Honours case studies
Name: Catherine C
Discipline: Philosophy
Supervisors: Associate Professor Marguerite La Caze (1st thesis); Dr Michelle Boulous Walker (2nd thesis)
Honours Theses: (1) Arendt on Kant's Aesthetic Judgment for Politics; (2) Irigaray and Active Citizenship.
What first inspired you to study your discipline specialism? Dr Michelle Boulous Walker.
What did you gain from studying Honours? I have significantly improved my writing, oral presentation, and critical analysis skills. I feel much more confident in presenting, researching, and thinking generally about my ideas.
How was the Honours year for you? Fantastic. I feel as though I have really grown academically and have a much better understanding of the discipline.
Career Intentions: PhD
Name: Patrick T
Discipline: History
Supervisor: Dr Geoff Ginn
Honours Thesis: “A spare gin was always a nuisance in a Native Police camp” Aboriginal Women and the Queensland Native Mounted Police
What did you gain from studying Honours? Greater insight to the practice of history. The capacity to work harder, to higher standards and to stricter timeframes than previously, which has proved valuable personally and professionally.
How was the Honours year for you? Challenging, exciting and rewarding.
Career Intentions: Graduate Trainee Lawyer
Name: Sarah C
Discipline: History
Supervisor: Associate Professor Andrew Bonnell
Honours Thesis: Germans as Victims? Defining an "appropriate" and contextualised memory space for expellees
Inspiration: The topic is severely under-represented in histories of the Second World War and is little known about outside of Germany.
What did you gain from studying Honours? Most importantly, I gained confidence in my abilities due to the support and learning environment shared with fellow students and teaching staff.
How was the Honours year for you? An extremely valuable and highly enjoyable year spent with fellow passionate students and academics.
Career Intentions: PhD
Name: Harry T
Discipline: History
Supervisor: Dr Geoff Ginn
Honours Thesis: Executive mercy and capital punishment in Queensland, 1859-1900
What did you gain from studying Honours? Pursuing my research whilst working closely with academic staff created a culture of supported independence. Research at the State Archives was absorbing.
How was the Honours year for you? More demanding and more rewarding than I imagined. The theory and methods seminar was a great forum in which to test ideas and have sustained discussion on the big questions in the field. The workload in semester two was more taxing.
Career Intentions: Graduate Trainee Lawyer
Name: Felicity M
Discipline: Ancient History
Supervisor: Dr Janette McWilliam
Honours Thesis: Women in Medicine/Society/Ancient Greece and Rome
What first inspired you to study your discipline specialism? The undergraduate study tour of Greece. At the Asklepion and Edpidarous I saw a bust of a pregnant woman, and wondered what sort of healing the woman wanted. I wanted to research what society expected of women in reproduction, such as whether their survival was valued above that of a son.
Career Intentions: Secondary History teaching. I want students to love history as much as I do. And I need an income to support travel and further study!
Name: Jack R
Discipline: History
Supervisor: Associate Professor Chris Dixon
Honours Thesis: "Does more harm than good": The portrayal of the Neutrality Act of 1935 in The New York Times
What first inspired you to study your discipline specialism? My undergrad majors were in History, International Relations and Mass Media and this topic covered all three areas.
What did you gain from studying Honours? An understanding of how research works on larger projects and the wide variety of sources that are available.
How was the Honours year for you? A stressful but interesting year.
Career Intentions: Academia
Name: Charles P
Discipline: Classical Languages
Supervisor: Dr David Pritchard
Honours Thesis: "The artist as critic? Athenian war-making and Euripides' Trojan Women". There was a long-standing view that the play ‘ Trojan Women’ was a veiled criticism of Athenian military conduct against the island-polis of Melos and of Athenian military action in general. Having studied the play and placed it within its historical context I concluded that this was not Euripides’ intention.
What did you gain from studying Honours? A great deal of self-discipline, in-depth knowledge and, with all the reading I had to do, an exponential increase in my Greek literacy!
How was the Honours year for you? The juggling both coursework and thesis is not easy and my time management had to be very good. The first semester was mostly research, the second semester mostly writing and revision. The year was very challenging, but also very rewarding. And the feeling you get when that bound final copy of the thesis is handed in - it is difficult to equal!