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College of Communication Arts and Sciences

Department of Communication

Graduate Study

Communication - Master of Arts

In addition to meeting the requirements of the university and of the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, students must meet the requirements specified below.

Admission

Admission is determined by the Master’s Affairs Committee from the Department of Communication. Applicants are ranked among all that apply for a given year. Selection criteria place emphasis on grade-point average and course work, Graduate Record Examination General Test scores, Test of English as a Foreign Language scores for international students, letters of recommendation, the student’s resume, and the student’s academic interests.

To be considered for admission to the Master of Arts degree in Communication, an applicant must submit:

(1)    Graduate School Application
(2)    One official copy of all transcripts.
(3)    Three letters of recommendation.
(4)    A statement of purpose outlining academic and professional goals.
(5)    Graduate Record Examination Scores (GRE) for the General Test.
(6)    Test of English as a Foreign Language Scores (TOEFL), if applicable.
(7)    A resume.

Application materials should be received by April 1. Students will be admitted only for the fall semester. For additional information please visit our Web site at: http://comartsci.msu.edu/academics/academic-departments/communication/graduate/masters-arts-communication.

Requirements for the Master of Arts Degree in Communication

The student must complete the requirements for Plan A (with thesis) or Plan B (without thesis) as specified below:


Predoctoral (Plan A)
Only Plan A (with thesis) is available to students in the master's degree program in communication who elect the predoctoral concentration. The student must complete at least 30 credits for the degree including:
1.	All of the following courses (13 credits):
	COM	803	Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods	3
	COM	820	Communication Theory and Process	3
	COM	830	Applied Communication Research II	3
	COM	899	Master's Thesis Research	4
2.	Nine to eleven additional credits in Communication courses approved by the student's academic advisor.
3.	Six to eight credits in courses outside the Department of Communication approved by the student's academic advisor.
4.	Completion of a master's thesis.

One of the following concentrations (Plan B)
Knowledge Utilization (30 credits)
Only Plan B (without thesis) is available to students in the master's degree program in communication who elect the knowledge utilization concentration. The student must complete at least 30 credits for the degree including:
1.	Both of the following courses (6 credits):
	COM	803	Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods	3
	COM	820	Communication Theory and Process	3
2.	Nine to 17 additional credits in Communication courses approved by the student's academic advisor.
3.	Seven to 15 credits in courses outside the Department of Communication approved by the student's academic advisor.
The final certifying examination is a written and oral examination that focuses on the student's course work.

Communication Science Research and Analytics
Only Plan B (without thesis) is available to students in the master's degree program in communication who elect the communication science research and analytics concentration. The student must complete at least 30 credits for the degree including:
1.	All of the following courses (12 credits):
	COM	803	Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods	3
	COM	820	Communication Theory and Process	3
	COM	830	Applied Communication Research II	3
	COM	893	Practicum	3
	The practicum is arranged with approval from the student’s advisor and the MA Director and can include a semester-long project conducted with an outside group or substantial work conducted with a Communication faculty-led research team.
2.	Complete 9 credits from the following. It is strongly recommended that students take at least one course from each group. Students who opt to substitute a different course for each of the Groups listed should receive approval from their advisor and the MA Director prior to enrollment.
	Communication Survey Design and Implementation
	COM	804	Survey Design for Communication Research	3
	Biobehavioral Communication Research Methods
	CAS	892	Special Topics
		Section: Media Neuroscience and Behavioral Communication Research		3
	Computational Communication Research
	CAS	892	Special Topics
		Section: Computational Social Science: Principles and Applications		3
	CSE	842	Natural Language Processing	3
	CSE	881	Data Mining	3
3.	Nine to 17 additional credits in Communication courses approved by the student's academic advisor.
The final certifying examination is a written and oral examination that focuses on the student's course work to be completed in the final semester in program.