Admission Standards and Procedures

Applicants to the program are evaluated on a monthly basis. Students may be admitted for the fall or spring semesters or for the summer session. Admission to the journalism program is competitive. Multiple criteria are considered and include cumulative grade point averages, relevant employment history in the form of a resume, and a personal goal statement.

Applicants whose highest degree is from a foreign university must have their credentials evaluated. The university will accept evaluations done by any credentialing agency listed on the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services web site (http://www.naces.org).

Program Requirements

1. Courses and credit hours. Students will complete their degrees with a minimum of 30 hours of graduate credit. All courses taken for graduate credit must be approved by the graduate faculty of the department. Student work must be completed at a level of performance satisfactory to the graduate faculty. Students must complete all journalism courses with a grade point average of 3.0 or better. Course work taken outside the department must be approved by the student’s advisor. No more than 9 credit hours of coursework may be taken at the 6000-level.
   
   Students with graduate credit earned at another institution may petition to have it applied toward their degree requirements at the University of Memphis. Such credit is not transferred automatically and must be approved by the graduate faculty. A maximum of 6 semester hours earned at another regionally accredited university may be applied toward the master’s degree requirements at the University of Memphis.
    
2. Required Courses. All students are required to complete a 6-hour core Journalism and Strategic media core consisting of Pro Seminar and Mass Communication Theory. Students must complete Pro Seminar by the end of their first semester.
3. Mass Media Research concentration students are also required to complete Qualitative Research Methods and Quantitative Research Methods (6 hours).
4. Students are also required to complete 12 hours of 7000-level electives and six hours of master’s thesis (6 hours).
   
   Students are encouraged to prioritize the core courses, and complete them as soon as possible. No more than three hours in either JRSM 7700 or JRSM 7800, but not both, may be applied to the degree. No more than three hours in either JRSM 7600 or JRSM 7650, but not both, may be applied to the degree. All requirements for the degree must be completed in eight years. Courses older than eight years will not be allowed as credit toward the master’s degree. Additionally, students who entered the program without an undergraduate degree in journalism and mass communication or a similar field are required to take JRSM 6700,JRSM 7320, and JRSM 7000.
5. Master’s Thesis ( JRSM 7996 - Thesis **). Students in the Mass Media Research concentration must complete a thesis. A thesis uses the academic research method to examine a phenomenon in mass communication, or to consider a legal, historical, or visual issue related to journalism and mass communication. It must collect and analyze original data, and discuss how the research fits in with established knowledge. A thesis might use content analysis, survey, experiment, focus groups, in-depth interviews, document analysis, ethnography, legal analysis, historical analysis, or visual analysis.On completion of a thesis, a student will take an oral examination with a three-person faculty committee that assesses the thesis and the student’s broader awareness of theoretical and empirical issues in his or her field. The student must defend both the thesis proposal as well as the final document. He or she is responsible for assembling a committee, which should consist of at least 3 faculty members (a minimum of 2 from Journalism and Strategic Media). Students must take 6 credit hours of thesis credit, and cannot count more than 6 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 semester and remain on their assistantship.

Original data collection for a thesis might need approval from the Institutional Review Board, depending on the type of research. Students should familiarize themselves with the Thesis/Dissertation Preparation Guide before starting to write the thesis.