWS 3900 Developing your topic and research proposal

The University of SydneyPage 13 Outlining your research proposal  Honours application  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 13

The University of SydneyPage 14 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 14

The University of SydneyPage 15 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 15

The University of SydneyPage 16 Questions?  First point of enquiry: Honours webpage  Still not clear? For both administrative and academic queries, contact: