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Curriculum

Because STJR students often come from widely varied backgrounds and have varied professional goals, the curriculum for the M.S. in Science and Technology Journalism is fairly flexible. A student with a background in English or journalism would normally be more interested in science classes than a student with a science background and vice versa. Students take either a 36 hour non-thesis (internship) track or a 32 hour thesis track.

Internship Track (36 credit hours) *

Required Core Courses - 6 courses (at least 18 hours)

  • VIBS 657 (Issues in Science and Technology Journalism)
  • VIBS 658 (Research Methods in Science and Technology Journalism)
  • VIBS 660 (Reporting Science and Technology)
  • VIBS 664 (Professional Internship)
  • Elective in science journalism or a closely related field. †
  • Elective in science journalism or a closely related field. †

Required Science Core - 2 courses (at least 6 hours)

Additional courses - Normally 4 courses (at least 12 hours)

  • (Each course can be in science journalism, science, or another relevant field, such as history of science) †

Thesis Track (32 credit hours)*

Required Core Courses - 6 courses (at least 18 hours)

  • VIBS 657 (Issues in Science and Technology Journalism)
  • VIBS 658 (Research Methods in Science and Technology Journalism)
  • VIBS 660 (Reporting Science and Technology)
  • Elective in science journalism or a closely related field. †
  • Elective in science journalism or a closely related field. †
  • Elective in science journalism or a closely related field. †

Required Science Core - 2 courses (at least 6 hours)

Thesis Research - total of at least 8 hours, normally spread over 2 or more semesters

*Up to 9 hours of courses may be at the 300 or 400 level. The remaining course work must be at the 600 level.

† No more than 8 hours of 685 (Directed Studies) courses, 3 hours of 690 (Theory of Research), or 695 (Frontiers in Research) may be used. Refer to the Texas A&M University graduate catalog for more information on course limitations.