Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Honours Thesis in Practice

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
BUSM4473	City Campus	Undergraduate	610P BUS Portfolio Office	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2016, Sem 1 2017, Sem 1 2019, Sem 1 2020, Sem 1 2022

Course Coordinator: Dr Meg Colasante

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 1656

Course Coordinator Email: meg.colasante@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Building 80, Level 7

Course Coordinator Availability: Appointment via email

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None

This course is for students undertaking the Bachelor of Business Honours Program.

Course Description

This course provides the space for you to both develop and practice fundamental research skills and processes that you will apply across your Honours program to create a high-quality thesis. Research skills and processes are rich and complex, and through practice can lead to academic excellence with real-world impact. With the inclusion of industry-focused elements, such as case studies and guest lectures, the course enables you to not only develop theoretical expertise but also acquire the practical acumen needed to address real-world challenges. Research skills and processes seamlessly translate into tangible projects within various future professional sites of practice. The range of research skills and processes that you will engage with includes critical appraisal of industry-focused sources of literature, recognising quality seminal and emerging literature within global business contexts, reading for knowledge and ideas, distinguishing between method and methodology, and determining alignment of key features in research designs. You will practice research processes to build your knowledge of what it means to conceptualise and contribute, how discipline knowledge informs research questions, and how knowledge, research questions, and lines of enquiry collectively inform methodological choices. Please note that if you take this course for a bachelor honours program, your overall mark in this course will be one of the course marks that will be used to calculate the weighted average mark (WAM) that will determine your award level (this applies to students who commence enrolment in a bachelor honours program from 1 January 2016 onward). See the WAM information web page for more information.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

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CLO1: Critically appraise industry-focussed literature relevant to global business contexts to identify problems or issues for resolution.

CLO2: Analyse industry-focussed literature to communicate the value, relevance, and conceptual arguments of their contributions to business knowledge acquisition.

CLO3: Critically appraise industry-focussed literature within a specific business context to assess quality of research logic. 

CLO4: Synthesise industry-relevant literature to locate an idea for a new line of inquiry for a business problem or issue, and to build a conceptual argument to support it.

Overview of Learning Activities

This course provides a student cohort learning experience compared to other more individual learning experiences in pursuing your Honours thesis. In-class skill-building, practice, and peer support form key parts of your social-constructivist learning, and two out of your three assessments require direct in-class collaboration.

The cohort learning experience will be enriched by a series of guest inputs. Industry case studies (vicarious, virtual, and/or guest presenters) will illustrate workplace applications and benefits of the skills and processes developed and practiced, while academic research skill guests will contribute to skill building. Your teacher will ensure that this forms a cohesive, engaging, and productive package to help you realise your abilities towards your Honours goals.

Overview of Learning Resources

Various learning resources will be available online through MyRMIT Studies\Canvas.

Resources are also available online through RMIT Library databases and other facilities. Visit the RMIT library website for further details. Assistance is available online via library chat and email services, face to face at our campus libraries or via the telephone on (03) 9925 2020.

Additional resources and/or sources to assist your learning may be identified by your course coordinator/teacher and will be made available to you as required during the teaching period.

Overview of Assessment

The assessment tasks, their weighting, and the course learning outcomes to which they are aligned are as follows.

Assessment 1: 20% Linked CLOs: 1,2

Assessment 2: 30% Linked CLOs: 1,2,3

Assessment 3: 50% Linked CLOs: 1,3,4

Formative feedback will be provided throughout the semester by teacher and peers during class activities. Summative assessment feedback will be provided on day of presentations, and within two-weeks post assessment submission.