Humanities and Social Sciences

English Program

Honours Program

An Honours year is a fourth year of undergraduate study which offers the opportunity for focused and intensive further study in the fields covered by English. In addition to unit choices, honours students write a long essay or thesis on a topic area of special interest. The long essay makes it possible to pursue a particular area of study independently, but with the guidance and assistance of a supervisor.

An Honours degree offers great personal satisfaction. It is the necessary precursor to higher degree study, but it also makes graduates more attractive to employers in fields such as education and publishing.

Students who wish to undertake an Honours degree in English are expected to have completed 130 credit points or equivalent of English in the three years of their pass degree. Intending honours students are strongly recommended to include more English units in their degree. Students may take up to 205 credit points of English. They are also expected to do a third year half unit in literary theory (the Honours Seminar).

An honours degree involves a fourth year of study which consists of three semester-length units, a 12,000-to 15,000-word research essay and an annotated bibliography. The fourth year of study may be taken part-time (over two years). Mid-year entry is also possible.

Units are taught by weekly 3 hour seminars. Written work for each unit amounts to 5,000 words.

The research essay is an opportunity to work on a topic of special interest to yourself. Recent long essays have included: adaptation theory, using Dracula as an example; application of Kleinian theory to the interpretation of recent SF; the novels of Patricia Highsmith; father/son autobiographies; and much else. Each student is allotted a supervisor; student and supervisor normally meet for an hour or so, once a fortnight.

It may be possible to do a joint honours degree, that is, a fourth year that is divided equally between English and another discipline: Gender, Sexuality and Diversity Studies, Theatre and Drama, History, Philosophy, and so on. Programs for joint honours are worked out by the Honours Coordinators for English and the other discipline concerned, so as to ensure, as far as possible, parity of workload between a student doing joint honours and one doing honours in a single discipline.

English can usually accommodate students who wish to do a unit in English as part of a fourth-year in another discipline, provided that is agreeable to the Honours Coordinator in the other discipline.

For full details of units offered in the current year see honours units or the honours brochure.

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External students who wish to apply for entry to fourth year should fill out an application form. For a brochure outlining the course and an application form, contact the English Program: Christine Burns, HU2 room 530, phone 9479 2390 or email English@latrobe.edu.au. The Honours Coordinator is Dr Susan Bradley Smith, HU2 room 514, phone 9479 2406, email s.bradleysmith@latrobe.edu.au.

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