Master of Arts in Mass Communications, Student-Designed Emphasis
This degree is a traditional research-oriented, two-year, 48-credit degree program that offers a great deal of flexibility. Students develop a research topic based on their particular interests in mass communications, using the appropriate methodological tools studied during their first year of course work. After completing 24 credits in the program, students develop a thesis proposal for the research project (along with taking classes per the requirements). Once a student’s thesis committee has approved the proposal, the student then concentrates on researching and writing the thesis during the second year of graduate study. To complete this program successfully, a student must defend the thesis before his or her graduate thesis committee.
SUMMARY OF COURSE WORK
• Required courses: 20 credits (5 classes)
• Electives: 20–28 credits (5–7 classes, maximum of 12 credit hours outside the Department of Mass Communications and Journalism Studies)
• Thesis: 1–8 credits (depending on program plan worked out between student and adviser)
• Total: 48 credits
REQUIRED COURSES
• MCOM 4160 Mass Communication Theory (4 qrt. hrs.)
• MCOM 4250 Seminar in Critical Studies of Film, Television and Popular Culture (4 qrt. hrs.)
• MCOM 4300 Issues in Freedom of Expression (4 qrt. hrs.)
• MCOM 4550 Effects and Consequences of the Mass Media (4 qrt. hrs.)
• MCOM 4260 Qualitative Research Methods (4 qrt. hrs.) or MCOM 4560 Quantitative Research Methods (4 qrt. hrs.)