biological sciences HONOURs 2014 - The University of Sydney

6
What’s involved in
Honours?
Objectives
––
Train students to carry out independent
research.
––
Enable students to develop a specialist
understanding of one area of biology.
––
Integrate specialist knowledge into a broad
appreciation of biology.
––
Enable students to research biology
using skills in research methodology and
philosophy.
––
Continue to engender and encourage
enthusiasm and curiosity in biology.
Biology Honours is run as a one year full-time
course and is a very intensive 2 semester (9
month) program that includes coursework and
research. The School of Biological Sciences
accepts students in both semesters. Many
projects that have a large field component
start in July so that field work may be
conducted over the summer. The coursework
component is the smallest component,
comprising only 20% of the final mark.
A majority of your final mark, 80%, comes from
your thesis. Your thesis is comprised of original
research which through the guidance of your
supervisor you have developed, carried out,
and written up. Your thesis will be assessed by
three academics, usually within the School of
Biological Sciences.
Assessment Component Weight of total Honours
mark
1. Research and Development Course work 7.5%
Proposal
2. Experimental Design Course work 5%
Assessment
3. Opinion Article Research 7.5%
4. Thesis Research 80%