MA Program

Besides the Graduate College minimum requirements, students must meet the following program requirements:

• Minimum Semester Hours Required 32. Students may elect one of two options: examination or thesis. Students declare their intention for either the thesis or nonthesis option at the beginning of their second year of full-time studies, after completing 24 hours of course work.
• Course Work At least 20 hours (excluding thesis hours) must be at the 500-level. Credit in COMM 474 and COMM 498 cannot be applied to the degree. Students who receive more than one grade below B in their graduate course work, or four incompletes that have not been made up within the regulatory one term, will be dropped from the program.

All instructions below are to be completed by all students before submitting an Intent to Graduate.

After taking the required courses, but generally before taking electives, a student in good academic standing is ready to move toward beginning the thesis. Please check in with Elaine Yuan first. As early as the first year for M.A. students, students begin to identify a research area and select a faculty advisor. Decide what general area to pursue and have exploratory conversations with the professor or professors who do research in that area. They will give advice on further courses (if any) needed to prepare for research in that area. M.A. students submit the COMM Departmental DECLARATION FORM to select the Thesis Option (or Non-Thesis Option) in the Fall Semester of their second year of coursework, listing the planned area of research, with the agreement of an advisor and approval of the DGS, and department head.

The main element of the thesis is sustained research under faculty guidance, involving a series of steps in which experts in the area of study guide the project through preparation and the examination process. Thesis examinations in the Department of Communication are not adversarial but mentoring in character. The official process begins at the end of coursework.

The following steps are a general guide, but details and regulations of the process leading to the final defense appear on the Graduate College website. The individual student, not the advisor or Director of Graduate Studies, is responsible for meeting all graduation requirements.

Collaborate with the advisor to select a research project and create a proposal. The advisor will guide you through the early stages of developing the research proposal.

Normally, the proposal includes the following sections:

1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Research Plan and Methods
4. Justification or Importance and Limitations
5. Bibliography

To create a committee that will assist the advisor in supervising the progress of the research, propose the advisor and two other members of the department faculty to the Director of Graduate Studies. For guidelines, see Committee Composition section of the Graduate College site. Here is the policy per the Graduate College for your Committee. If you are unsure if someone can be a Committee Member, see the Graduate College site here on Committee Member Policies.

When the advisor considers the proposal ready, arrange a meeting and provide copies of the proposal to committee members at least two weeks in advance. Prepare the departmental PROPOSAL APPROVAL FORM and take it to the meeting. At the meeting, present the research plan to committee, which will evaluate the proposal and determine whether to approve the research or require additional work before you can proceed.

Research involving human subjects (including secondary analyses of existing data from human subjects) requires approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB).

Once the committee has approved the proposal and the campus IRB has approved the protocol, the research may proceed. The advisor guides the process with assistance from other committee members.

After completing the research and getting approval from the advisor, submit the Committee Recommendation Form four weeks before the scheduled oral defense. This form must be sent to the Graduate College 4- 6 weeks before your Defense. Send copies of the written thesis to committee members for review not less than two weeks in advance. The written thesis should have been submitted to the iThenticate system with a zero percent result. Following a presentation and discussion of the completed thesis, the committee will evaluate the quality of the research and determine whether to approve it or, possibly, require additional work needed to make the research acceptable for the degree. Results are recorded on the Examination Report Form that is sent to the department by the Graduate College within 4 weeks of submitting your Committee form. Return Examination Form to the Graduate College within 48-hours.

The department will not make corrections or proof the document. All formatting, proofing and corrections are required to be done using the Graduate College’s system found here. Please ensure the document meets all Graduate College requirements. The standard time needed to review formatting for any thesis/dissertation is a month before defending even if the content is not approved. During this time, the students may be asked to correct the formatting before obtaining a final draft that is acceptable for submission.

Before submitting the electronic version of your thesis to the Graduate College, be sure to send a copy of your thesis for “content approval” to the Committee Chair.

Provide an electronic copy of a defended and content/format approved thesis to the Graduate College’s Submission Process, with all necessary paperwork.

The Non-Thesis Option in the M.A. Program of the Department of Communication requires that candidates for the degree satisfactorily complete a comprehensive examination including a written portion and an oral defense.

Students who elect the non-thesis option must declare their intention during their first year of coursework (but no later than April 1), listing the planned area of study on the M.A. Option Declaration form, with the agreement of an advisor and approval of the DGS and department head. Students must be in good standing as defined by the Graduate College.

The student selects an advisor from the faculty to serve as chair of the committee. In consultation with the advisor, the student proposes a program of study to complete coursework and selects two additional committee members, who then review the proposal. Upon receiving approval of the program, the student becomes a candidate in the non-thesis option, and the members form the candidate’s M.A. Non-Thesis Examining Committee. The committee conducts all aspects of the examination in mutual consultation.

View and download the Non-Thesis Option Form PDF.

The written portion of the examination divides into three units corresponding to the content areas the committee selects. The committee will provide a reading list to the candidate normally at least six weeks in advance of any examination question.

Each unit will include one or two questions for the candidate to answer during an agreed upon exam period. The committee will come to agreement with the candidate on the scheduling time and place for each exam, whether examinations will take place under supervision or not, and what materials the candidates use (such as readings, notes, or internet access) for each unit of the exam. Appropriate accommodation is available for persons with disabilities.

The three units will come in the order the committee determines, with units normally spaced out over a period of no more than one semester. In cases where a candidate establishes to the committee’s satisfaction the need to complete the full exam in a shorter or longer period, the committee will provide an equivalent notice and preparation time.

The written exams will assess the candidate’s achievement in reaching the core goals of the program, including a grasp of pertinent concepts, knowledge of methods, and skills at writing. Each unit or content area is graded on a pass/fail basis.

Candidates who propose to take the comprehensive examination for the non-thesis option of the degree must notify the Director of Graduate Studies, usually no later than the middle of the last semester in which the student is taking courses.

Candidates may withdraw their request for examination up to the last day before receiving the first unit exam. Within one week of that date, the student must propose to the committee a plan to finalize the exam.

The oral defense will take place after the candidate completes the third unit of the written exam. At the end of the oral defense, the candidate will leave the room, the committee will deliberate, and, once the members reach consensus, the chair will invite the candidate to return and will announce the results. At the end of the oral defense, the candidate will leave the room, the committee will deliberate, and once the members reach consensus, the chair will invite the candidate to return and will announce the results.