SEXH5220: Thesis Development

Coordinators

• Professor Adrian Mindel
• Dr Richard Hillman

Description

This unit of study introduces students to research methods and is of particular value to those thinking of proceeding to undertake their Master of Philosophy following on from having completed their Masters Degree.

The principal aim of the MPhil is to give candidates an opportunity to study one specific area in depth.

The components of the Thesis Development unit of study are:

• Identify a topic of interest
• Background reading around the topic
• Generate a research question
• Design a study to attempt to answer the research question
• Submit a proposal to the appropriate Ethics Committee(s)
• Respond to queries from the Ethics Committee(s)
• Collect relevant data
• Analyse the collected data
• Write a report along the lines of a paper suitable for submission in a peer-reviewed journal

Students will be given instruction on how to approach their MPhil, and opportunities to see examples produced by previous candidates.

Students will be asked to present their ideas to their colleagues, for constructive feedback. Each candidate is expected to have a minimum of one supervisor for their MPhil and may only proceed to Ethics submission once their topic has been approved. Research may be performed in Sydney, elsewhere in Australia, or overseas.

Once completed, two spiral-bound copies of the completed research must be submitted to the Unit. Please note that extensions of more than 6 weeks cannot be granted under any circumstances.

Once submitted, the research submission undergoes the following process, as directed by the University:

Examination of dissertation

1. The Medical School appoints two examiners, at least one of whom is an external examiner, who is not a member of the Medical School or a member of the part-time teaching staff of the Medical School.
2. The reports of the examiners are transmitted to the course coordinator, who also makes them available to the supervisor.
3. The head of the discipline then transmit these reports to the Medical School, together with a recommendation concerning the award of the degree, and the Medical School the determines the result of the candidature.
4. In special cases the Medical School, on the recommendation of the head of the discipline concerned, may require the candidate to take a further examination in the area of the dissertation.
5. The Medical School may permit an unsuccessful candidate to revise and resubmit the dissertation if, in the opinion of the head of the discipline concerned, the candidate’s work is of sufficient merit to warrant this concession, and may prescribe special conditions to be fulfilled by the candidate.

The marking process generally takes a minimum of three months. If the research submission is deemed to have passed, emendations are often requested. Once these have been satisfactorily completed, the student proceeds to final binding of the Treatise and a recommendation is made to the University for the award of the Master of Philosophy.