Journalism Graduate Student Checklist
NOTE: Special rules apply to 5-Year BA/MA students—always ask the graduate coordinator first.
Dr. Patsy G. Watkins - Journalism Graduate Coordinator - Kimpel 130 - E-mail: pwatkins@uark.edu
Journalism M.A. - Basic Requirements:
Minimum of 30 semester hours with a cumulative grade point of 3.0 or higher.
Students must complete (in addition to all other requirements in the UA Graduate Catalog, etc.):
18 hours of Journalism graduate coursework including the required JOUR 5043 Research Methods.
6 hours of graduate credit in a single department other than Journalism (Outside coursework)
All courses are chosen by the student in consultation with the Master’s Advisory Committee.
All courses must be approved by the Master’s Advisory Committee before the student takes
them.
(The graduate coordinator can approve courses for the first semester, if needed.)
You must take the graduate section of all graduate 4000 level courses (listed in the Graduate Catalog).
5-Year BA/MA students cannot take 4000 level courses for graduate credit while an undergraduate.
A Master's Thesis (JOUR 600V - 6 hours) – a research thesis, thesis project, or documentary and
materials.
All requirements must be completed within six years of entering the program.
Basic Forms/Procedures/Information:
Master’s student forms are found at http://grad.uark.edu/forms/degreeforms.php. Always download forms
yourself when you need them to make sure you have the most recently updated version; the Graduate School
does not accept older forms.
Master’s Calendar: Outlines what you need to do and when you need to do it. Go to
http://grad.uark.edu/dean/calendar/index.php
You will have 2 committees: the Master's Program Advisory and Thesis committees. Both are headed by a
Journalism Graduate faculty member, ideally with expertise in your thesis topic. You do not have to have the
same members on both committees.
Master's Program Advisory Committee. This committee, typically composed of three Journalism Graduate
faculty members, is to be formed immediately after you begin your first semester in the program. This
committee approves your Journalism and Outside coursework before you take it by signing two copies of the
completed Journalism Master’s Course Approval Form, available from the graduate coordinator at
pwatkins@uark.edu. The specific form should also be available here. Or search www.grad.uark.edu.
Your classes must be approved by your advisory committee. Committee members must approve the classes
by signing this form.
Master’s Thesis Committee. This committee, composed of two Journalism Graduate faculty members and a
member from your Outside area, oversees your work on your thesis. You must form this committee before you
begin work on your thesis and submit the thesis committee form to the graduate school more than three
months before your thesis defense. This committee approves your proposal before you begin work on your
thesis. Members should have expertise in areas related to your thesis topic. The specific form should also be
available here. Or search www.grad.uark.edu. (Note the form is identical to the Advisory Committee form.)
IRB Permission (irb@uark.edu). You must find out whether Institutional Review Board approval for conducting
research with or interviewing human subjects is needed for your project, and obtain that approval if needed,
BEFORE you begin work on your thesis. Contact irb@uark.edu with questions. But FIRST review the
guidelines and information at http://vpred.uark.edu/210.php.
Master's Thesis Title form. This form must be completed and submitted to the Graduate School three months
before you defend your thesis, along with the Master’s Thesis Committee form.
Master's Degree - Record of Progress. This form must be completed by your Thesis Committee right after you
defend your thesis. All members of your committee must sign and indicate pass or fail. This form must be
submitted to the Graduate School with your completed thesis.
Intellectual Property Disclosure. This form indicating whether your thesis contains intellectual property of
commercial interest must be completed and submitted to the Graduate School with your completed thesis.
Most JOUR MA theses do not have intellectual property of commercial interest.
Guide to Preparing a Thesis. Find it at http://grad.uark.edu/dean/commencement/GTandDD_Guide.pdf
Important Policies and Information in the Graduate School Catalog and Online:
Policies to review include the Summary of Procedures; Academic Grievance Procedures for Graduate
Students; Grievance Policy and Procedures for Graduate Assistants; Research Misconduct Policies and
Procedures; Term Paper Assistance (violation); Academic Dismissal / Academic Probation; Graduate Student
Dismissal Policy; Academic Honesty Policy for Graduate Students; Annual Graduate Student Academic
Review;
Sexual Harassment Policy http://oeoc.uark.edu/418.0-Sexual_Harrassment.pdf; and
Office of Affirmative Action Non-Discrimination Policies http://ofaa.uark.edu/148.php
Graduate Student Handbook http://grad.uark.edu/dean/governance/gradstudenthandbook.php
International Programs & Services http://international.uark.edu/
Graduate Catalog – find the most recent version at http://catalog.uark.edu/
Graduate Student Survival Guide - find it at http://grad.uark.edu/dean/gs-survival-guide.php
Getting Started on Your Thesis:
Journalism MA students have the option of completing the academic thesis, the thesis project or the
documentary film to satisfy the thesis requirement. Consult with your thesis director about your thesis topic and
type (research, project, or documentary).

For the academic thesis: See the Basic Outline of a Research Proposal for information on developing
your thesis proposal. Read and follow the Guide for Preparing Master’s Thesis listed above.

For the documentary film option: Students hoping to complete a documentary thesis must contact Larry
Foley (lfoley@uark.edu) or Dale Carpenter (dcarpent@uark.edu) for special requirements and
documentary proposal guidelines.

For the thesis project option: See the explanation of the thesis project and outline for its structure.
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JOUR MA--Basic Outline of a Research Proposal
Introduction
a.
Describe in detail, in a sentence or paragraph, exactly what you're studying.
b.
Why is it important to study your topic?
c.
Provide a compelling example
d.
Explain, in research terms, why your study is important and how
it builds upon past research.
Literature Review - This is where you summarize the important findings and methods
from previous research that helped you design this study.
a.
Start by making an outline of all the studies you'll include in your literature review.
1. What are the major findings (expressed in exact percentages, etc., if applicable)
that suggest how/why you are doing your study. What are the major findings
that explain why your study is next?
2.
What were the methods, if any, that helped you figure out how to design your
study. Put a summary (that still explains what they did) and put the full
explanation in the methods section. Explain how or why future research
(like yours) should use or adapt these methods, if applicable.
3.
What variable(s) were used that you plan to use in your study (if applicable)?
Again, only briefly explain them here and fully explain them in your methods
section. Explain how or why future research (like yours) should use or adapt
these variable(s) or factors that affect what you're studying.
b.
Have a concise yet detailed paragraph at the end summarizing the important points
from your literature review. These should serve as a transition into your
Hypotheses/Research Questions section.
THE LITERATURE REVIEW IS A VERY IMPORTANT SECTION.
Hypotheses/Research Questions - Provide the specific, detailed questions you're going to
explore in your study. Start with a paragraph or two explaining how and why the
information you presented in your Literature Review led you to these questions.
Explain (again) how or why your hypotheses or research questions are questions
that will extend past research.
Methods - Here's where you fully explain how you're going to conduct your study.
a.
Identify the type of study (Content analysis? Experiment? Survey?)
b.
Explain exactly how you'll conduct your proposed study (if you did it for real)
1.
Full details about sample, sampling method, rationale, etc.
2.
Full details about procedures that are proposed.
3.
Full details about variables, exact ways they'll be measured, etc.
4.
Full details (as best you can) about how you'll test to see whether
your findings are significant.
METHODS IS A VERY IMPORTANT SECTION.
Results - Provide the exact details of the outcome of your study. Review an academic or scholarly
published article similar to your study. Use it as a guide for what to include here.
Discussion (and Conclusion) - What is important about what you found and what
does it mean for the future? What should research in this area investigate in the
future? Why? Review an academic or scholarly published article similar to your study.
Use it as a guide for what to include here.
References - Provide sources that you actually cite or use. Make sure most are academic.
Use an accepted citation style such as APA, MLA or Chicago.