Degree description

 

I.         Prerequisites   Applicants to Honours must have a BA major in Political Studies and have achieved at least 65% in this major.                                       II.        Duration   The Honours programme in the Department of Political Studies lasts twelve months.   III.       Requirements            There will be four taught modular units, at least three of which must be completed within the Department.  Units are taught in both semesters so that in each semester students register for two units which will be taught simultaneously.   Research Methods in the Social Sciences (SOSS 4008) is a compulsory unit for Political Studies Honours students.  For the other three modules, students can choose from the options listed in the pages that follow.  However modules will not be taught to very small groups: normally a minimum registration is expected of five students before teaching a unit.   Ordinarily students will be expected to complete at least two essays of between 10 and 20 pages per unit.  Classes may alternate between lecture and seminar format but  progress will depend largely on the student’s own reading and willingness to participate in class discussion.  All assignments must be typed: students are expected to be computer literate or to acquire such literacy very quickly.    Honours students will also be expected to complete a research-based independently conceived research essay on an approved topic, usually  between 10 000 and 20  000 words in length (the length varies from year to year). The student will work on his/her research project with the support of an individually assigned supervisor.    All students must attend compulsory proposal writing workshops which will be held in the first  block.                                                                                                       IV       Examinations.   Students will write an exam for each unitwork module.  The research essay will also be assessed for examination purposes.  The research essay will be worth 20% of the final mark.  Marks for the unitwork modules will accumulate from both assignments and examinations.