To obtain a PhD in Communication and Media Studies from the SOJC, you’ll need to complete 81 graduate course credits beyond the master’s level. The credits include a core sequence you’ll take in your first year as well as coursework in research methods, a communication and media studies specialty, and a field outside the SOJC, plus at least 18 dissertation credits. After passing comprehensive exams and receiving dissertation proposal approval, ideally no later than fall term of your third year, you’ll apply what you’ve learned to original research and a dissertation that contributes to the field.
To see when most students take these courses and complete other benchmarks, see our sample schedule.
Below, you will find descriptions of core required courses as well as elective doctoral seminars. Please note that elective course offerings vary from year to year.
To review the full list of available courses, consult our course catalog. Although doctoral-level classes are 600-level classes, many 600-level courses are designed to fulfill requirements for students in SOJC’s professional master’s programs and may not be suitable for or open to doctoral students.
JCOM 601 Research: [Topic] (1–6 credits)
Repeatable for maximum of 16 credits. Obtain professor approval and determine course expectations before registering for independent study under their supervision.
JCOM 603 Dissertation (1–16 credits)
Register for these credits only after completing your comprehensive exams and obtaining dissertation proposal approval. Your dissertation is a substantial document presenting your original research that adds to the scholarly body of knowledge about media studies. You’ll need to enroll in at least 18 credits of JCOM 603 and work on your research and dissertation for at least two terms. For more details about and guidelines for the dissertation, download the graduate handbook.
JCOM 605 Readings and Conference: [Topic] (1–12 credits)
Repeatable. Obtain professor approval and determine course expectations before registering for independent study under their supervision.
JCOM 607 Seminar: [Topic] (1–5 credits)
Repeatable.
JCOM 610 Experimental Course: History and Theory of New Media (4 credits)
This course will introduce students to the history of the new media as well as to the key theoretical issues that have emerged in their wake. Addresses key categories specific to new media: computation, information and data, networks, machines and the artificial, and digital capitalism. Examines how new media processes and practices have impinged upon and reconfigured crucial areas of social life.
JCOM 610 Experimental Course: Political Communication (4 credits)
This course examines some central controversies, theories, and research questions about the role of the media in elections and governing. Key questions considered include: How do political actors attempt to manage the news, and how does that matter? What framing and persuasion strategies do politicians employ to shape public opinion and voter behavior? How do standard routines for covering politics affect the quality of the news the public receives and the ability of political officials to lead? And how have elite strategies and news coverage been transformed by the rise of today’s “hybrid” media system? This course focuses more on the supply side of political communication than the demand side—that is, on the actors, organizations, and systems that shape the political messages people receive. Also focuses primarily on media and politics in the United States.
JCOM 610 Experimental Course: Studying the Visual (4 credits)
This course examines the power of seeing as a way of knowing and living. Grounded in cross-disciplinary theory and methods related to the visual, this seminar explores how images emerge from and affect our understanding of the world, our perceptions of the real and the illusory, and the processes of living and doing. Examines ways we interweave galleries of the mind with and through external imaging forms to express meaning and shape stories of the self and others.
JCOM 610 Experimental Course: Studying the News (4 credits)
This course introduces journalism studies, drawing on a variety of approaches—including sociology, media studies, and science and technology studies—to make sense of the social, cultural, and epistemological consequences of journalism. The overview of journalism research that this course provides is particularly important for students interested in studying news, but it is also helpful for students with journalism-adjacent emphases in areas such as political communication, communication technologies, international communication, and critical/cultural studies of media, among others.
JCOM 612 Media Theory I (5 credits)
This is the first in a two-part sequence introducing students to media theory, focusing on the social scientific tradition.
JCOM 613 Media Theory II (5 credits)
This is the second in a two-part sequence introducing students to media theory, focusing on critical/cultural and alternative approaches.
J619 Teaching and Professional Life (4 credits)
Explore teaching strategies, curriculum development, and other aspects of academic professional life in journalism and communication.
JCOM 629 Media and Communication Ethics: [Topic] (4 credits)
These topics courses explore ethical issues facing media workers and media users in culture and society today. Topics may include digital ethics, strategic communication ethics, visual ethics, and global media ethics. Check with the professor to determine whether the course is focused at the master’s or doctoral level.
JCOM 641 Qualitative Research Methods (4 credits)
This course introduces qualitative research methods, including traditional historical inquiry, oral history, ethnography, and participant observation.
JCOM 642 Quantitative Research Methods (4 credits)
This course introduces quantitative research methods in terms of design, measurement, inference, and validity, with a focus on conceptualization in communication research.
JCOM 643 Advanced Doctoral Seminar (5 credits)
Students demonstrate competence in broad families of social research by drawing on the skills and knowledge you obtained in JCOM 612, JCOM 613, JCOM 641, and JCOM 642.
JCOM 644 Philosophy of Communication (4 credits)
This course explores the philosophical foundations of communication and media studies.
JCOM 646 Political Economy of Communication (4 credits)
Get an introduction to the political economy of communication. Includes such issues as ownership and control patterns, the role of the state, labor, intellectual property rights, and international markets.
JCOM 648 Cultural Approaches to Communication (4 credits)
This course examines communication and mediated communication as cultural processes in the production and reproduction of social systems.
JCOM 649 International Communication (4 credits)
This course examines global communication structures and processes and their consequences. Topics include new technologies, news and information organizations, cross-cultural uses of Western media, impact of religious practices, and information policies.
JCOM 660 Advanced Research Methods: [Topic] (4 credits)
Explore specific qualitative or quantitative communication research methods. Topics may include discourse analysis, oral history, historical methods, legal methods, content analysis, survey methods, document analysis, ethnographic methods, data analysis, and experimental design. Repeatable when topic changes.
Questions?
Need some guidance? Here are a few options:
- Download our graduate handbook for more details about program requirements and resources.
- Contact Amy Boutell, Director of Graduate Affairs and Student Experience, with questions about the program, the application process, and admission.
Once you’re admitted, you’ll be matched with a faculty advisor who will be your first point of contact for academic and career guidance.