Honours in Political Economy

Get a credit average in your 1st year of study and you can specialise in Political Economy by joining the Honours program. Here you’ll take on advanced 2nd and 3rd year courses which will sharpen your research and writing skills. In 4th year, you’ll write your own Honours thesis on a topic that you choose.

The Department of Political Economy honours coordinator is Dr ELizabeth Hill.

Preparation for Final Honours Year

Prerequisite Units of Study for Eligibility for Final Honours Year

The 3rd year prerequisite units for Political Economy Honours eligibility are:

• Semester 1: ECOP 3911 Political Economy Honours iii (Part A) worth 6 credit points; and
• Semester 2: ECOP 3912 Political Economy Honours iii (Part B) worth 6 credit points.

How Prerequisite Units of Study Fit into Majors

Students are expected to have a major in the field of study they wish to complete honours in and prerequisite honours units of study in Political Economy count towards your major.

Eligibility for Final Honours Year without Having Taken the Prerequisite Units of Study at Sydney University

Students wishing to transfer from other institutions to undertake honours in the Deepartment of Political Economy should consult the Coordinator to determine their eligibility.

Applications for entry into Honours

Information on the application process can be found on the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences application page

Entry Requirements

This Final Honours Year program of studies is available to students in the Faculty of Economics and Business and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences who have successfully completed the requirements of the third year honours unit in Political Economy and who wish to complete an honours degree.

Final Honours Year in Political Economy

Objectives of Final Honours Year in Political Economy

The final honours year is an opportunity for each student to develop a deeper understanding of key issues in contemporary political economy and the capacity for advanced, self-directed research. By the end of this course honours students should have achieved:

• a capacity to critically evaluate different theories in political economy, and to apply those theories to contemporary economic issues;
• the analytical and theoretical skills required to read academic journals in the field of political economy;
• research skills which will enable the student to draw on extensive and diverse primary and secondary sources in the construction of a written analysis;
• the ability to prepare short, systematic reports on set topics;
• the ability to undertake a sustained piece of largely self-directed, original research;
• the capacity to present a clear, short prepared paper orally to a small audience and to participate constructively in discussion.

Structure

All students have to write a thesis. The length expected is about 20,000 words, but it may be less if the subject is dealt with in a well organised and succinct fashion.

Teaching Methods and Assessment

The classes mainly take the form of seminars, although from time to time members of staff may present a 'mini-lecture'. The seminars will usually take the form of a structured discussion, typically led by a student, for which all students in the group will have had to complete a certain amount of set reading. Each student is normally required to present at least one seminar in each semester module and to submit subsequently a polished written version of some 1,500 words of that presentation. An essay of some 3,000 words is also normally required. Finally, an examination is usually held at the end of the relevant semester, the form of which is determined by the lecturer concerned, in consultation with the students. Please note that precise arrangements may vary between courses.

Double or Joint Honours

It is possible to complete either double honours or joint honours in Political Economy. Double honours involves completing all the honours requirements in Political Economy and one other unit of study and thus normally takes an additional year. In joint honours the two units of study are more generally closely related and a special program of study is designed for fourth year. This will usually entail doing approximately half the final honours requirements for Political Economy and half for some other unit of study.

Thesis Research in Progress Seminars

It is compulsory for students to attend all the thesis research in progress seminars (totalling 12 hours) and make two presentations based on their own thesis work. There will be two groups of sessions; one immediately after the Easter break and the other in the second week of second semester. Students will be notified of dates, times and places during the first semester.

On the first occasion, each student is required to present the main questions their thesis addresses and to outline the structure of the thesis by speaking about it for approximately 10-15 minutes. This will be followed by general discussion. Lecturers as well as students will attend. The objective at this relatively early stage is to help each student to take stock of their progress and to gain some degree of clarity about the likely substance and extent of their thesis.

The second set of seminars is expected to be a more detailed presentation (i) reporting on progress and (ii) setting out the problems arising from the research and how they are to be addressed. Students will obtain feedback from other students and from members of staff which should be helpful in the writing of their final draft.

Each student is required to make two presentations in the Thesis Work-in-Progress seminar programme.

Theses Submission

Writing a thesis is a rewarding process. It is an excellent opportunity to explore a particular topic in depth. Each student is allocated to a supervisor, and is responsible for making appropriate arrangements with his/her supervisor for meetings to discuss progress with the thesis during the year. A monthly meeting to report on progress is normal. Drafts of chapters should be given to the supervisor for comment, provided this is done consistently during the year. A first draft of the entire thesis given to the supervisor by the end of September is a good goal to aim at. In general, supervisors are there to offer help but not to take control of the process. The student is responsible for the quality and progress of his/her own thesis. In particular, it is up to the student writing the thesis to push his/her own work along: this requires some self-discipline but the result is invariably a greater source of personal satisfaction.

Each thesis will have two examiners. They will normally evaluate it according to how well it does the following:

• constructs an interesting proposition or set of propositions;
• develops a clear organisational and conceptual structure for addressing that question or questions, well set out in chapters, with sub-sections where appropriate;
• presents appropriate theoretical, historical, institutional or statistical material in a clear and systematic manner;
• presents a core argument with coherence and continuity, showing how the argument develops throughout the various chapters;
• draws appropriate conclusions, identifying the principal lessons to be drawn from the study for economic analysis and/or policy;
• makes appropriate and correct documentation of all sources used;
• makes clear and straightforward use of the English language.

This is a good check-list for students' to use in critically appraising their own work, say, at the mid-year point and then when writing the final thesis draft.

Copies of honours theses submitted in previous years are kept in Merewether room 350, and can be inspected there in order to get some indication of what successful theses look like: please make arrangements with your supervisor or the Political Economy honours coordinator if you'd like to do so

Examination/Assessment of Theses

The Discipline of Political Economy has also set out procedures for examining and final results as follows:

1. By the end of November, each candidate will have been assessed in respect of two semester units. Each assessment will have yielded a percentage mark. Together these assessments count for 40% of the total assessment for the year.
2. The other 60% of marks is based on the thesis (2 copies). A late mark penalty of 5% per week will be applied, up to a maximum of 3 weeks after which no thesis will be accepted.
3. Each thesis is assessed by two examiners nominated by the Political Economy honours coordinator in consultation with the supervisor. The examiners' individual assessments and reports are given to the Political Economy honours coordinator by the date of the course examiners' meeting, (or one week before the course examiners' meeting, where the student has indicated that they wish to be able to respond to the reports, as in 4. below).
4. Any student who wishes to have the opportunity to respond in writing to examiners' reports prior to the course examiners' meeting is required to submit her or his thesis a week earlier. Examiners' reports will, in that case, be provided to the student at least one week before the date of the course examiners' meeting. A response should not introduce new material or exceed 1,000 words in length. An examiner may, on reading the response, choose to adjust the mark s/he has previously given for the thesis. Such an adjustment has to be notified to the Political Economy honours coordinator in writing. No further correspondence may thereafter be entered into.
5. Any student wishing to submit any request for special consideration must do so in writing before the course examiners' meeting.
6. The Political Economy honours coordinator will call and chair a meeting of all of the Political Economy teachers and also invite other members of staff who have taught the students in Political Economy units during the year. That meeting will determine first the overall fourth-year result for each student and then the grade of honours to be recommended for each student. The Political Economy honours coordinator will then submit recommendations to the relevant Faculties, along with necessary supporting information.

1. In addition to the result for the final honours year, the course examiners’ meeting will consider second and third year results in Political Economy courses ONLY in the case of borderline results. A borderline result is one in the range of 63-64; in the range 68-69; in the range 73-74; or in the range 78-79. In such cases, second and third year results will be given weights of 1/8 and 2/8 respectively, whereas the fourth year result will be given a weight of 5/8. These earlier results will only be considered where this is to the advantage of the student, that is, only where it adds to the fourth year result. The examiners exercise final discretion.
2. It may be considered appropriate to compare the results for students in the BEc(SocSc) and BA with those of students in the BEc and BCom. The Chair of the Political Economy Department and the Political Economy honours coordinator will normally represent the examiners at any meeting called for this purpose.
3. Faculty examiners’ meetings have the right to change recommendations coming from individual courses, in order to ensure inter-departmental consistency. It is the Faculties, therefore, that determine the final overall result. No results will be communicated to students until after the Faculty examiners’ meetings have been held.
4. After the meetings of the Faculty examiners, the reports of the examiners of theses (but not individual examiners’ marks) are available to the students, where they have not already been made available for the purpose of the response in 4. above. These can be collected from the office of the Political Economy honours coordinator.

Student/Supervisor Protocols

Please arrange to see the Political Economy honours coordinator with any initial enquiries, any problems arising out of the course and (eventually) with any suggestions for improving the overall educational process. As with all the Political Economy courses, it is the collective concern of all the staff involved that the course be educationally productive and free of any problems of victimisation, harassment or other unfair treatment.

The Faculty has developed student/supervisor protocols which outline the expectations that a student and supervisor can reasonably have of each other, during the honours year. Please refer to the Student Administration Manual for details on this.

Where problems arise with presentation of seminar papers, the student should notify the member of staff responsible for the option as soon as possible.

Administrative Procedures and Feedback

Please arrange to see the Political Economy honours coordinator with any initial enquiries, any problems arising out of the course and (eventually) with any suggestions for improving the overall educational process. As with all the Political Economy courses, it is the collective concern of all the staff involved that the course be educationally productive and free of any problems of victimisation, harassment or other unfair treatment.

Students need to ensure that administrative procedures are taken up with the Student Information Office for the Faculty including notification of ill-health or misadventure. For other queries not covered in the information here, contact the honours coordinator.