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    Feb 09, 2025  
2024-2025 Graduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Graduate Catalog

Information Science with a concentration in Journalism, PhD


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A student with a previous master’s degree must earn a minimum of 60 semester hours of graduate credit beyond the master’s degree in organized course work, independent study and the dissertation. Additional courses above the 60 hours also may be stipulated as needed, such as the research tool and subject tool requirement. Courses counted toward the doctorate must be numbered 5000 or above (except INFO 5000 , INFO 5080 , INFO 5200  or INFO 5600 ) and must be chosen with the approval of a faculty academic advisor.

A student with no previous master’s degree must earn a minimum of 72 semester hours of graduate course work in organized course work, independent study and the dissertation. Additional courses above the 72 hours also may be stipulated as needed. Courses counted toward the doctorate must be numbered 5000 or above and must be chosen with the approval of a faculty academic advisor. The student formally concludes course work by passing the qualifying examination before fully engaging in dissertation research.

Core courses, 12 hours


Note: This section of the degree plan is the same for every concentration or general program of study in the Information Science, PhD program.

Research courses, 21 hours


Minimum of 21 hours, e.g. individual research courses, direct studies, special topics courses, internships and doctoral dissertation. 

  • INFO 6940 Research Methodology in Information Science  
  • Quantitative research methods/statistics (3 graduate hours in consultation with advisor)
  • Qualitative research methods (3 graduate hours in consultation with advisor)
  • Dissertation hours (minimum of 12 hours of INFO 6950  with the major professor after completion of course work and qualifying examination)

Doctoral Committee


The doctoral committee comprises at least three faculty members who represent at least two academic units, one of which is the Department of Information Science. The committee is formed by the student and serves to evaluate the student’s work at the qualifying examination, dissertation proposal, and dissertation stages.

Progress toward the degree


The student must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3. 0 (B) on all course work on the degree plan.

In addition,

  • all core courses must be completed with a grade of A or B;
  • no more than two C’s in the non-core program requirements will count toward the degree; and
  • no course with a grade below C will count toward the degree.

The maximum time allowed for completing the doctoral degree is 8 years. A faculty academic advisor meets with each student at least annually to review the student’s progress in the program. The student is eligible to sit for the qualifying examination when he or she has designated a doctoral committee, met all degree plan requirements except dissertation hours, and cleared any incomplete grades. When a student passes the qualifying examination, he or she is admitted to candidacy. The doctoral candidate must write and successfully defend a dissertation proposal and a completed dissertation in order to complete the degree.

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