Faculty of Law

The Honours program fosters research and writing skills among the most accomplished final-year students.

The Faculty invites outstanding students to enrol in Honours.

The minimum qualifying average that eligible students must achieve to be invited to undertake Honours is determined in December each year.

Accepting an Honours invitation

1. Enrol in Supervised Research II
2. Find a supervisor
   
3. Attend research seminars
4. Select a topic for a dissertation
   
5. Prepare a proposal
6. Submit your proposal

Step one
Enrol in Supervised Research II

Enrol in the normal way in the 12-point unit Supervised Research II.

If you need to make changes to existing enrolment details, contact the Faculty administrative officer.

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Step two
Find a supervisor

Approach one or two appropriate members of the academic staff of the Law School to request them to act as a supervisor.

• List of academic staff with law research expertise
  

While various people can be consulted in the early phases of shaping a proposal, only one member of the academic staff of the Law School can be the formal supervisor.

Ask your potential supervisors about their requirements for:

• submission of drafts
• provision of assistance and feedback
• pruning of drafts.

We recommend you obtain the early assistance of a potential supervisor.

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Step three
Attend research seminars

Attendance is compulsory at research seminars on advanced research methods and advanced legal theory.

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Step four
Select a topic for a dissertation

The choice of a topic on which to write a dissertation, and the refinement of that topic, is often the most difficult part of Honours' candidacy.

The choice of a topic is not something which can be undertaken lightly.

Thoroughly read about your topic and identify current issues in a particular area of law or the administration of justice. Also read previous dissertation topics. If you have a topic that is part of a larger research project, funding may be available. Discuss this with your potential supervisor.

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Step five
Prepare a proposal

The proposal must nominate the staff member whom the student wants to act as supervisor.

In two or three A4 typewritten pages, the proposal should:

• provide a synopsis of the proposed dissertation
• have a bibliography of proposed secondary references and sources attached - this should be sufficient to show the Honours Committee that the student has undertaken some reading in the area in the shaping of the proposal
• indicate the proposed research methodology
• contain a tentative list of chapters or table of contents
• be endorsed with the consent of the supervisor.
  

Students are reminded that the University's Human Research Ethics Committee must approve all research that involves collecting personal data from human subjects.

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Step six
Submit your proposal

The proposal must be submitted to the Chair of the Honours Committee on Friday of the first week of first semester in the year of a student's candidacy.

If approval of the Committee is declined a further proposal may be submitted within the time stipulated by the Committee.

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