DOCTORAL CORE COURSE REQUIREMENTS
See Doctoral Manual> (coming soon)
The Doctor of Philosophy is a minimum 60-hour program. To earn
the Ph.D. in Mass Communications, the student must successfully
complete the following:
1. Qualifying Examination:
A qualifying examination, administered at the beginning of the
student’s program, which determines master’s level
understanding of mass media research methods, history, law, and
communications theory; this examination, largely diagnostic in
nature, will help the faculty in planning the student’s program
of study; students showing deficiencies in ay of these areas may
be required to enroll in appropriate 700-level courses to satisfy
this requirement; doctoral students who have successfully completed
the M.A. comprehensive examination and earned the M.A. degree from
the school within the past five years will have satisfied this
requirement;
2. Basic Doctoral Core (30 credit hours):
- JOUR 801 -- Communications Research Design
- JOUR 803 -- Seminar in Mass Communication Theory and Theory
Construction
- JOUR 804 -- Historical Research Methods
- JOUR 805 -- Seminar in Teaching Media Studies
- JOUR 806 -- Legal Research Methods
- JOUR 807 – Advanced Communication Research
- JOUR 808 – Communication Research: Critical, Cultural,
and Naturalistic Approaches
- JOUR 810 – Independent Research Project (6 hours)
- An advanced Statistics course taken in a department outside
of the School
3. Mass Communication Major Area (9 credit hours):
At least three courses of Mass Communications electives from
JOUR courses at 700/800 level
4. Outside Area of Concentration (9 credit hours):
At least three courses in another field of study, such as economics,
business, political science, history, education, library science,
or English must be taken. Normally the three courses would be in
the same academic discipline. However, a student interested, for
example, in modern Africa might, with approval of the faculty,
take one pertinent course in history, one in political science,
and a third in sociology.
5. Research Methods:
At least six hours (two courses) of the total minimum 18 hours
in #3 and #4 above must be courses in research methods.
6. Comprehensive Examination:
A comprehensive examination based on doctoral coursework. This
examination is administered in two parts: A 12-hour written examination
(four three-hour sets of questions, taken over five consecutive
business days, and an oral defense before the student's Comprehensive
Examination Committee. The comprehensive exam and oral defense
will cover mass communication research, theory, a third area of
emphasis in mass communication and an outside area.
7. The University's Residency Requirement:
The student must be enrolled for at least a total of 18 semester
hours over three consecutive major semesters.
8. Foreign Language:
A reading knowledge of at least one foreign language. This requirement
may be satisfied by successfully completing an examination administered
by the various foreign language departments concerned.
9. Dissertation:
An acceptable doctoral dissertation that includes a minimum of
12 hours of dissertation credits (JOUR 899) and a successful oral
dissertation defense before the student's Dissertation Committee.
It should be pointed out that these are minimum requirements. A
doctoral student who aspires to write a dissertation in a given area
might be directed by that student's faculty committee to enroll for
an additional course in statistics, for example. |
