6. Bachelor of Dentistry Honours program

The Faculty of Dentistry, in recognition of meritorious performance, offers an Honours program for BDent candidates. The Honours policy and guidelines for students were adopted by the Faculty Learning and Teaching Committee for implementation at its 7 July 2005 meeting, and amended by the Faculty Board on 29 May 2006.

I. Philosophy of Honours

It has been resolved by Faculty that Honours shall be awarded for meritorious performance by students in the University of Sydney Bachelor of Dentistry Program (BDent). Assessment for the University of Sydney Bachelor of Dentistry Program is criterion-referenced and students must satisfy requirements of the three themes of the curriculum which include all facets of learning required for students to graduate as future dentists. The philosophy of Honours in the BDent program conforms to the Academic Board Policy on Honours courses and grading (effective January 2000) and Honours Grades' Uniform Reporting (effective 1997).

Following University-wide discussion of Honours degrees, there is consensus that it should include a significant research component. The Faculty of Dentistry also recognises the need for outstanding clinical achievement as a basis for the award of Honours. The BDent(Hons) program was approved by the University Academic Board in 2004.

II. Principles of Honours

The principles underlying the approach to award of Honours in the BDent include the following:

• All students should be encouraged to meet the Honours standard but eligibility requires a high level of clinical competence.
• Honours will be awarded on the basis of successful completion of all assessments across the three curriculum themes and of an Honours project that meets the required standard.
• Honours will be determined by completion of a defined Honours Program.
• The Honours program is subject to review by the Learning and Teaching Committee, providing that students engaged in the program are not disadvantaged.
• Participation in the Honours program by an individual student is voluntary.

III. Eligibility for the Honours program

• All students are encouraged to participate in a research project.
• Students will be informed that they cannot formally enrol in Honours until after their summative exams at the end of BDent 2.
• The final result as to whether or not a student receives Honours will depend on satisfactory performance in all four themes at the first attempt, overall clinical proficiency, and satisfactory completion of a research project. The criteria for satisfactory performance and clinical proficiency will be determined by the Faculty of Dentistry.
• Students who have enrolled in Honours and have satisfactorily completed a research project but whose clinical performance is not deemed by the Faculty to be at a sufficiently high level, may be eligible for the award of a Research Prize for Outstanding Proficiency in the area of research carried out.
• A student should not undertake the Honours program if s/he is having difficulties in meeting the requirements of the BDent.
• Students enrolled in the Honours program may not request any additional assistance in completing assessment requirements in the concurrent BDent program if the only reason forwarded for the request is the requirements of the Honours program commitment.
• The Honours Subcommittee will determine eligibility and arrange assessment of the applications.

IV. Requirements for the award of Honours

Eligibility for candidature for Honours, in addition to the general eligibility requirement for the Honours Program, should include evidence of experience and training in research methodology, especially that required in the proposed project. This experience could include: that gained in a previous Honours research project, or experience during a vacation scholarship in the BDent Program, or participation in a research environment during Years 1, 2 or 3 of the BDent Program. The Honours project should address the themes of the BDent (Total Patient Care, Life Sciences, Personal and Professional Development and Dentist and the Community). The Honours project should address one theme as a principal focus.

(a) Selection of a Research Project

• Individual choice for the student
• Student should seek an appropriate supervisor for the project
• A significant portion of the project can be undertaken and completed during the research allocation in Year 4 of the BDent program

Suitable research projects will be considered by the Honours Subcommittee and could include:

• Participation in one aspect of an ongoing research project
• A survey and analysis of results obtained
• A critical appraisal of a research or clinical topic
• Participation in special patient clinics, and critical review of ancillary basic and/or clinical science and outcome data
• Development and evaluation of educational materials (including a literature review), evaluation tools or analysis of educational issues
• Students must indicate the principal theme addressed
• Students can complete a project in groups, with each student being required to individually write their own report based on the findings of the group

(b) Project proposal

Prepared by the student in discussion with the proposed supervisor

(c) Responsibilities of the supervisor

• Provide opportunity for research training possibilities during the course of the program
• Ensure quality supervision during the completion of the project
• Regular review of student progress in the project
• Final review of the written work before its submission for assessment
• Nominate two appropriate examiners for examination of the report of the project

V. Assessment

(a) Assessment of the report of the project

• The essential criterion for quality will be that the report is potentially publishable
• The candidate must indicate clearly what was his/her specific contribution if a group was involved, and the report must be written independently by that student
• Each report will be assessed by two examiners: one faculty member and a suitably qualified external reviewer.
• Determine whether or not the report is of a sufficient standard to merit award of Honours.
• The criteria for assessment to be confirmed by the Honours Subcommittee.
• The examiners will be asked to grade each report. The grading will be criterion-referenced, using the following categories:

1. Satisfactory for the award of Honours (with or without minor emendations)
2. Requires revisions and re-submission for repeat assessment for the award of Honours
3. Unsatisfactory for the award of Honours

(b) Final report

Submission date to the assigned supervisor should normally be no later than 1 August in Academic Year 4. The nature and specifications of the final report to be determined by the Honours Subcommittee

VI. Administration of Honours

The supervision and administration of the Honours system shall be the responsibility of the Honours Subcommittee of the Learning and Teaching Committee, which shall liaise with students and supervisors. The subcommittee may co-opt members as necessary. The membership of the Honours Subcommittee shall be:

• The Honours Coordinator (ex officio) as Chair
• Dean of Faculty of Dentistry or nominee (ex officio)
• Chair of Assessment Subcommittee (ex officio)
• Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) (ex officio)
• Associate Dean (Research) (ex officio)
• The Year 4 BDent Sub-Dean
• Other member/s as co-opted by the Chair in recognition of their expertise/experience in a given area relevant to the program

The responsibilities of this subcommittee shall be:

• Review of eligibility requirements for the Honours program
• Review of proposed Honours research projects and advice about the suitability or otherwise of proposals
• Selection of examiners, as needed, and collation of results for student projects
• Review of assessment criteria for research projects
• Determination of conditions for extensions to submissions dates and for hearing of student appeals in regard to conduct or assessment of the project submission
• Preparation of a list of students recommended for the award of Honours to be considered by the Dean
• Preparation of an annual report to the Learning and Teaching Committee about the number of projects undertaken, and the outcomes for those projects

VII. Academic transcripts and testamurs

For successful students, the award of Honours will be included in their academic transcripts and on their testamurs.

VIII. Relationship to prizes in the BDent program

Work submitted for Honours may be eligible for the determination of Prizes awarded by the Faculty.

The details below complement the information contained in the formal Faculty Honours Policy, and have been devised to provide detailed information and procedures to potential and current Honours candidates and their supervisors to assist them in successfully undertaking the Honours program.

I. Why do Honours?

An Honours degree reflects meritorious performance at the undergraduate level, and provides greater opportunities after graduation. An Honours degree will make you more competitive when seeking employment amongst graduates without Honours degrees. Honours will reflect that you have developed research and analytical skills which are more advanced to those of pass degree candidates, and that you developed superior organisational and time management skills to complete the Honours program simultaneously with the demands of the BDent4 program. Honours will also provide an advantage when applying for postgraduate study.

II. Honours timeline and key dates

The Honours program is completed within the four years of the BDent curriculum, and is a program of study available only to meritorious students who satisfy the admissions criteria stipulated in (II) above. The Honours program is overseen by the Honours Subcommittee, whose composition is reflected in Section (V) above. The Honours program is taken in addition to the curriculum requirements of BDent4. Honours is typically completed during the final (fourth) year of the program, though students considering entry should start contemplating their research project and choice of supervisor towards the end of their third year. Students considering Honours should be mindful that the Honours program is academically demanding and is completed in addition and simultaneously to all requirements of the BDent4 curriculum; hence good motivation and excellent time management and organisational skills are required to ensure that you keep up with expectations. The Faculty, via the Honours Subcommittee, will advise of students eligible to undertake Honours at the commencement of BDent4. The yearly timeline for Honours (exact dates available from the Honours Subcommittee each year) is as detailed below: January BDent4 Honours Subcommittee recommends students eligible for Honours who are contacted individually from the Faculty Office January (end).

Eligible students are to advise the Chair of the Honours Subcommittee of decision whether or not to undertake the program.

• February (end) Outline of research project proposal due to the Honours Subcommittee, as approved by supervisor.
• March (mid) Honours Subcommittee to provide notification on outcome of research project applications to applicants and their supervisors. Reasons for non-approval of a project are also to be provided.
• October (early) Honours project due for submission to the Chair, Honours Subcommittee for marking
• October (end) Student to present outline and findings of the Honours project at the Faculty Research Day.
• December (early) Results of Honours project advised to students by the Faculty December (mid) Graduation ceremony.

III. Selecting a supervisor – matters to consider

The importance of supervisor and project selection should not be overlooked – your supervisor is crucial to the quality of your experience and the successful completion of your project. Thus, you should expect to devote a considerable amount of time to this step, critically assessing the research environment offered by the supervisor. Clearly, you should find your proposed project interesting and important (and so should your supervisor!). Ideally, a supervisor will have demonstrated productivity by a record of publication and have a clear leadership position as evidenced by a record of private or public funding in a given area. A supervisor must be a salaried or honorary staff member of the Faculty of Dentistry. Potential candidates should approach the Chair of the Honours Subcommittee (Professor Greg Murray) or the Sub-Dean, BDent4 (Dr Elizabeth Martin) for advice on potential supervisors and their areas of expertise. The research section of the Faculty website is being developed to include the research areas of staff, which will assist you locating a suitable supervisor. Note that once you have identified an appropriate supervisor, you must approach him/her to discuss your intended project and to determine whether the staff member is able to supervise you for the duration of the project. Your supervisor will be your mentor for your project and will your primary recourse for all matters relating to the conduct of the project; hence it is critical that you are comfortable with your choice of supervisor. Your supervisor must also inform you whether appropriate resources/facilities are available to support your intended project.

IV. How to successfully develop your project proposal

Candidates must provide the Honours Subcommittee with a copy of the proposal prior the end of February during BDent4. The proposal must be endorsed by your supervisor prior to submission to the Committee. The format for the proposal should include the following sections:

• Background and significance – Why is this area interesting and important, and what has been done before? Remember to include a thorough literature review.
• Goal and specific aims – What is the ultimate goal of this research? The specific aims are aptly named: they should be a specific outline of the research questions you would like to answer. These provide the foundation for your research. You should spend some time on developing them.
• Materials and methods – What are the specific steps by which you will achieve this goal? The information you provide should be sufficiently detailed to allow a reader to carry out your methods independently. Include the specific statistical methods, if any, that you intend to use.
• References
• Appropriate appendices and use of refereed sources

Students considering conducting a literature review as opposed to a formal research project should consider, in addition to the above:

• The amount of literature available on the proposed area of study
• The quality of this literature – i.e. is it predominately published in refereed journals or edited books?
• Limiting the scope of the literature search to a definable problem/study within the parameters of the Honours program, taking into account the time available and the broad objectives of the Honours program.
• That the literature review can be used as a basis for further study on the proposed topic.

Above all, candidates must be mindful that a literature review is not a summary of available literature; it is a succinct, critical reflection and analysis of existing sources, which could be linked to your own clinical or theoretical experience of the program. Your supervisor can provide more details on how to successfully conduct a critical and reflective literature review. The proposal should be 2-5 pages in length using 12-point font and single spacing. All proposals must be approved by both the supervisor and by the Honours Subcommittee. Two signatures on the research proposal are required to verify this approval.

V. How your research proposal is approved

Members of the Honours Subcommittee will consider your research proposal and will decide whether to approve the topic based on factors such as:

• whether the project can be completed within the time frame taking into account the scope of methodology of the proposed study,
• that the project does not incur any significant financial costs for equipment, travel, etc,
• that adequate literature and resources exist to support the project,
• that ethical considerations/protocols can be accommodated within the timeframe,
• that the proposed methodology appears sound,
• that the project has relevance in terms of contributing to dental education and research.

VI. Funding procedures for research purposes

Any funds anticipated to support an Honours project must be made clear in the proposal and supported with sounds rationale; it will then be at the discretion of the Honours Subcomittee to determine whether the committee requires or warrants any funding to support it, but at the Honours level, it is generally considered that the level and scope of projects should not require funding from the Faculty. However, whilst the chance of faculty funding for Honours projects is very limited, the Australian Dental Research Foundation (ADRF) may provide funds on an annual basis to support student research on a competitive basis; information is typically disseminated to the faculty during March of the year funding is awarded and this information addressed to students via the BDent4 website. Applications for funding from the ADRF must be approved by the Faculty prior to submission to the ADRF.

VII. Help available

You should contact your supervisor in the first instance with any questions you have concerning the conduct of your project or the administration of the Honours program. Matters that cannot be resolved by your supervisor may be referred to the Chair of the Honours Subcommittee for consideration with your supervisor.

VIII. Human or Animal Subject Approval Procedures

If your project involves animal or human subjects, you should discuss with your supervisor whether the proposed research requires formal ethical approval. If the project requires approval from the University or Hospital Ethics Committees, you must allocate additional time to secure this approval, bearing in mind that the approval process required of the University and/or Hospital Ethics Committees can take several months, given the protocols and process involved. Information on the ethics approval process can be obtained from your supervisor and from the University's website at:
www.usyd.edu.au/su/reschols/animal/animal.html .

This excerpt from the Research Office website (Ethics section) summarises who needs to apply for ethics and in general, what research activities require ethics approval:

"All research undertaken by Staff, Honours, Masters, Doctorate and other Higher degree and Diploma students, involving humans which includes:

• the use of questionnaires/surveys or interviews
• access to medical or other personal records
• investigations of human behaviour
• routine testing of human subjects
• the administration of drugs, ionising radiation, chemical agents or vaccines
• any other experimentation on human beings

must be submitted for the approval of the Human Research Ethics Committee."

As a rule, undergraduate pre-honours or course work projects may be approved by the Head of Department but, if there is any doubt, reference should be made to the Ethics Manager.
(Refer to: www.usyd.edu.au/ethics/human/faq/gen.html)

IX. Project presentation guidelines

The written format to be used for the thesis should be either that of a journal article or that of a formal thesis. The student should work closely with the supervisor during the writing phases of the project. If you intend to use the journal article format, consult the requirements of the journal to which you intend to submit the manuscript. Please note that you should follow the format for the full journal article, rather than any of the abbreviated or preliminary reports.

1. Australian Dental Journal
   www.ada.org.au/_Journal_Archives.asp
2. British Dental Journal
   www.nature.com/bdj/index.html
3. Journal of the American Dental Association
   www.ada.org/prof/pubs/jada/authors/index.html
4. Journal of Dental Research
   http://jdr.iadrjournals.org/misc/ifora.shtml
5. New England Journal of Medicine
   www.nejm.org/hfa/subinstr.asp
6. Journal of the American Dental Association
   www.ada.org/prof/pubs/jada/authors/index.html

Presenting the project in thesis format is similar to that of a manuscript to be submitted to a scholarly journal. Because there are no limitations on length, however, you should plan to include all background, experimental details, and discussion points, which are pertinent to the study. As such, the thesis should be composed of the following sections:

(a) Introduction and selected review of the literature

This section should review the pertinent literature and outline the major purpose of the research. Reference should be made to previous relevant studies in order to explain what has been done as well as to explain the purpose of this research. The Introduction should start or end with a succinct articulation of the hypothesis tested.

(b) Materials and methods

Describe clearly and carefully the procedures and materials used; a reader should be able to repeat your exact methodology. This section should also include the overall research design and statistical methods.

(c) Results

Report the results in a well-organised fashion with minimal subjective comment or reference to the literature. This section serves mainly to introduce tables and figures and to call attention to their significant parts.

(d) Discussion

The data should be explained and interpreted with reference to the previous literature. The significance of the results may also be included. This is the section in which to emphasise subjective comment. In a thesis, the scope of the discussion extends beyond that of a journal article. For example, you may discuss why your first experiments failed, or how you arrived at the design for a particular protocol, or what you would do next if you were continuing the study.

(e) Summary and conclusions

Summarise essential results and conclusions. End with a statement on the real significance of the study.

(f) Abstract

(g) References

A bibliography must be included. References must comply with the Harvard referencing style throughout the project.

X. Participation in Faculty Research Day

The Faculty Research Day (held during October) provides an opportunity for scholastic intercourse, where our students and staff have the opportunities to present their research findings to peers, members of the profession, the community and personnel of the teaching hospitals. Honours candidates are required to make an oral or poster presentation at the Faculty Research Day to showcase their research and achievement. Presentations and posters are required to adhere to professional standards expected at an external conference. The information below should be used as a guide.

(a) Abstract format

Abstracts must contain the following information, in order:

In 200 words or less, summarise the purpose, methods, results, and conclusions. A reader should be able to understand your study and its results from reading your abstract.

1. Abstract title
   Capitalise appropriate words (e.g In situ Hybridisation Studies of Osteocalcin mRNA in Developing Rat Bone)
2. Your name
   (e.g Ima Student)
3. Research Sponsor, Title, Department, School or Organisation
   (e.g ADA, Halas scholarship etc)
4. Abstract text
   (500 word maximum)
   Include:

• Hypothesis tested
• Brief background
• Methods used
• Results
• Data
• Statistical analysis (where appropriate)
• Conclusions (underline)

(b) Funding sources

Name of supporting agency and grant number (e.g This study was supported by YOUNAMEIT grant). All abstracts must be approved by your supervisor prior to the Research Day

(c) Poster format and size

Each presenter will have a space of 120x120 cm for his or her poster. The stationary, double-sided poster boards stand 7 feet high and are 8 feet long. Thus two posters 120x120cm will occupy each side of a poster board. A diagram and space assignment will be distributed prior to Research Day.

(d) Poster layout

Poster components may be mounted directly on the poster boards with pushpins. The boards are white, so it is a good idea to use a contrasting colour behind each component to frame it. In designing the poster, keep in mind that the poster is a guide for your verbal “talking-points”. Therefore, the best use of space is usually for an abstract, minimal bulleted highlights of your project, (e.g Specific Aims, Significance, Methods, Results, and Conclusions) and multiple graphics. It is a good idea to include the abstract at the beginning. Remember, small fonts are not “viewer friendly” while graphics are “viewer friendly”. Make sure your information can be easily read from a distance of 1–1.5m away.

The banner for the poster should include Title, Your Name (Year), Sponsored by [Sponsor’s Name if relevant], [Sponsor’s Title and Affiliation]. If the project was funded, cite the funding agency and grant number, if any, at the end of the abstract. A suggestion for making the title banner in Word (use Landscape orientation).

(e) The six elements of an outstanding poster

1. Clear title. This will indicate either the question being asked, or the answer to the question that was asked.
2. Why do it? Why is this important? Why is it interesting? Why should anyone (other than you and your mentor) care?
3. How did you do it? What are the methods?
4. What were the results?
5. Where do we go from here? Having answered an interesting and important question, how will the information be applied, or what will be the next steps toward refining the answer? (Note, if the answer to this question is to, "do a larger study" then you probably have not thought through element #2 above).
6. The entire poster should be readable in less than 5 minutes. This usually means that:

• you will need to present more charts, graphs, and pictures than words
• the words should be readable from 4 feet away, and
• the type font is greater than 24.

XI. Assessment and grading of the Honours project

• The Honours project is assessed by two examiners, who are anonymous to the student.
• The final mark is made on the recommendation of the Honours Subcommittee, taking to account the marks and comments made by the two examiners.
• The criteria used for marking the Honours project is detailed in the Faculty Honours Policy, Section V (Assessment).
• After the assessment process is completed, the student is able to review a copy of the collated examiners comments and marks.

XII. Award of Honours

The Honours Subcommittee will recommend to the Dean whether a student is eligible for graduating with Honours based on the academic merit of the research project submitted. Students graduate with BDent(Hons) – a class of Honours is not awarded due to the non-numerical grading system of the BDent program.