Unit Outline

In this unit, students undertake economic and/or finance research under the supervision of a member of academic staff in the discipline of economics and finance. Students produce a thesis document that reports and discusses findings from their research, which may be of an empirical and/or theoretical nature. Students also make two presentations on their research. The supervision of the research involves regular meetings between the student and their primary supervisor, aimed at monitoring the progress of research and thesis preparation.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:


1.	Apply relevant economic theory and research skills to the field of inquiry.
2.	Develop persuasive and well supported arguments on a given topic.
3.	Communicate economics in oral and written format.

Alterations as a result of student feedback

To Be Determined

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule


ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	Dissertation (commenced in BEA414 and completed in BEA415)	Refer to Assessment Description	100 %	LO1, LO2, LO3

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: Dissertation (commenced in BEA414 and completed in BEA415)

Task Description:

Work on the dissertation is commenced in BEA414 Dissertation in Economics A and is completed in BEA415 Dissertation in Economics B. The two units, BEA414 and BEA415, combine to constitute the entire project and account for 50% of the overall honours mark.
It is critical to get off to a good start in your dissertation research, and that relies on choosing a topic and supervisor as early as possible. Finding the topic and supervisor(s) for your dissertation involves the following steps:
There will be an introductory meeting with Honours Coordinator the week prior to semester. In that meeting the Honours Coordinator will introduce the staff members and highlight areas of specialisation;
You need to make an appointment as soon as possible with a suitable staff member to discuss your research interests and potential supervision for your dissertation;
The Honours Coordinator will also be able to suggest members of the School with whom you should discuss possible topics;
Staff members will offer to supervise dissertations they are qualified to supervise. If you have trouble finding a supervisor seek advice immediately from the Honours Coordinator;
Once you have identified your topic and your supervisor you are required to report back to the Honours Coordinator immediately;
The Coordinator will consult with the relevant Staff member(s) as regards the supervision of Honours students and research topics as identified;
The Coordinator will, in consultation with the Head of School, confirm and record the allocation of research supervisors;
Your Supervisor may advise the Honours Coordinator whether you are “locked-in” to your identified topic or whether further preliminary work is necessary because your original topic may not be achievable, in which case you will need to go through the above procedure again. It is quite common to make a few false starts since it takes some effort to eliminate topics that are not feasible in the time available. The important thing is to get this process over as quickly as you can so that you can settle in to working on your dissertation.
There will be two (2) Honours presentations scheduled during the year, the first in BEA414, the second in BEA415. Students will be required to give a presentation on their thesis topic, including the background and motivation of the research, methods to address the research questions and some (preliminary) results.
There will be cause for concern with your progress if:
you are not meeting regularly with a supervisor (at least once every fortnight or as determined between the supervisor and the student); and/or
you have not submitted draft presentation slides to your supervisor for comment in a week before the presentations; and/or
You have not submitted the first draft of your dissertation by the beginning of October.
To gain an idea of the standard achieved in the past consult some of the recent dissertations held by the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics. Please ask the Honours Coordinator for access to these. Appendix A to these notes contains more detail on the requirements for the dissertation.

Task Length:

Due Date:

Refer to Assessment Description

Weight:

100 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	The student demonstrated detailed knowledge of the thesis and that it is his/her own work	LO1
2	The student demonstrated awareness of where his/her original works sits in relation to the context of the literature	LO2
3	The student applied appropriate theoretical and/or methodological concepts and demonstrated technical mastery of the relevant skills	LO2, LO3
4	The dissertation was well structured and presented	LO2, LO3

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes, achieve a final unit grade of 50% or greater, and pass any hurdle tasks.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.

Review of results and appeals

You are entitled to ask for a review of the marking and grading of your assessment task if there is an irregularity in the marking standards or an error in the process for determining the outcome of an assessment. Details on how to request a review of a mark for an assignment are outlined in the Review and Appeal of Academic Decisions Procedure.