Spanish

The masters degree is designed for students to develop advanced skills in carrying out independent and sustained research in Spanish. The thesis should demonstrate a critical application of specialist knowledge and make an independent contribution to existing scholarship in the area of research. Candidates may advance to the Doctor of Philosophy degree after successful completion of the masters or may apply to convert to the PhD at an earlier stage.

Students who complete the Master of Arts (Thesis only) in this area of specialisation should:

• gain research skills, through frequent and systematic use of the library and other information sources, the definition of areas of inquiry and familiarisation with research methods;
• gain critical thinking and analysis; understand social, political, historical and cultural contexts and international awareness/openness to the world: through the contextualisation of judgements and knowledge, developing a critical self-awareness, being open to new ideas and new aspects of Hispanic culture, and by formulating arguments; gain ability to communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically;
• gain attention to detail.

Duration: 1.5 years full-time / 3 years part-time

The Master of Arts (Thesis only) in this area of specialisation requires:

• thesis 30,000 words

Please note: it is expected that a graduate of the University of Melbourne will be able to engage in academic discourse in English. Therefore a research masters thesis will normally be written in English. At the same time the faculty seeks to encourage the acquisition of appropriate levels of linguistic and cultural competencies necessary for research of international distinction. Consequently, if a candidate wishes to write a thesis in another language, an application can be made to the faculty's Research and Research Training Committee at an early stage in the candidature. The committee will consider such an application if the source material and readership are primarily in that language or the thesis is concerned with the study of language. Where permission is granted, a summary of the thesis (approximately 2,500 words) in English should be bound in the thesis.