Core Requirements for MA and PhD in Communication

All MA and PhD students in Communication (excluding Film and Video production students) are required to take the following courses:

• Comm 7/8017 Intro to Grad Studies – to be taken first semester in the program
• Comm 7/8321 Communication Theory – offered every Spring semester

Method Courses:

• All MA students are required to take at least 3 hours of methods course in the department
• All PhD students are required to take at least 6 hours of methods courses (3 hours must be in the department)
• Methods courses will be indicated as such on the plan of study and will be decided on with the help of the advisor and the committee. 

Graduate Method Course Designation

The courses designated as counting towards methods were chosen from the current graduate catalog. Courses were chosen based on the following criteria:

1.     Teaching a method is a primary course objective 

2.     Methodological terminology is used in course description

3.     Course includes a major assignment/project where student applies methodological concept/s 

• COMM 7/8332 Topics in Comm Methods
• COMM 7/8371 Rhetorical Criticism
• COMM 7/8434 Qualitative Research Methods
• COMM 7/8804 Seminar Media Criticism 
• COMM 7/8XXX Critical Discourse Analysis
• Comm 7/8891 Graduate Film Production 

In order to deal with seminar or topics courses that change subject matter and instructors or courses that include methodological work needed for a particular student’s program, a student, with the approval of the advisor, fills out a form justifying how the course fits as a methods course and why it should count toward the student’s POS. Once completed the form should be sent to committee members and signed and returned to dissertation chair through DocuSign.