Academics

Students in good academic standing at Indiana University who are not majoring in journalism, telecommunications, sports communication/broadcast or any other major or program that requires a substantial number of mass communications courses are eligible to apply to the certificate program.  Students must file an application with the School of Journalism. The certificate requires 25 credit hours. (Note: These guidelines are for students matriculating Summer 2007 and after.)

Admission

To be considered for admission, students must have completed 26 credit hours with a minimum 2.20 cumulative grade point average (FX and WF will be calculated as F, DX as D), including:

• J110, J200 or J210 with a grade of C or better;
• English composition with a grade of C or better or exemption;
• The mathematics fundamental skills requirement, C- or better;
• One semester of a foreign language.

Required courses (25 hours total)

A grade of C- or higher is required in each course (except for the course used for admission purposes, which requires a C). An overall GPA of 2.0 in all courses taken for the certificate is also required. Use this checklist:

1.  Core courses, 16 credit hours:

• J110 Foundations of Journalism and Mass Communication
• J155 Research Techniques for Journalists (one credit)
• J200 Reporting, Writing & Editing I
• J210 Visual Communication
• J300 Communications Law
• J410 The Media as Social Institutions

2.  Two courses from the approved list of advanced skills courses, 6 credit hours:

• J201 Reporting, Writing & Editing II
• J315 Feature Writing
• J341 Newspaper Reporting
• J342 Magazine Reporting
• J343 Broadcast News
• J344 Photojournalism Reporting
• J349 Public Relations Writing
• J351 Newspaper Editing
• J352 Magazine Editing
• J353 Advanced Broadcast News
• J354 Photojournalism Editing
• J385 Television News
• J401 Depth Reporting and Editing
• J413 Magazine Article Writing
• J420 Advertising as Communication
• J429 Public Relations Campaigns
• J444 Advanced Photojournalism
• J455 News Analysis and Opinion Writing
• J463 Graphic Design I
• J464 Infographics
• J465 Graphic Design II

3.  One 3 credit hour elective, selected from journalism or a College of Arts and Sciences intensive writing or statistics course.

Journalism Course Policies

Journalism J110, J155, J200 and J210 are courses freshmen may take.  Students are strongly encouraged to take J155 and J200 concurrently.  Journalism J110, J155, J200 and J210 are prerequisites for most of the journalism advanced skills courses.  There are some exceptions, though, so see the course descriptions in the online 2007-08 journalism bulletin for specifics.  J300 is a prerequisite to J410, and J410 is to be taken the senior year.