Master of Arts

1.     Statistics Prerequisite: Completing a statistics course (typically STATS 60 Introduction to Statistical Methods: Precalculus) is required for admission into the media studies coterminal program. The coterm advisor may approve other statistics courses as a substitute. The department may occasionally admit a coterminal student who has not yet completed this requirement. Such students should plan to take statistics during their first quarter in the program, as this constitutes an essential foundation for much of the master’s coursework. Units from the statistics course do not count toward the 45 units required for the MA in media studies. Students may enroll for the statistics course for either a letter grade or credit.

2.     Core Requirements: Students must complete COMM 206  Communication Research Methods and COMM 208 Media Processes and Effects. COMM 206 and COMM 208 cannot be waived. SOC 280A Foundations of Social Research is accepted as an alternative to COMM 206, with the units counting toward the maximum of nine total units outside the department. There is no alternative course for COMM 208.

3.     Six Media Studies Courses: Students must complete at least six additional communication courses concerned with media study from the list below. Not all the listed courses are offered yearly, and the list may be updated from one year to the next. 

4.     In addition to the core requirements and six media studies courses from the list below, students earn elective credit by completing additional communication courses (including COMM 299 Individual Work) or up to nine units from non-COMM courses from the preapproved list or approved by the student’s advisor.

5.     The Media Studies MA Project: Students following the media studies track enroll in  COMM 290 opens in a new tab Media Studies MA Project to complete a project over two consecutive quarters that must be preapproved and supervised by the advisor. The completed MA project must be submitted to the advisor no later than the last day of classes of the second consecutive quarter.

Additional communication courses (including COMM 299 Individual Work) or up to 9 units from non-COMM courses from the pre-approved list or approved by the student's advisor, to reach total units towards degree.

Three electives from among graduate-level courses in the Department of Communication or from among courses on campus that deal substantively with issues of public importance. Elective courses outside of Communication require approval from the advisor and the Director of the Graduate Program in Journalism. Approval of COMM 299 Individual Work as an elective requires enrollment for three units or more.

Journalism Thesis (COMM 289P), a requirement for graduation, is intended as an opportunity for students to showcase their talents as writers and reporters. It is also an opportunity to undertake an in-depth critique of an area of journalism in which the author has a particular interest. Work on the project usually begins during the second to last quarter and continues through the student’s final quarter in the form of the class Journalism Thesis (COMM 289P). Completed master’s projects must be submitted to the project advisor no later than the last day of classes in the student’s final quarter. The project represents a significant commitment of time, research, and writing. Although the project is not required to be published, it must be judged by a faculty member to be of a quality acceptable for publication. At a minimum, the project should demonstrate the rigor and discipline required of sound scholarship and good journalism; it should offer ample evidence of the student’s ability to gather, analyze, and synthesize information that goes beyond what ordinarily appears in daily news media.