Because science and technology journalism (STJR) students come from varied backgrounds and have varied professional goals, the curriculum for the MS in STJR is fairly flexible. A student with a background in English or journalism would normally take more science classes than a student with a science background and vice versa. Students take either a 36-credit-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 665 (Science Editing)
- VIBS 664 (Professional Internship)
- 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 web design, photography, creative nonfiction, science policy, or 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)
- VIBS 665 (Science Editing)
- 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 – a 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 (upper undergraduate) level. The remaining course work must be at the 600 (graduate) 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.
