Honours in Germanic Studies

Entry Requirements and Program Structure
Assessment
Seminars
Thesis
Thesis Supervision
Enrolment
Contacts

Overview

‘Honours’ is an intensive year-long program of advanced study with research at its centre. The Honours year enables students to engage with the subject of their major in depth by undertaking research of their own, under the supervision of an expert in the their field. For some students, Honours is the culmination of their formal education while for other students, Honours is the first step on the path to careers as professional researchers and academics. Many staff in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences find Honours teaching the most rewarding part of their job.

Entry Requirements and Program Structure

Students need to have results at Credit (65%) level or better in eight Senior units of study (48 credit points) in German studies if they wish to take Honours, including 12 credit points of special honours entry units (GRMN2680 level). Department permission is required for enrolment in honours

Students whose bachelor's degree was undertaken at another university, or students who completed their bachelor's degrees at the University of Sydney more than two years ago should contact the Honours Coordinator to discuss whether the classes they have taken are equivalent to these prerequisites.

Assessment

Honours in Germanic Studies consists of a thesis of 15000 words and 7000 words of written work, or it’s equivalent, for each seminar. Each seminar meets weekly for 2 hours, for one semester each. The thesis is worth 40% of the final mark, and each seminar is worth 20%. Honours is a single unified program. While you will receive marks for all pieces of assessment, your academic transcripts will record only your final, overall Honours mark.

Seminars

The following seminars will be available in the current year:

• Semester 1: Women and love in German literature from the Enlightenment to Romanticism (Assoc Prof Yix Lu)
• Semester 2: Film Adaptations of German Language Literature (Dr Andrea Bandhauer)

Thesis

The honours thesis constitutes an original piece of research and writing in a field that is supervised by a member of staff. It amounts to 15000 words in either English or German, and must demonstrate both a command of a wide range of secondary source material in German, as well as a command of a particular disciplinary or interdisciplinary approach to the topic of the research.

Thesis Supervision

Contact the Department's Honours Coordinator to discuss your preferred field of Honours study. The Honours Coordinator will then be able to suggest the most appropriate member of staff within the department to supervise the thesis. The list below, whilst not exhaustive, gives an idea of the areas of interest of staff from the Department.

• Dr Andrea Bandhauer supervises in Contemporary Literature in German * Comparative literature: International and Comparative Literature Studies * Literary theory * Gender theory * German as a Foreign Language * Literature and dance: Body images in modern literature (esp. Else Lasker-Schuler) * Austrian literature (Arthur Schnitzler, Robert Musil, Ingeborg Bachmann, Elfriede Jelinek, Marlene Streeruwitz, Margret Kreidl, etc.) * "Inszenierte Autobiographien": Fiction and autobiography (e.g. Margret Kreidl) * Identity and alterity: Foreignness in contemporary German literature (e.g. Yoko Tawada, Emine Sevgi Özdamar) * Language policies.
• Dr Tristan Lay supervises in Methodology and Didactics of Foreign Languages * German as a Foreign/Second Language * Multiple Language Acquisition * Learning as well as Audio-visual Language Learning via film/music.
• Dr Yixu Lu supervises in German colonialism in China * Myth and literature * Media and culture in 20th century Germany * German literature from 18th century to the present * Heinrich von Kleist.

Enrolment

In the first instance you should discuss your intention to apply for Honours with the Honours Coordinator. Students will enrol in GRMN4011, 4012, 4013 and 4014. These, however, are merely generic or ‘shell’ units for your coursework component.

Enrolments are completed online. Go to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Honours webpage for further information on Honours and on the online enrolment application procedure.

Contacts

The Honours Coordinator can answer any queries relating to the Honours program.