Bachelor of Science (Physiotherapy) Honours
Frequently Asked Questions about Honours
What is Honours?Who Can Do Honours?
What Do I Need To Do Honours Successfully?
What Is The Assessment Based On?
How Is Honours Graded?
Why Do Honours?
What Should My Timeline For The Research Component Of Honours Look Like?
What do Past Honours Students Have To Say About Doing Honours?
Further Information
Other References
What is Honours?
Honours is an option offered to students who have performed well during the first two years of the course. Each Honours student works individually with a supervisor on a research project during third and fourth years.
Each student conducts a research project, normally in an area in which his or her supervisor has already carried out some research. The research project is planned collaboratively. The student and supervisor normally have weekly meetings, and by the middle of third year, the student will have written a large part of a literature review (to identify what past researchers have done in the area) and a research proposal (which outlines the student's intended research project). When the research proposal is approved, the student carries out the research (still continuing to meet with their supervisor as needed) and writes a journal article by the end of fourth year. The supervisor reads drafts of the sections of this journal article and provides feedback to the student. This article (with supporting material) is assessed by two examiners, and a mark is allocated to the student for the work done. The article is also submitted to a journal with supervisor and student as authors.
Who Can Do Honours?
Students who have a weighted average of at least 70% during the previous two semesters of the course can do Honours.
What Do I Need To Do Honours Successfully?
A high course average is an advantage in doing Honours because it suggests, first, that a student will be able to maintain high performance in coursework while doing research, and, secondly, that a student has the academic skills necessary to carry out an individual research project. During third and fourth years, Honours students are required to maintain a course average of at least 65%.
Motivation is essential for maintaining commitment to the research project over the two years. Students who do well in Honours are those who are prepared to work steadily on their Honours research until it is completed without losing interest or being distracted by other commitments.
Organizational skills are important for Honours students in order to enable them to divide their attention between academic coursework, clinical work and research. Time management, well-organized notes, and a systematic approach to study are all needed to succeed in Honours.
A supportive supervisor is indispensible for success in Honours. Honours supervisors guide their Honours students at every stage, from identifying a topic and planning the research to writing the article. Students who begin their third year by finding an Honours supervisor who will be able to provide them with the assistance they need are more likely to do well in Honours.
A supportive group of other Honours students is valuable for maintaining commitment, monitoring progress, and finding out about practical details. Honours students in the School of Physiotherapy meet regularly with one another and the Honours coordinator. There is also have an Honours room containing desks and computers.
What is the Assessment Based On?
In October of their fourth year, students submit a dissertation, which consists of a journal article, a 5,000-word literature review, and some appendices to the article (e.g., data collection forms, letters to participants, details about equipment, procedures or pilot work not mentioned in the article). Two independent examiners are asked to read the entire dissertation and assign a mark to the journal article. Each examiner's mark is weighted 25%.
Each student's supervisor is also asked to assign a mark to the student on the basis of his or her performance in Honours over third and fourth year. This mark is also weighted 25%.
The remaining 25% of the Honours mark is the weighted average for the student's coursework over third and fourth years.
How Is Honours Graded?
Honours students are awarded a grade of First Class Honours, Upper Second Class Honours, Lower Second Class Honours, or Third Class Honours. This grade depends on the student's performance in their honours research as assessed by the supervisor and examiners (75% weighting) and on their coursework in third and fourth years (25% weighting).
Honours students' journal articles are graded according to the following criteria:
First Class Honours corresponds to a mark of 75% or above. It is awarded when the journal article is a consistently excellent standard.
Upper Second Class Honours (2A) corresponds to a mark of 65-74%. It is awarded when the journal article is of high standard, but there is less evidence of a consistently high standard in all sections than in a First Class Honours journal article.
Lower Second Class Honours (2B) corresponds to a mark of 55-64%. It is awarded when the journal article is of a good standard, showing satisfactory knowledge of the research topic, but with some significant deficit or deficits in areas such as answering the research questions or hypotheses, critically evaluating the research literature, or discussing the results of the present research in relation to past literature.
Third Class Honours corresponds to a mark of 50-54%. It is awarded when the journal article is weak and shows significant deficits in several areas, such as expressing the problem to be addressed in the research, synthesizing the research literature, critically evaluating the research literature, answering the research questions or hypotheses, interpreting the results of the research, discussing the results of the present research in relation to past literature, and acknowledging limitations and possible errors in the method.
Why Do Honours?
Honours is offered to the best students in each year in order to encourage them to develop their research skills to a much higher level than they would otherwise be given the opportunity to do. This is because Honours is based on a mentor system in which the students spend many hours working individually with an experienced researcher, learning approaches to interpreting research literature, planning and conducting research, writing a research report, and collecting data. Honours is one way that the profession selects its future leading researchers and practitioners. Students who complete the Honours course may choose to proceed to postgraduate studies - Master's or PhD - or may choose to apply the skills and techniques that they learnt during their Honours studies as practitioners. Students who obtain First Class Honours are eligible to apply to do a PhD without needing to do a Master's degree first.
What Should My Timeline For The Research Component Of Honours Look Like?
| Year 3, Fifth Semester | Preparation of a 10-page research proposal including extensive literature review. |
| Year 3, Beginning of Sixth Semester | Oral presentation of proposed research; Submission of research proposal for review and for ethics approval; Revisions to proposal. |
| Year 3, Sixth Semester and Summer Break | Completion of 5,000-word literature review; Completion of data collection; Completion of Method section. |
| Year 4, Seventh Semester | Analysis of Data; Completion of Results section. |
| Year 4, Intersemester break and Eighth Semester | Completion of Introduction; Completion of Discussion. |
| Year 4, Eight Semester, mid-semester break | Oral presentation of results. |
| Year 4, Eighth Semester, several weeks after mid-semester break | Submission of dissertation. |
What do Past Honours Students Have To Say About Doing Honours?
Benefits of Honours:
One advantage of Honours is that in your undergraduate course, you have the opportunity to focus your energy into your own research project. This is often much more interesting and enjoyable than perhaps writing up a number of smaller 'research assignments' throughout third and fourth year. Your Honours project can be a great contribution to the Profession of Physiotherapy, not only are you adding to the current literature available on your chosen topic, it is possible that you may achieve a number of significant findings.
Having a research article/ thesis of your own at the end of the Honours degree is quite an accomplishment, and may enhance career prospects (In particular overseas).
You have the opportunity to present your research to your collegues, to practising Physiotherapists (For example I am presenting mine early next year to the Cardiothoracic special interest group of the APA), and also the opportunity to attend conferences/ write further articles later on down the track.
You work very closely with a supervisor, who becomes very much a mentor and friend. Working with my supervisor has been fantastic, I have had a lot of support and encouragement. I have really enjoyed this aspect of the Honours project.
Ability to work as an individual and to get recognition for our individual
efforts.
The independence this subject gives to the student. I'm very proud of myself
so far with writing this proposal since I never in a million dreams thought
I would be capable of doing this.
You get to set your own deadlines.
Being able to have a paper ready to publish at the completion of the program is an extreme asset to my CV and life.
Very autonomous methods of learning.
Bad points about Honours:
I guess for me the only real downside apart from a few late nights and times of extra stress has been the extra cost of Honours. It is not imperative but it does really help to photocopy the research articles that you read and comment on to back up your findings. And this unfortunately incurs some cost.
General points:
I would strongly recommend any student to undertake honours, provided they have an interest in the subject and have a good working relationship with both their supervisor and honours coordinator - an easy task in my experience. I have an extreme appreciation for all staff involved in this project and their dedication to honours students along with all the other tasks which keep them extremely busy through the semesters.
Further Information
For further information please contact the Honours Co-ordinator
Other References
- Curtin Handbook entry for BSc Physiotherapy , including information about Honours stream.