Capstone Information

Students in the Mass Media Research concentration must complete a master’s thesis, which constitutes six hours of course work in your final semesters.

Thesis

• A thesis uses the academic research method to examine a phenomenon in mass communication, or to consider a legal, historical, or visual cases related to journalism and mass communication.
• A thesis generally is written as an academic article and has five sections: 1. Introduction 2. Literature review 3. Methodology 4. Results and 5. Discussion.
• A thesis must be theoretically based and collect original data and analyze it and discuss how your research fits in with established knowledge.
• A thesis might use appropriate research methods demonstrating knowledge gained in your coursework.
• The student must defend both a thesis proposal and a completed final thesis.
• The students must form a committee of at least 3 faculty (at least 2 from Journalism and Strategic Media).
• Students must take 6 credit hours of JRSM 7996 Thesis, no more than 6 can count toward graduation, but may take more if needed. Graduate assistants on the thesis path may take only 6 hours of thesis credit in their final semesters to remain on assistantship.
• A thesis might need approval from the Institutional Review Board, depending on the type of research.

Students in the professional MA J+SM program must complete either JRSM 7998 Professional Project or JRSM 7600 Graduate Media Practicum to satisfy their capstone requirement.

Project

• Students seeking master's degrees to enhance career progress may complete a professional project under the direction of a faculty committee. In a project, students create an original work that can be used by a professional outlet. The way a project is completed depends on the type of work being done. Students are expected to complete a project that would be useful in their careers.
• A professional project can take many forms. It might be a marketing plan, business startup, a communications plan for a nonprofit organization, a series of research-based journalism articles, or a visual creative project. Students will determine the expectations and guidelines for the project with the committee chair. The quality of work in a project is expected to be equal to a thesis.
• On completion of a professional project, a student will take an oral examination that assesses the project and the student's broader awareness of theoretical and empirical issues in his or her field. The student must defend both the project proposal as well as the final document. The student is responsible for assembling a committee, which should consist of at least two Journalism and Strategic Media faculty; additional outside members are welcome at the students' choice.
• Students must take three credit hours of project credit, and cannot count more than three toward graduation, but may take more if needed.
• A project might need approval from the Institutional Review Board, depending on the type of research.

Practicum

• Students may fulfill their capstone with a Graduate Media Practicum, and the writing of a report analyzing their practicum experience taking media theory in consideration.
• The report must be defended orally in front of at least two Journalism and Strategic Media faculty members.
• Although all graduate students are encouraged to work in internships, students may only count one for the graduate media practicum experience and may not otherwise earn internship credit.
• Students must write a proposal for the practicum and defend it to their committee before completing the practicum. Then, students must defend their final report to their committee to earn credit for the capstone.

Deadlines

Students completing a thesis or project/practicum have specific guidelines from the Department of Journalism and the Graduate School. Please check with the Graduate School for semester-specific deadlines. Students must give faculty members two weeks to read the final draft before a defense. Students should check with their chair to schedule deadlines for proposal defenses.

Forms for Graduate Students

Please see the forms page for all Internship forms, Student Travel request forms,  Permit request forms or forms related to Projects, Theses, Graduation and Assistantships.