Honours in Humanities
So, you’ve completed the Bachelor of Arts. What’s next?
Maybe you’re after a distinctive edge that sets you apart from other graduates on the job market. Maybe you want to pursue a Masters degree or Doctorate in the future. Maybe you just love learning!
You can study in the field of your choice while learning comprehensive cross-discipline research skills. You’ll work closely with a discipline-specific supervisor to produce a self-directed research project and you’ll take classes with a small cross-disciplinary group of students, adding breadth to your learning experience.
Why study with us
- Gain an edge in job market through demonstrated research skills.
- Honours is the main pathway to a postgraduate research degree (MA, PhD).
- Study for 1 year full-time, or part-time over 3 years.
- A supportive, intimate study environment with options to study on-campus in Hobart or online.
- Choose to undertake joint Honours in two disciplines.
Choose from the following subject areas
- Chinese
- Classics
- English and Writing
- Gender and Diversity
- German
- History
- Indonesian
- Japanese
- Philosophy
BACHELOR OF
ARTS WITH HONOURS
Minimum 1 Years, up to a maximum of 2 Years
Hobart, Launceston, Cradle Coast
Semester 1, Semester 2 CRICOS 030426C
How do I apply?
- Think about thesis topics and check ideas with your lecturers.
- Make an appointment to see the Honours Coordinator.
- Email an Expression of Interest to the Honours Coordinator, Dr Jayne Knight at Jayne.Knight@utas.edu.au
by 31 January 2023 for Semester 1 2023.
How is Honours in Humanities structured?
Honours in Humanities requiries the completion of 100 credit points including:
- A 50 credit point thesis
- 25 Credit points of Coursework Core and;
- 25 Credit points of Coursework Electives
All Honours students must also enrol in XSB400 Honours in their final semester. This in an administrative unit which records your overall Honours mark and grade. Check the Course and Unit Handbook online for details.
Entry requirements
The Bachelor of Arts with Honours degree allows students who have completed the Bachelor of Arts degree from a recognised Australian university, or a person with some other tertiary qualification and relevant employment experience, a year of study to develop a body of knowledge in a specific context as further preparation to undertake professional work and/or as a pathway for research and further learning.
You will need to have majored in your chosen discipline and obtained a weighted average of 70% or higher in 200 and 300 level units forming a major in your proposed Honours discipline of study.
English creative writing projects
Students with no prior study of Creative Writing units are required to submit a portfolio of creative writing to assess readiness for the program.
Scholarships
- Refer to scholarships for other scholarships for which you may be eligible.
Humanities In Place Engagement Scholarships (HiPES)
The School of Humanities is inviting applications for two Honours scholarships of $10,000 each, for students to undertake a research project in partnership with a Tasmanian organisation.
Refer to Humanities In Place Engagement Scholarships for more information about the program, including eligibility.
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Applying has two parts, and both must be submitted by 31 January 2023.
- Applicants will need to send an Expression of Interest to the Honours Coordinator, identifying the project they would like to complete. The requirements of the EOI are found above on this page.
- They will also need to complete a scholarship application, with two referees, and submit it to the Scholarships Office.
For further information or to discuss the projects, please contact the HiPES coordinator Dr Imogen Wegman .
Projects
In 2023, we have exciting projects planned with the Tasmanian Archives and the Queen Victoria. Details below:
Partner: QVMAG
Launceston’s Examiner started as a voice against convict transportation and became a core part of public and private life in northern Tasmania. At its heart was a printing operation that was “one of the most complete in the Australian Colonies”, printing maps, government notices, bills, music, as well as newspapers and other paraphernalia, for colonial society in the urbanising north.
The recipient of this scholarship is invited to put together a research project on printing and print cultures, or the news and newspapers, during the early days of the Examiner. The recipient of this scholarship will be given access to a printing press held by the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) that was part of the Examiner’s print room from the 1870s until the mid-twentieth century. You may also want to use the Examiner’s newspaper archive through Trove – the National Library of Australia’s home to digitised resources.
This press has many potential angles to develop into an honours research project: there’s the physical object, with its heavy plates and moveable type which were at the forefront of publishing technology. The type was used to tell thousands of stories over time, and the wear and tear on each letter was printed onto the page for all to see. You could follow an argument that played out in the letters pages, or look at how coverage of war changed between 1900 and 1950. You might be interested in examining the gendered nature of medicine advertisements or the impact of lithographed images in advertising and storytelling.
Working with curators at QVMAG, you will also write content for social media about the printing press, including a blog entry and some Facebook posts.
To see the press before applying or to discuss this project, please contact HiPES coordinator, Dr Imogen Wegman
Partner: Tasmanian Archives
‘…I cannot help looking down with infinite compassion on a human creature (especially of the weaker sex) who is continually harassed and exposed to the utmost danger…’
In 1828, the infamous explorer, convict and self-proclaimed king of Iceland, Jorgen Jorgenson, wrote to the government of Van Diemen’s Land to request permission to marry a convict woman, Norah Corbett. His letter gives a pitiful account of her life and the dangers she faced every day in the colony as a well-behaved woman without a husband. Her convict record, however, contradicts all his claims of sobriety and meek behaviour.
His letter is just one of several hundred contained within two bound volumes held by the Tasmanian Archives. Each page recounts a convict’s wish to marry, and the government’s power to approve or deny that wish. Contained within these volumes are tales of heartbreak, lust, bigamy, and an occasional happy ending.
The recipient of this scholarship will develop an honours research project from the letters. You could use them – for example –as inspiration for a fictional story; to examine the politics of marriage in 1830s Tasmania; or to trace a family story through several generations.
Working with archivists from the Tasmanian Archives, you will also create a simple index of the two volumes so that they can be incorporated into the world-renowned Tasmanian Names Index.
To see the volumes before applying or to discuss this project, please contact HiPES coordinator, Dr Imogen Wegman
