All students in the medical course complete a common program outlined below and described in more detail in individual subject manuals. These manuals contain detailed information on lecture staff, contact persons, timetables, textbooks, reading guides, supplementary lecture material, details and weighting of assessment methods and procedures including some specific assessment dates. Manuals are available at the commencement of each semester.
At the beginning of each semester, a detailed week-by-week timetable is distributed to each student.
Textbooks are listed under three categories:
Students are advised to read these books or articles before attending their first lecture.
Students are advised that one or more of these books will need to be purchased but students should not purchase them until confirmed by course coordinators in the first week of semester. Library copies are provided in minimal numbers.
In the absence of prescribed texts for a particular subject, certain titles in this category are often of particular importance. Other reading material will be indicated at the time of teaching, announced in subject manuals or handouts provided at the first class session, or included in workbooks.
Detailed
reading guides will be provided in subject manuals or at the first lecture. The
majority of these books and journals are available in the university libraries
and are a recommended source of material for assignments and further reading
and research into subject areas being studied by students. It is not required
that reference books be purchased, however in the absence of prescribed or
recommended texts for a subject students may wish to acquire one of these
texts.
Students in doubt should consult their lecturer or tutor before making a
purchase. The Monash bookshop is usually able to provide up-to-date information
on any book listed in these categories.
The
high expense associated with the purchase of textbooks and the variety of texts
available necessitate that students undertaking a course buy only those texts
suited to their individual work method and that satisfy the academic
requirements of the faculty and the course. This may only be achieved through
individual examination of the relevant texts and consultation with staff and
fellow students.
It is recommended that, in general, students defer the purchase of books until
after the introductory teaching in each subject. This should familiarise the
student with an outline of the course and provide opportunity for discussion
with teaching staff.
The following books are suggested as general background reading in medicine. The list, to which students may well add many other titles of their own choosing, is supplied at the request of students who have previously embarked on the medical course and who expressed a wish for such advice. Reading in this field is not a requirement of the curriculum. Most of the titles listed are available in the Biomedical Library.
Bernard C An introduction to the study of experimental
medicine Collier-Macmillan, 1961
Diamond J M The rise and fall of the third chimpanzee Hutchinson Radius,
1991
Dirks R (comp.) Disease and society: A resource book Australian Academy
of Science, 1989
Gibson W C Young endeavour: Contributions to science by medical students of
the past four centuries Thomas, 1958
Miller J The body in question Macmillan, 1982
Nossal G J V Medical science and human goals Arnold, 1975
Verney A E The student life. The philosophy of William Osler
Livingstone, 1957
Young J Z An introduction to the study of man OUP, 1971