Monash University: University handbooks: Postgraduate handbook: Units indexed by faculty
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Postgraduate Diploma in Arts (Research)

Course code: 3937 + Course abbreviation: PGradDipArts(Res) + Total credit points required: 48 + 1 year full-time, 2 years part-time

Study mode and course location

All On-campus (Clayton)*

* Except for studies in 'Communication' which is On-campus (Malaysia); Bioethics which is also available Off-campus (Clayton) and 'Applied linguistics' which is Off-campus (Clayton)

Course description

This course provides a transition between the bachelors degree and research masters or PhD, enabling students both to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary and to demonstrate their suitability, for higher research in their chosen discipline. For more detail see the individual discipline entries in the ‘Course description and structure’ section below.

For further information on the higher degrees by research programs available, please see the entries under ‘Research programs’.

Minimum pass grade and articulation into a research program

The minimum pass grade for core units in the Postgraduate Diploma in Arts (Research) is 60 (C); a grade average of at least a credit is required overall.

Students intending to apply for entry to a master by research will require a distinction average or above, for all units in the Postgraduate Diploma in Arts (Research). Students who obtain outstanding results in the Postgraduate Diploma in Arts (Research) may meet the entry requirements for PhD enrolment.

Please read carefully the entries for individual research programs for any additional requirements. For further information on the research programs available in the faculty, see the entries under ‘Research programs’.

Course Structure

Anthropology and Sociology

Offered by the School of Political and Social Inquiry

Students complete 48 points including ASM4000 (Research project) and three additional units chosen from the following and selected in accordance with the student’s research project:

• SYM4005 Qualitative research strategies
• SYM4015 Secondary analysis of official statistics
• SYM4025 Survey research
• SYM4055 Application of computer techniques
• SYM4045 Applied statistics
• SYM4065 Issues in public policy
• ASM4100 Violences
• ASM4230 Culture in Indonesia
• ASM4290 Into the field: the theory and practice of ethnography
• ASM4380 Women, psychiatry and madness
• ASM4430 The third world
• ASM4440 Asia and the West
• ASM4800 Special ASM unit
• RLM4100 Religion in Australian society
• WSM4020 Feminist research

Course coordinator

• Dr Jo Lindsay, Dr John Bradley

Applied Japanese Linguistics

Offered by the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics

Students complete 48 points, including two core units and two electives chosen from the list below:

Core units

• JAL4610 Research methodology for applied linguistics
• AST4680 Research project A

Electives

• Two units as approved by the course coordinator, usually applied Japanese linguistics or linguistics units.

Course coordinator

Assoc Prof Helen Marriott

Applied Linguistics

Offered by the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics

Students complete four 12-point units (48 points in total) from the units listed below, including ALM4190/ALM5410 (Research project). The research project must normally be completed on campus.

Core units

The following core units are compulsory unless exempted by the course coordinator:

• ALM4110 General linguistics
• ALM4130 Language in society
• ALM4150 Research design in applied linguistics
• ALM4190/ALM5410 Research project

Electives

• ALM5210 Language and learning
• ALM5230 Bilingualism
• ALM5250 Second language acquisition
• ALM5270 Literacy
• ALM5290 Child language acquisition
• ALM5350 English in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
• ALM5370 Discourse analysis
• ALM5390 Language and gender
• ALM4/5460 Special topic in applied linguistics

Alternative electives may be approved on an individual basis.

Course coordinator

Dr Julie Bradshaw

Archaeology and Ancient History

Offered by the School of Historical Studies

Students complete 48 points including a research unit, two core units and one 12-point elective chosen from the list below. Not all electives are available each year. Unless otherwise indicated, all units are taught at Clayton.

Research unit

• ARM4001 Research project in archaeology and ancient history (12 points)

Core units

• ARM4740 Reading the ancient past
• ARM4060 Predynastic and early dynastic Egypt

Electives

• HYM4095 History and heritage (online and face-to-face at Caulfield)
• HYM4200 History and memory: oral history, life stories and commemoration
• HYM4510 History and the museum (online and face-to-face at Caulfield)
• HYM4950 Hidden transcripts: cultural approaches to the past
• HYM4960 Gender and history

Course coordinator

Dr Colin A Hope

Asian Studies

Offered by the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics

Students complete 48 points of level 4 units, including three core units, and either:

(a) a language sequence totalling 12 points or

(b) 12 points of electives selected from those offered at level 4 in the schedule of units available from the postgraduate coordinator in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics.

Students undertaking a 12-point coursework unit plus a 6-point language unit in the same semester will be considered full-time. To complete the program in one year, this option requires that two 12-point units and the other 6-point language unit be taken in the other semester. Students are advised to discuss this issue with the course coordinator when enrolling.

The selection of units and a research topic must be approved by the course coordinator. Normally each student’s program will emphasise:

(i) one disciplinary aspect of Asia or Australian-Asian relations, and

(ii) one region (for example East, South or Southeast Asia or a country which is related to their language studies).

An Asian language sequence is compulsory for students without any Asian language background. Applications for exemption without credit from language studies will be considered in special circumstances and whenever previous Asian language studies have been completed within a university degree or the student is a native speaker of an Asian language. Students exempted will choose an additional 12 points of level-4 electives to obtain the required number of credit points for their degree.

Core units

• AST4000 Contemporary issues in Asia (12 points)
• AST4220 Investigating Asia (12 points)
• AST4110 Research project in Asian studies (12 points)

Course coordinator

Dr Ross Mouer

Bioethics

Offered by the School of Philosophy and Bioethics

Students complete 48 points, comprised of the following 12-point units:

• CHB4101 Ethics
• CHB4102 Questions of life and death
• CHB4203 Ethical issues in patient care
• CHB4215 Bioethics supervised research paper

Course coordinator

Dr Justin Oakley

Communication

Offered by the School of Arts and Sciences, Malaysia

Students complete 48 points, including three core units and one additional level 4 unit chosen from the following electives and selected in accordance with the student’s research project. Alternative units may be taken with the approval of the school graduate coordinator.

Core units

• ASM4000 Research project
• COM4010 Communication research: issues and methodology
• COM4020 Communication applied: industry practice

Electives

• ASM4290/5290 Into the field: the theory and practice of ethnography
• AST4000/5000 Contemporary Issues in Asia
• ENM4620/5620 Literary theory
• PLM4440/5440 Global soul: consumers, citizens and rebels
• WSM4700/5700 Issues in feminist cross-cultural research

Course coordinator

Dr Patricia Goon and Associate Professor Gil-Soo Han

Critical Theory

Offered by the School of English, Communication and Performance Studies

Students complete 48 points, including two core units, and one elective chosen from the following list:

Core unit

• CRT4080 Research project (24 points)

Electives

• CRT4030 Poetics
• CRT4070 Lacan and subjectivity
• CRT4100 Deleuze and Foucault
• CRT4200 Semiotics and poststructuralism
• CRT4225 Hermeneutics
• CRT4760 Gender, body and performance
• CRT4830 Popular culture and ethics

Course coordinator

Dr Alison Ross

English

Offered by the School of English, Communication and Performance Studies

Students complete a dissertation, one core theory unit and two electives chosen from the list below.

Compulsory units

• ENM4120 Dissertation
• ENM4620 Literary theory

Electives

• CRT4030 Poetics
• ENM4195 Legal fictions
• ENM4260 Writers and the creative process
• ENM4370 Contemporary Australian poetry and fiction
• ENM4580 Ireland, Swift, England: special author unit
• ENM4700 Drama of the age of Shakespeare
• ENM4750 Exotic erotic other: world writing in English
• ENM4760 Visions and revisions: reworkings

Course coordinator

Dr Chandani Lokuge

Environmental Science

Offered by the School of Geography and Environmental Science

Students complete 48 points of coursework, including a 24-point research project. Units are worth 6 points unless otherwise indicated.

Core units

• ENV4020 Perspectives on environment and sustainability
• ENV4040 Frontiers in sustainability and environment
• ENV405C Research project (24 points)

Electives

• Approved elective unit(s) to the value of 12 points.

If the student's previous background does not provide knowledge in particular areas, elective(s) would be chosen from:

• ENV414F Ecological systems and management
• GES4890 Earth system interactions: from biogeochemical cycles to global change
• ENV415F Law and the environment
• ENV416F Introduction to economics

Course coordinator

Dr Stephen Legg

Geography

Offered by the School of Geography and Environmental Science

The program undertaken is the same as that undertaken by level 4 (undergraduate) honours students in the section but has a slightly more substantial research component. Students complete 48 points including a research project and electives offered by the School of Geography and Environmental Science with the approval of the course coordinator.

Course coordinator

Dr Stephen Legg

German

Offered by the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics

Candidates must complete a total of 48 points of level-4 units (each worth12 points unless otherwise indicated), including a research project:

• GNM4165 Language and society: sociolinguistics from a German perspective
• GNM4275 Critics of civilisation
• GNM4375 Special reading course
• GHM4385 Age of Goethe

Research Projects:

• GNM4166 German language and society: research project
• GNM4355 Research project in German studies
• GNM4365 Research project in German studies (24 points)

Studies abroad

All graduate students are strongly encouraged to conduct a part of their studies in a German-speaking country. Assistance is provided in obtaining scholarships and arrangements exist with German universities enabling students to continue their courses under supervision and with a maximum of assistance.

Course coordinator

Dr Christiane Weller

History

Offered by the School of Historical Studies

Students complete 48 points including a research unit, two core units and one 12-point elective chosen from the list below. Not all electives are available each year. Unless otherwise indicated, all units are taught at Clayton.

Research unit

• ARM4001 Research project in archaeology and ancient history (12 points)

Core units

• ARM4740 Reading the ancient past
• ARM4060 Predynastic and early dynastic Egypt

Electives

• HYM4095 History and heritage (online and face-to-face at Caulfield)
• HYM4200 History and memory: oral history, life stories and commemoration
• HYM4510 History and the museum (online and face-to-face at Caulfield)
• HYM4950 Hidden transcripts: cultural approaches to the past
• HYM4960 Gender and history

Course coordinator

Dr Colin A Hope

Japanese Studies

Offered by the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics

Students complete 48 points in consultation with the course coordinator, including either 12 or 24 points of research, no more than 12 points of Japanese language units, and the remainder from level 4 Asian Studies units (with the prefixes AST, JAL, JIT or JST). It may be possible to include study in Japan as part of this program.

Course coordinator

Associate Professor Alison Tokita

Music

Offered by the School of Music – Conservatorium

Students complete 48 points including one core unit and three electives chosen from the list below.

Core unit

• MUM4420 Research methods

Composition option – co-core unit

• MUM4760 Special project: composition and music technology (24 points)

Performance option – co-core unit

• MUM4960 Chief practical study 1

Electives

• MUM4120 20th and 21st century repertoire studies
• MUM4140 Theatrical music
• MUM4180 Chamber music
• MUM4200 Keyboard music
• MUM4220 Vocal music
• MUM4600 Special research project in music
• MUM4640 World music: fieldwork techniques and technology
• MUM4760 Special project: composition and music technology
• MUM4980 Music pedagogy

Course coordinator

Dr Joel Crotty

Philosophy

Offered by the School of Philosophy and Bioethics

Students complete 48 points consisting of the following units:

• PHM4000 Research project in philosophy (24 points full-year unit)
• PHM4010 Philosophy masters qualifying A
• PHM4020 Philosophy masters qualifying B

In addition to the workload associated with each unit, students will be expected to attend weekly work-in-progress seminars for honours and graduate students and to make a presentation to the seminar series.

Course coordinator

Dr Monima Chadha

Politics

Offered by the School of Political and Social Inquiry

Students complete 48 points including one core unit and three electives chosen from the list below:

Core unit

• PLM4060 Research project (politics)

Electives

• PLM4065 Advanced seminar in international political economy
• PLM4340 Fringe politics and extremist violence: an introduction to terrorism
• PLM4290 China: the quest for modernisation
• PLM4310 Wars of recognition: terrorism and political violence
• PLM4390 Grand theories of politics
• PLM4430 Political Islam
• PLM4440 Global soul: consumers, citizens and rebels
• PLM4520 Perspectives on world politics
• PLM4600 Strategic studies
• PLM4800 Australian national government
• PLM4930 Southeast Asian politics

Course coordinator

Dr Shahram Akbarzadeh

Religion and Theology

Offered by the School of Historical Studies

Students complete 48 points comprised of one research project, at least one methodology unit, and two electives chosen from the list below (note that not all units are offered each year).

Research unit

• RLM4000 Research paper in religion and theology

Methodology units

• HYM4175 Interpreting the Bible: Jewish and Christian perspectives
• RLM4100 Religion in Australian Society

Electives

• RLM4060 Medieval women and their world: constructing identities 1100-1450
• RLM4070 Buddhism: society, politics and ethics
• RLM4110 Ecology, gender and the sacred
• HYM4330 Cultures of devotion in Renaissance Italy
• JWM4020 Between homeland and holy land: Israel in Jewish thought

Students may apply to undertake units at level 4 at another tertiary institution, such as the Melbourne College of Divinity, approved by the director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology.

Units taken outside Monash will not amount to more than 50 per cent.

Course coordinator

Associate Professor Constant Mews

Visual Culture

Offered by the School of English, Communication and Performance Studies

Students complete 48 points at level 4 including a research unit, at least one methodology unit and electives chosen from the list below:

Research unit

• VAM4000 Research essay in visual culture

Methodology units

• VAM4010 Visual culture and its theories
• VAM4020 Theory of art history and criticism
• VAM4200 Historical film theory and criticism
• VAM4210 Contemporary film theory and criticism

Electives

• VAM4021 Beyond the museum: institutions and insurrections
• VAM4023 Visual culture internship
• VAM4030 Themes in nineteenth-century Australian art
• VAM4050 Twentieth-century Australian modernism
• VAM4070 Australian postmodernism
• VAM4084 The culture and imagery of cities
• VAM4100 Issues in Australian architecture and heritage
• VAM4290 Cultural theory and visuality
• CRT4760 Gender, body and performance
• VAM4830 Exploration and immigration in the cultural imaginary
• An approved unit from a related discipline with the approval of the course coordinator

Course coordinator

Leigh Astbury

Women’s Studies

Offered by the School of Political and Social Inquiry

Students complete 48 points including a research unit, either WSM4180 or WSM4010 (whichever is offered that year), and one elective. Part-time students will be required to complete WSM4180 or WSM4010 and an elective level-four unit in the first year and WSM4005 in the second year of the program.

Core units

• WSM4005 Research component
• WSM4180 Sex, power, self: feminist interventions in contemporary discourse, or
• WSM4010 Theorising gender

Electives

• One unit as approved by the course coordinator, with WSM4020 recommended.

Course coordinator

Dr Maryanne Dever

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