ECPS Honours
- Essay Cover Sheet (including extension approval form)
- Why do Honours?
- Who’s Who?
- What will I be doing in my Honours year?
- The Honours Thesis
- How Do I Apply?
- Preparing Honours Application
- Honours Scholarships and Prizes
- Facilities and Research Seminars
The ECPS Honours year offers an exciting program of inquiry and represents the culmination of your undergraduate studies. For many students, it is a bridge that links their degree to the workplace, or to further graduate research. It is a distinct and challenging experience. Many students find it the most satisfying and transformative year of their degree. There are good reasons for this. You are given much more autonomy and responsibility for your own intellectual development than in previous years, and you are also acquainted with the central features of academic life: seminars, developed presentations, the preparation of longer essays and the Honours thesis. For those interested in Creative Writing and Performance Studies, the Honours year provides the chance for sustained creative output at professional levels.
The ECPS Honours program is an intense and rewarding experience for both students and staff. The small group seminars enable detailed engagement with texts and concepts. The development of the Honours thesis or Creative Project requires close work and dialogue with individual academic staff members. You will get detailed feedback on your academic and creative ideas, experience the process of drafting and editing with expert advice, and develop your inquiry into a polished and professional document.
As an ECPS Honours student, you will also be part of a vibrant research culture. You will have access to the ECPS library, which many students use as a space for research and writing. You will also be invited to attend the English Research Seminar Series, the Communications and Media Studies Seminar Series, and Under Construction: Works in progress in Film and TV Studies Research. Here, staff and graduate students present papers from their current research. You will experience academic inquiry in action and see how various presenters shape, construct and defend their arguments.
Why do Honours?
Workplace Advantage
Honours graduates have a distinct advantage in the workplace. The possession of a university degree is increasingly a standard expectation in many professions. An Honours degree gives graduates an extra edge. ECPS Honours graduates can demonstrate the following qualities:
- High-level analytic and interpretative skills.
- Demonstrated research capacity.
- Specialised knowledge of particular areas of the discipline.
- Developed critical thinking abilities.
- Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
- Editing expertise.
- Ability to synthesise large quantities of material into a coherent argument.
- Project management skills.
- Discipline, autonomy and drive.
Graduate Preparation
The Honours year is also a recognised preparation for further postgraduate study. It provides you with the training required to make the transition from your undergraduate studies to graduate research (in the form of a Masters or PhD thesis). As well as significantly increasing your disciplinary expertise, it develops and shapes your powers of thesis-writing. Writing the 15 000- 18 000 word Honours thesis is an important intermediate step between the much shorter undergraduate essay and the considerably longer MA and PhD theses (40 000 and 80 000 words respectively).
Who’s Who?
A number of people will assist you with your Honours studies.
Honours Supervisors
Your supervisor is the most important person in your Honours year. You will work closely with them as you develop, draft and write your Honours thesis. Your supervisor will assist you in refining your thesis topic and constructing a bibliography. You will get detailed feedback on your argument, expression and use of evidence, while also seeking to become independent in your own work and thinking.
- Guidelines for students undertaking fourth-year Honours theses
- Guidelines for staff supervising fourth-year Honours theses
Other Honours students
You are a member of a vibrant cohort studying for Honours. You may already know some of them and you will come to know others during the year. Your colleagues will be a wonderful source of feedback and support for you as the year unfolds. ECPS holds formal Honours events (in which students offer formal feedback on each other’s thesis topics) and also encourages and supports informal meetings and connections through the Section email lists.
Honours Coordinators
Honours Coordinators are responsible for matters relating to the Honours program. This includes managing the application process, running the Honours thesis presentation day and arranging examination procedures for the thesis.
- English - Dr. Nina Philadelphoff-Puren
- Film & Television Studies - Dr. Con Verevis
- Communications - Dr Simone Murray
- Drama & Theatre Studies - Dr. Fiona Gregory
Graduate Studies Officer
ECPS has a designated Graduate Studies Officer who can assist you with any administrative issues relating to process and procedure for deferment, program leave and enrolment.
What will I be doing in my Honours year?
The exact content of your program will vary from Section to Section, but each broadly follows the same structure. You can expect in your Honours year to:
Enrol in two Honours coursework units (one in each semester).
Devise and develop a 15 000- 18 000 word Honours thesis/Creative Project.
The Honours Thesis
How do I think of a topic?
The most distinctive feature of any Honours program is the development and writing of the Honours thesis/Creative Project. After years of being ‘set’ questions to answer as an undergraduate, you will at last have the chance to develop and pursue your own ideas and interests, with the guidance of a supervisor. Your thesis represents your first major effort in independent research and writing. The main thing is to come up with a topic area that you are genuinely- if not passionately- interested in. The fire of your curiosity will help move you through the thesis process.
It is a good idea to look at Honours theses from previous years to familiarise yourself with what is required. Honours theses submitted to ECPS are available for perusal. Please contact the Graduate Studies Officer for assistance.
Once you’ve got a rough idea of what you’d like to write about, make an appointment with your Section Honours Coordinator. They can be a sounding board for your ideas and also advise you about possible supervisors for your project. It’s also a good idea to talk to the Coordinator if you know you’d like to do Honours, but are finding it difficult to come up with a thesis area. They may be able to steer you in the right direction.
Honours Thesis Proposal
The Thesis Proposal is an excellent way of focusing and organising your thoughts. You may feel your ideas about your thesis are so ‘big’ or ‘vague’ that you don’t know where to begin. The Thesis Proposal helps you bring them under control. It is also a useful document to present at your meetings with potential Honours supervisors, so they can see the shape of your thinking. The Proposal should include the following:
- Topic Area: Try to broadly delineate the field of your topic.
- Thesis Title: Even though you haven’t begun writing the thesis, play with possible titles, given what you know now. It will help you to narrow down your actual interest.
- Research Questions: What questions do you think you might investigate? What do you want to know?
- Bibliography: What primary texts are you interested in? What secondary literature has been written in your topic area? What theoretical perspectives (postcolonial, feminist, structuralist) might be useful for you? Aim for 5-10 texts.
- For an outline of the process of developing and presenting an Honours thesis in ECPS please see Preparation of a Minor Thesis
(PDF) - Students wishing to undertake a Creative Writing Thesis should refer to Creative Writing Thesis Proposal guidelines
- For advice on how to devise an Honours thesis topic and to view a sample thesis proposal, please refer to the ECPS thesis topic guide
How Do I Apply?
For details and application forms see the Arts Future website, or contact the Arts Coursework Office; ph. 9905 2107.
Application process
- Fill out an application form.
- Attach an academic history to your application. Monash students can download their academic history via the Monash Portal.
- Consult with the Section Honours coordinator. The Honours coordinator must approve your application before your submit it.
- Lodge application with Section Honours coordinator and/or School Office.
Preparing your Honours Application
Prior to lodging your application, students should:
- Think about your thesis topic and your area of interest.
- Draft a thesis proposal document.
- Make an appointment with your Section Honours coordinator, who can suggest possible supervisors. It is then up to you to get in touch with the relevant person. Academic staff welcome Honours thesis inquiries and understand that you may be speaking to a number of potential supervisors.
- Make an appointment with your Section Honours supervisor before the University enrolment deadline to complete the Honours application form. See the Arts Future Students website for further information.
Note: If you are having difficulty identifying a thesis topic, make an appointment with your Section Honours coordinator first- they may be able to guide you through the process.
Honours Scholarships and Prizes
You will automatically be in the running for a Faculty scholarship when you lodge your thesis application.
ECPS also offers a number of internal scholarships for Honours students: Please refer to the ECPS Scholarships and Prizes web page for further information.
Facilities and Research Seminars
ECPS Honours students have access to the ECPS library. The Library is well stocked with excellent reference materials and theoretical texts. It also carries most of the theses that are completed in the School. Students are welcome to use this space as a place for informal meetings (away from staff), study and discussions. If you would like to book a time (or even a regular meeting time) over the semester please contact the School Office.
Honours students are also invited to attend the Research Seminars that each section holds. These seminars provide a forum for staff and graduate students to present their current research. Information is provided to Honours students throughout the year and further information can be obtained from the Section Honours Coordinator.