COMS9001 Communicating Research

This topic is available to HDR students as part of their candidature.
The topic is intended for new students, in their second semester of candidature, to facilitate achieving the first HDR Milestones.

About the topic

COMS9001 is a 12 week topic, assisting HDR students, from all disciplines, to improve their written and oral communication skills within the context of their study.  Subjects covered include:

• Writing a literature review
• Writing a research proposal;
• Planning and structuring a research thesis;
• Adapting style and expression for different audiences;
• Developing arguments and selecting evidence;
• Disseminating research;
• Revising and editing a document;
• Planning and delivering oral presentations.

COMS9001 provides a range of benefits for students, including the opportunity to:

• focus on HDR writing and communication skills in the context of work already being produced for their own research;
• gain practical skills in dealing with structure, argument, wordiness, expression and grammar;
• receive flexible course assessment for individual needs;
• acquire a wide range of skills, from second language improvement to submission and publication standard;
• receive individual detailed feedback on writing skills and ongoing revision of work to meet required standards;
• collaborate with and support other commencing students within and across disciplines (classes are loosely grouped by discipline area); and
• obtain a clear understanding of the expectations and standards required for successful thesis writing.

Who can take the topic

The topic is available to all HDR students with no coursework component. Students who are enrolled in a PhD (Clinical Psychology), Doctor of Education and Doctor of Public Health are unable to undertake the topic as it does not fit with the course rules.

The topic cannot be taken in the first semester of candidature, as students need have some written material to work with. 

By enrolling on COMS9001 there will be a charge, however your total HDR tuition fees in the semester stay the same. Your fees would be divided into two parts, 25% of your total semester fee is for COMS9001 and 75% is for the research component. 

Topic Dates

For detailed information on the topic dates and enrolment process, refer to the  COMS9001 Communicating Research topic information page.

How to enrol

You will need to provide written approval from your supervisor to undertake the topic, and fill out the enrolment form below.

What past students have gained from COMS9001:

• 'It was great to get together with other PhD students and interact and learn from one another and journey together through this topic. Building those relationships with others was really helpful on top of what we learnt during the topic.'
• 'Being told what a PhD is all about, the expectations, and to share with others about their experiences.'
• 'We used our own work (paper/thesis/research proposal/literature review) as a basis of identifying areas of improvement. This makes the learning more practical and relevant.'
• 'I liked the way this course worked with and was complimentary to my existing writing goals … This course has helped me think more deeply about my written communication and it has also helped me mark and give feedback to students.'
• 'The weekly writing tasks were nicely paced and helped build a set of knowledge and skills around writing.'
• 'As a result of attending your topic, my proposal moved from messy, to hardly any issues with structure whatsoever.'