Journalism Curriculum

The undergraduate Journalism curriculum emphasizes multimedia journalism in an urban setting. In addition, students are able to create their own areas of specialization. All journalism majors will be required to take eight core courses, which emphasizes solid reporting, writing, editing and research across online, print and broadcast news platforms; develops audio and video newsgathering skills, and develops introductory and advanced approaches to Web/multimedia storytelling. The requirements include the department capstone, the award-winning PhiladelphiaNeighborhoods.com. This is a real time news operation where students produce and publish online, multimedia enterprise pieces focused on various underreported Philadelphia communities.

In addition to the 25 credits of core courses, journalism majors are required to take 18 credits of electives (2000-level and above), which allows students to specialize in traditional areas of journalism, such as broadcast, magazine, photojournalism or news-editorial. Students also can create emphases in other areas including visual journalism, arts and music journalism, sports journalism, entrepreneurial journalism, news editing, long form journalism, and journalism studies (see below).

Degree Requirements

The degree of Bachelor of Arts may be conferred upon a student majoring in Journalism by recommendation of the faculty and upon satisfactory completion of a minimum of 124 semester hours of credit with a cumulative average of 2.0 overall and in the major.

Major Requirements

To receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts, students must satisfactorily complete a minimum of 124 credit hours in the university, with at least 43 credits in Journalism but no more than 44 credits in Journalism. Students are cautioned to plan their program so they do not exceed the 44-credit hour limit that is set by our accrediting body.

It is the student’s responsibility to meet all course prerequisite requirements.

Journalism majors must receive a grade of C or higher in all required department courses and electives for them to count for the major, and must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 in the department as well as the 2.0 overall average required by the university to qualify for graduation. Students who fall below a 2.0 average for a semester, for all department courses or in their overall university courses, will be placed on probation or academic warning, the first step toward dismissal.

Required courses for the Journalism major

Note:Students placed into English 0701 must pass (with a C or better) the two-credit Mass Media Writing Style Lab, Journalism 1101. Completion of Journalism 1111 and 1196 with grades of C or better is required before students enroll in any Journalism classes numbered higher than 1111. Students required to take English 0701 must complete that requirement before enrolling in Journalism 1196.

A maximum of 3 credits may be earned for internships and and a maximum of 3 credits for independent studies. If you plan to take multiple internships for credits, it is recommended that you register for 1-credit internships.

Please take notice of all prerequisites.

Required Liberal Arts courses for the Journalism Major

Of the 124 semester hours required for graduation, at least 80 semester hours must be in courses outside Journalism; 65 of those credits must be in liberal arts and science courses. This limits to a minimum of 15 the number of credit hours taken from other departments in the School of Communications and Theater, Education, Business, etc., if the student plans to graduate with no more than 124 credits.

The remaining semester hours required outside the department may be taken in any department of the university except Business Education. The department also does not count towards graduation credits earned through Secondary Education 0317, Topical Studies, lower-level credits in Military Science, or the Extern Program.

Only 8 semester hours will be accepted from Kinesiology courses. No more than 30 hours may be taken in any single CLA department or other SCT department without special written permission from the Department of Journalism. These requirements are to ensure a broad-based liberal arts education for each major.

Suggested Semester-by-Semester Plans

Please note that these are suggested academic plans. Depending on your situation, your academic plan may look different.

Total Hours for B.A. in Journalism: 124 (minimum)

* If STAT 0826 not taken as GenEd Quantitative Literacy (GQ) Requirement.
** STAT 1001 is a pre-requisite.

Sample Areas of Specialization

(these are just suggestions of how courses can be combined)
(please be mindful of all prerequisites)