Ph.D in Mass Communication:
Program Description and Requirements
The Ph.D. program focuses on preparing students for research-oriented positions in academic institutions, government agencies, and industry.
Click on a topic below for more information on the different aspects of the Ph.D. program requirements.
Program eligibility
Ph.D. Degree Requirements
Filing the Ph.D. Program
Preliminary Written Examination
Scheduling the Written Examination
Evaluation of Written Exam Performance
Preliminary Oral Examination
Ph.D. Dissertation
Scheduling the Final Oral Examination
Final Oral Examination (dissertation defense)
Program Eligibility: To be eligible to apply for the Ph.D. program, you must have completed, or be in the process of completing, a master's degree or equivalent advanced degree. Those are interested in the Ph.D. program but without an advanced degree, should apply to the M.A. in mass communication with the intent of applying for a change of status during your second year of master's study.
Once admitted to the Ph.D. program, you work closely with a faculty adviser to select your dissertation field and supporting coursework. Common areas of research include:
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Communication law and regulation
International mass communication
Media ethics
History of mass communication
Mass media structures, processes, and effects
However, our curriculum's interdisciplinary nature and the ability of students to minor allows students to customize specific research and career interests.
All Ph.D. students must complete a minimum of 54 graduate credits, 24 thesis credits, and a dissertation. All course work must be taken on an A-F grading basis.
Ph.D. Degree Requirements: The following requirements must be fulfilled to complete the Ph.D. program in mass communication.
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1. Required core courses in Social Science or Humanities Methodology (12 credits)
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2. Dissertation and supporting area coursework (42 credits, of which at least 18 must be taken outside of the department)
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3. Doctoral thesis credits (24 credits)
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4. Preliminary written examination
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5. Preliminary oral examination
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6. Approved dissertation
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Doctoral students pursuing international communication are expected to have or obtain high language proficiency in an appropriate area. Doctoral students in other areas are encouraged to consult with their advisers regarding the appropriateness of language study.
Written and oral preliminary examinations cover the required methodology core courses, dissertation area courses, and supporting course work, and are taken when all graduate course work is complete (usually at the end of the third year of study).
Doctoral students may not register for thesis credits until they have passed the preliminary oral examination. Preliminary written and oral examinations cover the required methodology core courses, dissertation area, and supporting coursework.
Ph.D. students prepare three-year program plans, as described in the Graduate School Catalog, in consultation with their adviser, a second adviser generally representing a supporting area, and an adviser from a minor department if a formal minor is declared. The program plan must be filed within the second year after admission to the Ph.D. program.
Students must submit the Departmental Program Form and the Graduate School Degree Program Form to the Director of Graduate Studies after all applicable advisers sign both. The forms are available in the Graduate Studies Office. A list of proposed committee members (three faculty members from SJMC and one faculty member from another department at the University of Minnesota) for the preliminary oral examination must be listed on the front page of the Graduate School Degree Program. The Director of Graduate Studies submits these forms to the Graduate Affairs Committee, absent student members, for approval or rejection, as it may direct.
After the Graduate School approves the program plan, students may petition to change previously approved coursework and committee members with approval from their adviser and the Director of Graduate Studies. After receiving approval, students must submit a Petition Form to the Graduate School.
Courses cannot be double-counted, and all courses included on the program plan must be graduate level (4xxx, 5xxx or 8xxx) and taken on an A-F grading basis.
Preliminary Written Examinations
Preliminary written Ph.D. examinations are scheduled to test mastery of the student's chosen area of study after coursework in the filed degree program has been completed. Written examinations cover the examinee's dissertation and supporting areas of study, including methodologies and mass communication research coursework. Comprehensive and aimed at the highest levels of scholarship, the exams are designed to assess abilities in abstract and concrete thought, including:
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ability to conceptualize problems;
create and critique research designs;
assimilate, associate and synthesize areas of knowledge;
evaluate literature, research, theories, models, methodologies;
discern, discuss and explain substantive issues, problems, trends, alternative perspectives and research approaches in both general and specific areas of the field.
An examination may include all or any combination of the above. Students should plan ahead and budget preparation time for the examinations. Generally, most students allow at least one semester for review, reading, thought and reflection in preparation for the examination.
Eligibility: Graduate students must contact the Graduate Studies Office before scheduling the preliminary written examination so the Director of Graduate Studies can review their transcripts for problems or deficiencies. If students have any incomplete grades in courses listed on the Ph.D. Program Plan, they may not take the preliminary written examination in any area. Students may take the examination while enrolled in courses that are part of the Ph.D. Program Plan, provided that the instructors in such courses certify that the work to date is satisfactory and will be completed within an agreed-upon period. The Graduate Studies Office will contact students’ faculty advisers after the Director of Graduate Studies determines that students are eligible to take the examination. The advisers will then assume their responsibilities as coordinators of the exam.
Format: The nature of a written preliminary examination, whether open- or closed-book, must be agreed upon by the adviser and examinee no later than one month (30 days) before the examination is to be administered. An "open-book" examination means that examinees may bring any materials they choose to the exam. All examinations are written in the room scheduled for the exam.
Members of the examinee’s graduate committee who teach in areas the examinee has designated as dissertation and supporting areas prepare exam questions. Usually three or four faculty members, including a committee member from outside the SJMC, write the questions. If non-SJMC committee members are invited to write questions, they need to be fully informed of the procedures of the test and of their option to decline writing questions if they prefer. The examinee may wish to refer non-SJMC faculty to an adviser or the Director of Graduate Studies for further explanation of the procedures.
Copies of the student's responses to the exam questions are distributed to all committee members. Evaluators (graders) include those members who prepared questions and additional SJMC faculty where necessary. In general, answers to questions in given areas are evaluated by at least two faculty of the appropriate area, with a third or fourth judgment possible at adviser discretion.
Scheduling the Written Examination
Doctoral students may choose to schedule dissertation and supporting area parts of their preliminary exam to be written at different times; however, it is generally advisable to schedule them no more than a week or two apart. The adviser coordinates the scheduling (see below).
Examinee's Responsibilities: Approximately one month before scheduling the examination, students should meet with their adviser to discuss their overall coursework and its intellectual coherence, including methods, supporting work and thrust of the dissertation research. In that discussion, the relationship of each committee member to the overall program is discussed. Students should then talk individually with committee members to ask members about their willingness to write questions for the examination. If committee members have questions about the process, the examinee should suggest they contact his or her faculty adviser.
No later than 30 days before examinees wish to write a preliminary examination, they notify their adviser of the date(s) and obtain the SJMC Examination Scheduling Form (PDF) from the Graduate Studies Office. Examinations should generally not be scheduled from the beginning of the first term of summer session to the opening of the fall semester, unless arrangements have been made in advance with the members of the committee, and the committee can be assembled without substitution.
Adviser's Responsibilities: The adviser, as coordinator of the examination, does the following:
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1. reserves a room for the examination and arranges for the questions to be made available to the examinee
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2. requests in writing that other members of the examining committee submit exam questions to him/her no later than two weeks before the scheduled examination date(s)
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3. provides examinee, at examinee's request, guidance on the scope of the examination
After the adviser has all questions in hand, he or she informs the examinee in writing of:
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1. the designated place for the exam to be written
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2. the designated time the examinee will receive the questions
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3. the exam format--including number of questions, degree of choice among questions, and maximum time allotted for typing answers to each question
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4. the examinee's option to schedule a pre-examination meeting with the adviser to clarify any points about procedures or the exam format in general
Committee Members' Responsibilities: Members writing exam questions are responsible for indicating any choices to be permitted among the questions they write; the adviser, as coordinator, does not decide which questions will be included or omitted, or where choice is permitted except among those questions written by him or herself.
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The maximum amount of time allotted to answer a given question must be specified. Any single question may not require more than eight hours time for completion.
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The faculty members directly involved determine the length and duration of examinations, but students should expect to complete all of the exam questions in a 16 - 20 hour period. Examinations may be scheduled for no more than four consecutive days at a time.
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Examinations are evaluated within two weeks of the date the exam was completed. However, if any committee member is not on campus, additional time is required for mailing. If the adviser foresees any difficulties in concluding examination grading within two weeks, he or she will mention the matter with the examinee when they discuss potential examination dates or as soon thereafter as possible. The examinee may opt for other dates that will enable grading within two weeks.
Writing the Examinations: Examinations are written between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., including a lunch hour and short breaks at the examinee's discretion. Examinations requiring more than eight hours are spaced over consecutive days. For example, if an exam consists of five 2-hour questions, the fifth question will not be given to the examinee until the second day.
A designated individual will collect exams and answers (or arrange for their collection) at appointed times. The student is responsible for distributing copies of both the questions and the answers to all committee members within 48 hours of completing the examination.
Evaluation of Written Exam Performance
The system of evaluating preliminary Ph.D. exams is as follows:
Level Five—Superior Pass: This evaluation, rarely given, indicates that the student has written a truly exceptional examination.
Level Four—Clear Pass: Given to an examination in which there has been good performance and no real deficiencies.
Level Three—Borderline Pass: Given to examinations of modest quality but with limitations in presentation, either in its entirety or in part.
Level Two—Borderline Fail: Given to an examination not of passable quality but strong enough to indicate that the candidate might pass on a second try if given the chance for additional preparation.
Level One—Clear Fail: Given to an examination of inferior quality in which the candidate gives little evidence of grasp of field or seems unlikely to be able to pass a second examination.
After the exam has been graded, the adviser notifies the examinee immediately of the results. If the examinee has passed the exam but showed weakness in any areas of knowledge, the adviser will discuss the areas noted as deficiencies. If the examinee has failed, the adviser will discuss options to retake the exam. The adviser completes the Preliminary Written Examination Report (available in the Graduate Studies Office) and submits it to the Director of Graduate Studies, who then forwards the form to the Graduate School.
After the Preliminary Written Examination Report has been submitted to the Graduate School, students may schedule the preliminary oral exam. Students are responsible for contacting their committee members and scheduling the oral examination. Students obtain the Graduate School Doctoral Preliminary Oral Examination Scheduling Form and the SJMC Examination Scheduling Form (PDF) from the Graduate Studies Office. Preliminary oral examinations must be scheduled with the Graduate School at least one week in advance of the exam.
The preliminary oral examination is administered in compliance with the rules set forth in the Graduate School Catalog. All members of the committee and the student are expected to meet face-to-face for the examination in every circumstance possible. When a faculty member of a graduate committee cannot be present for an examination, special arrangements must be made well in advance with the Director of Graduate Studies.
Ph.D. Thesis Proposal: Before undertaking dissertation research, Ph.D. students, in consultation with their adviser, must prepare a written proposal. While dissertation proposals are not required until after successful completion of the written preliminary and oral examinations, many students complete the proposal prior to the preliminary oral examination and distribute copies to committee members to take advantage of the opportunity to receive committee-wide feedback. Drafts of proposals are unacceptable, and students considering this process must consult with their adviser. Candidates cannot file a Graduate School Ph.D. Thesis Proposal Form (PDF) until their adviser and at least one other member of the examination committee have approved the proposal in writing. The Ph.D. Thesis Proposal Form is normally submitted no later than the semester after passing the preliminary oral examination.
The candidate's final oral examination committee (at least four faculty members, including two thesis readers from mass communication and one from outside the SJMC) must be listed on the Thesis Proposal Form. Committee composition commonly remains the same through both the preliminary and final examinations
Thesis Reviewers Report: When students are ready to defend their theses, a Thesis Reviewer's Report Form and a Graduation Packet can be requested from the Graduate School (316 Johnston). Designated thesis readers (committee members) must certify students’ theses as ready for defense before the final oral examination can be scheduled, as indicated on the Thesis Reviewers Report Form.
The completed Thesis Reviewer’s Report Form, along with the Graduate School Doctoral Final Oral Examination Scheduling Form (see below), must be returned to the Graduate School at least one week prior to when students wish to take their final oral defense.
Scheduling the Final Oral Examination
Once their theses are cleared for examination, students arrange the date of the oral examination with their committees and obtain the Graduate School Doctoral Final Oral Examination Scheduling Form and the SJMC Examination Scheduling Form from the Graduate Studies Office. The Doctoral Final Oral Examination Scheduling Form must be submitted with the Thesis Reviewer's Report Form to the Graduate School at least one week prior to the examination. The Graduate School will issue the Final Examination Report to the chair of the examining committee when the student has met all requirements listed on the Graduate School Examination Scheduling Form.
Students are expected to reserve a room for their defense, list any AV equipment they may need on the SJMC Examination Scheduling Form, and return the form to the Graduate Studies Office at least one week prior to their examination. Final oral examinations should generally not be scheduled from the beginning of the summer session to the opening of the fall semester, unless the members of the assigned committee can be assembled without substitution.
Final Oral Examination (dissertation defense)
Final oral examinations include a public defense of the dissertation and are held under rules described in the Graduate School Catalog. The candidate is responsible for arranging the date and place of the examination with the committee. All members of the committee and the student are expected to meet face-to-face for the examination in every circumstance possible. When a faculty member of a graduate committee cannot be present for an examination, special arrangements must be made well in advance with the Director of Graduate Studies. After the final examination, students submit the Final Oral Examination Report to the Graduate School. A copy of the signed form should be turned in to the Graduate Studies Office as well. The Final Oral Examination Report must be signed and returned to the Graduate School no later than one working day following completion of the final oral examination. By the last working day of the intended month of graduation, students must submit one copy of their adviser-signed Ph.D. dissertation to the Graduate School and one copy to the Eric Sevareid Library.