The Honours IV year consists of an individually approved program of study.

This would normally consist of:
(a) the courses Musicology 5 and 6 (50%); and
(b) an Honours level thesis of approximately 12,000 words (50%).

Through various types of project work and presentations, commensurate with Honours level, students must demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the range of approaches and research methods in musicology and a critical knowledge of the sources and literature of music and musicology. Students must also demonstrate an understanding of music across cultures. Students are encouraged to undertake at least one archival project or field work in Australian music, using collections such as the National Library of Australia, ScreenSound Australia, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, the Butlin Archives and other national collecting institutions.

Students taking this course can expect that this course will:
1. Enhance their ability to research and explore scholarly ideas in music.
2. Enhance their capacity to examine music as cultural and aesthetic practice.
3. Promote an understanding of music from historical, contemporary, and cross-cultural contexts.
4. Introduce students to the materials, critical, historical, and oral sources of music research.
5. Deepen a student's understanding of the ways in which music develops within historical and socio-cultural contexts.
6. Develop the vocabulary and tools for speaking and writing critically about the rich traditions of music from European and other traditions.
7. Develop the ability to synthesise and evaluate primary sources with an emphasis on Australian sources.