Honours in the School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences - Guidelines for 2008

The information below is for Research honours students only. If you are a Clinical honours student please select Clinical honours

For the award of Honours, students must satisfy the following criteria:

• Attend the series of Introductory lectures.
• Attend the School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences Seminar Program and all talks given by the Honours students (this includes the project proposal talks and final seminars [October]). Students may also be required to attend other lectures, seminars, or courses suggested by their supervisors or the Honours Committee.
• Present a written project proposal.
• Present a brief proposal talk.
• Carry out a research project supervised by one or more staff members.
• Participate in a series of tutorials on the critical evaluation of literature.
• Present an oral critical evaluation of a scientific publication.
• Sit a written exam on critical evaluation.
• Make a mid-year research progress presentation.
• Present a thesis based on their research project.
• Deliver a talk on that project.
• Attend an oral examination on the thesis.
• Make corrections to their thesis, where necessary, and submit the corrected thesis to the School Administrative Officer.
• The Honours year work requires a fulltime commitment and students should consider this when planning their study program.

HONOURS GROUPS / PANELS

At the beginning of the Honours year each student will be assigned to a group consisting of ~8 students who are undertaking research projects in related areas. Placement in groups will be based on the subject matter of the Honours project (as described in the written Project Proposal [see below]) and the research interests of the Supervisor. Panels of academics with corresponding expertise will be associated with each Honours group. These will each be chaired by a member of the Honours Committee as follows:

Molecular Biology and Genetics – Hannah Nicholas
Structural Biology and Physical Biochemistry – Jacqui Matthews
Biotechnology and Proteomics – Stuart Cordwell
Microbiology – Andrew Holmes
Nutrition and Metabolism – Gareth Denyer

The panels will mentor the students within their group (discuss progress, problems, etc.) facilitate the coursework component of the year, and oversee assessment for their group.

TASK 1: PROJECT PROPOSAL (approx. 1000 words, not including references)

Each student will prepare a project proposal, which should include:
The aims, significance and background of the project, including an indication of the relationship of the project to the work of others, citing key references, and some discussion of the methods and techniques to be used. A timeline for the proposed research should also be included. Students should submit 2 hard copies of their project proposal along with an electronic (PDF) copy to the Student Support office located on Level 4 of the Biochemistry and Microbiology Building, by 5pm, Monday 25th February.

PROJECT PROPOSAL TALK (10 minutes plus questions; 28th–29th February)

Each student will present a brief talk detailing the background to their project and the experimental work they intend to undertake.

Feedback from the Project Proposal and Talk will be provided to students and their supervisors from the relevant Honours Panel. Task 1 is not assessable however; it will be graded as Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory. Students may be asked to resubmit their proposal if unsatisfactory performance is noted.

TASK 2 (COURSE WORK):
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE

TUTORIALS (participation in 5-6 tutorials)

Students will attend an introductory tutorial on the critical evaluation of scientific literature to be conducted by the Honoours Committee. In the subsequent 4-5 weeks, students will each lead a discussion based on the evaluation of a published manuscript and mentored by their academic group leader. All students will be required to have read the papers that are to be presented prior to the tutorial and are expected to contribute to discussions. Assessment (10% of the final Honours mark) will be based on the presentation (5%) and participation (5%) in the group discussions.

TUTORIAL PRESENTATION (45 minute presentation and discussion)

Each student will present a critical evaluation of a scientific publication to their Honours group peers and members of the associated academic Honours panel. In this presentation the student is expected to demonstrate an understanding of the content of the article and relevant background material, evaluate the results, assess the importance of the findings and generate a discussion among their peers.

EXAMINATION (4 hour written examination)

Following the critical evaluation tutorials, students will sit a written examination that will assess their ability to critically evaluate a scientific publication in a field related to their coursework tutorials. Supporting material will be provided to students one week in advance of the examination. The examination is worth 15% of the final Honours mark.

MID-YEAR PROGRESS PRESENTATION

Students will be required to make a mid-year presentation to academics from their Honours panel. The format of this presentation will be defined by the panel, but is likely to consist of a short report, short presentation (10 minutes), and discussion. This task is not assessable and is designed for students to discuss progress, flag any unforeseen problems and to receive feedback and advice.

TASK 3: THESIS (12000 words)

The preparation of the thesis, both in its format and its content, is an important part of the training of an Honours student and should be planned with the advice of the Supervisor. Students are advised that thesis writing is very time-consuming and are urged to allocate at least six weeks for this task.

The thesis should be written so that it is intelligible to students and staff members working in other fields. In particular, the basis of deductions from experimental data should be clearly and succinctly explained, so that readers need not refer to the original literature to assess the soundness of conclusions drawn from the data. The thesis should not be longer than 12000 words (approximately 50 pages; excluding titles, acknowledgements, table of contents, list of abbreviations, references and appendices).

Additional material which the student wishes to include may be presented in appendices (but all essential material should be included in the core 12000 words). Non-standard abbreviations should be defined, and should be kept to a minimum. Referencing should follow the format used by a relevant scientific journal and the titles of papers, year, volume, and first and last page numbers should be quoted.

The thesis should have the following general format:
Title page
Table of contents
Acknowledgements
Abstract
Abbreviations
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion
References
Appendices (if required)

In addition to an electronic version (PDF), 3 hard copies of the manuscript should be submitted in a temporary binding (such as comb binding or heat binding) to the MMB Student Support Office, located on Level 4 of the Biochemistry and Microbiology Building by 5pm, Thursday 23rd October, 2008. The student should also keep a hard copy of the thesis for use at the oral examination. A separate PDF of the thesis abstract should also be submitted. Please note that the late submission of a thesis will incur a 2% penalty reduction (per day) from the final Honours mark.

The thesis will be assessed by 3 examiners from the relevant Honours panel (or a member co-opted due to specific expertise in the area of the project), 1 of whom will be the Supervisor.

In assessing the thesis, the examiners consider:

1) the definition of the problem;
2) the quality and interpretation of the data;
3) the validity of the conclusions;
4) the degree to which independent thought has been involved;
5) the general understanding of the scientific principles underlying the problem, and its possible ramifications;
6) English expression, layout and general presentation of the thesis.

The thesis mark of the Supervisor will also be influenced by the following criteria in assessing the student's performance:

a) interest and dedication to the project;
b) efficiency, accuracy and reliability of experimentation;
c) familiarity with the relevant research literature;
d) interpretation of results;
e) design of experiments;
f) formulation and communication of ideas;
g) the process of thesis writing;
h) development of independence.

Please see p.5 ‘Range of marks in assessment’ for further details on marking criteria.

THESIS TALK (20 minutes plus questions)

Each student will present a talk explaining the background to and logic of their research project, the details of the project and the most important conclusions. Students must be aware that concise delivery of scientific material is essential and time limits are strictly adhered to. It is also important that students are able to defend their approach and conclusions during the question time after their presentation.

The thesis talk will be marked by a panel composed of at least one member of each Honours panel. The talk will be assessed on the following criteria: quality of presentation, overall design and structure of the talk, scientific context and understanding, answers to questions.

ORAL EXAMINATION (usually around 30 minutes)

Each student will attend an oral examination on the work presented in the thesis and any related material that the examiners consider relevant. These discussions will be conducted by the students’ thesis examiners and another member of the Honours panel (or a member co-opted due to specific expertise in the area of the project).

The thesis and oral examination are used together to determine the overall mark to a value of 60% of the final Honours mark. The thesis talk is worth 15% of the final Honours mark.

1. Summary of assessment

2. Range of marks in assessment

The University grades final Honours results according to the following scale:

Interim feedback to students may also be given according to the traditional scale, HD 85-100, D 75-84, Cr 65-74, P 50-64.
The following should be used as a guide for assessment quality of the Honours year:

95-100: This mark should be reserved for a student who has been outstanding in all aspects of their research. Such a student must have shown initiative and originality in their planning and execution of experiments, and independence in the analysis of results and the writing of their thesis. The mark should be reserved for students that one would confidently expect to be in the top 5% of students in any of the world's leading universities. These students will have shown such a dedication to and capacity for conducting and communicating research that one expects they will be leaders in science in the future. Equivalent to an H1 and clear University Medal standard.

90-94: This range should be reserved for students who have shown the highest ability but may not have performed at the top of the range in all of the categories above. This mark should identify students in the top 10% of Honours students. A possible University Medal standard.

85-89: This mark is appropriate for a student whose research performance indicates that they are capable of undertaking and completing an excellent Ph.D. Such students would be expected to have excelled in certain categories, for instance a-g. Top 20%. A strong HI standard.

80-84: This mark should be reserved for a student who has done well in all aspects of their research and is clearly of an HI standard. Such a student should have excelled in most categories, for instance a-f.

75-79: This mark should be reserved for a student who has done a good job in their research and is a capable and effective scientist. Such a student should have excelled in several of the categories, for instance a-e. HII, Division 1 standard.

70-74: This mark should be reserved for a student who has performed admirably their research and has excelled in several categories, such as a-d. HII, Division 2 standard.

65-69: This mark should be reserved for a student whose all-round Honours performance has been such that they have shown themselves capable and enthusiastic researchers. Such students may have excelled in some categories. HIII Honours standard.

50-64: This mark is reserved for students who have struggled during the year and have shown a limited aptitude for research. Such students are likely to have performed well in categories a. and b. but not at a standard sufficient for the award of an Honours degree.

Any requests for special consideration, appeals or questions on assessment should be forwarded to the Honours Coordinator, in writing and as soon as practical and will be considered by the Honours Committee and the Head of School.
Following completion of all assessment tasks, the Honours Committee will meet to consider the provisional marks provided by Honours panels and will make recommendations on final marks to the Head of School and the Faculty of Science Honours Board of Examiners.

Please Note: Undergraduate aggregate marks are used to ensure uniform marking across the Faculty, and therefore, School marks may be scaled to meet Faculty requirements.

The Faculty of Science generates the SCIWAM as follows:

WAM = sum (Wi x Mi)/sum (Wi)
Where Mi is the mark obtained in course ‘i’ and the weight Wi is obtained by multiplying the unit value of the course by 2 for intermediate courses and by 3 for senior courses (results from junior units are not used in the calculation of the SCIWAM).

Unless special circumstances apply, the minimum qualification for the award of a University Medal is a SCIWAM of 80 or greater and a fourth year mark of 90 or greater. The Faculty of Science also requires evidence of sustained excellence (including prizes, awards, publications and other supporting information) to be provided by the School in support of the Award of a Medal.

For the purpose of assigning Australian Postgraduate Awards, the fourth year mark out of 100 is multiplied by 1.3 and the SCIWAM by 0.7 and the total is used in the ranking.