Masters Report or Thesis

Master’s Report

Masters Professional students must complete their coursework with a final Masters Report under the direction of an advisor and second reader. The report may be an extended magazine article or series of articles, a series of newspaper articles, photo essay, a broadcast documentary, a CD, a website or series of web pages. The length and size of the product will be determined in advance with the report’s readers. The report is suggested to be about 5,000 words of text for print pieces, or an equivalent effort for other multi media. In addition, the student will submit a brief report outlining the techniques used and the sources (and for persons and groups quoted, contact information) consulted in preparing the product. More information can be found in the guidelines. Photojournalism students will submit a photojournalistic essay with a corresponding narrative.

Students must register in their final graduating semester for the J 398R Masters Report course. The reader signature form must be submitted prior to registration. The report must be submitted by the last class day of the graduating semester. The course may not be taken as an incomplete. If the work is unfinished, the student will not be able to graduate and must register again the following semester to complete the work for graduation. The final grade for Thesis appears as CR (credit).

Thesis

Masters Research and Theory students are required to write a Thesis under the direction of an advisor and second reader. The Thesis is written under the course numbers J 698A and J 698B. The student receives 6 hours of credit for researching and writing the Thesis. The final grade for Thesis appears as CR (credit). The Thesis must be submitted by the last class day of the graduating semester. The course may not be taken as an incomplete. If the work is unfinished, the student will not be able to graduate and must register again the following semester to complete the work for graduation.

Formatting

Theses and reports must follow the guidelines of the graduate school format booklet, Format for the Master's Thesis and Report. A format check for either electronic or print versions is recommended before turning in your completed work. A free template is available for formatting.

Readers

Readers are faculty members that will help supervise and advise the writing of a report or thesis. The Graduate School requires that the first reader be from the Journalism Graduate Studies Committee. The second reader may be a faculty member from another department or a professional whose expertise is in the area of interest. If a non-UT faculty/staff member is selected for the second reader, a no cost form must be completed and submitted with a resume or curriculum vitae with the appropriate reader signature form.