PhD Elective 2

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

40 hours

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this course are articulated in the Course Description, Course Objectives and Generic Skills of this entry.
The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

With the guidance of their supervisory panel, students will, in their first year of enrolment, select and complete two 6.25 point Electives.

The list of available subjects within the Electives is designed to encompass the diversity of disciplines across the Faculty. Substantive content of the Electives will include current research projects being conducted by senior Faculty staff, graduate seminars offered by distinguished visiting scholars, leading-edge research in specific disciplinary fields and advanced level research methods.

Alongside the year-long PhD Research Workshop which focuses on the intellectual frontiers of their core area of study and enhances the preparation of their research project, Electives will provide graduate-level engagement with contemporary work in the student's own or cognate disciplines.

While they will add intellectual value to the student's specific research project and its methods, Electives are not normally intended to directly focus on the student's dissertation.

Normally, students will be able to select any of the available Electives to enhance their knowledge of key debates within or beyond their disciplinary area, and to demonstrate their graduate-level knowledge in these areas. Electives are an opportunity for intellectual enrichment, as well as an opportunity for students to expand their repertoire and demonstrate their vocational preparation.

A supervisor panel may require a student to enrol in a specific Elective or Electives considered necessary for their research project, such as the development of specialised methodological skills. In some cases, with the agreement of their supervisory panel, students may be permitted to take a substitute subject or subjects considered necessary for their research.

Achieving at least a H3 grade in this subject will be a hurdle requirement for confirmation of PhD candidature.

To provide advanced intensive instruction in a topic or area of scholarship in the humanities, social sciences or creative arts. A student who completes this subject should have:

• enhanced knowledge of the topic or area of scholarship taught in the module,
• an ability to reflect upon their own research work in relation to the content of the module, and
• enhanced engagement with leading-edge research in Arts today.

One 500-word essay proposal, during the period of intensive teaching (20%)

One 2,000-word essay, due within four weeks of completion of teaching (80%)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

The subjects will contribute, through teaching and discussion with academic staff and peers, to developing the skills and capacities identified in the University-defined Graduate Attributes for the PhD, in particular:

• the capacity to contextualise research within an international corpus of specialist knowledge,
• an advanced ability to evaluate and synthesise research-based and scholarly literature,
• an advanced understanding of key disciplinary and multi-disciplinary norms and perspectives relevant to the field.