Traditional Thesis

The traditional research option involves producing a thesis that examines a narrowly defined question in journalism or strategic advertising and public relations. The goal of the thesis is to contribute new knowledge and insights to a body of knowledge. A thesis would typically have an introduction, a comprehensive literature review, a review of the relevant theories which inform the hypotheses and/or research questions. It would also have comprehensive methods, data analysis, and discussion sections. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also typically included.

Students may use quantitative or qualitative approaches or a combination, depending on the research questions and the recommendations of the student's thesis committee.

JOUR 5023 Journalism Theory and JOUR 5043 Research Methods provide the foundation and guidelines for completing a master’s thesis in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media. 

During the first semester, students should take JOUR 5023 Journalism Theory and learn various mass communication/mass media theories and find a thesis topic. Then students can develop a literature review for the thesis.

During the second semester, students should take JOUR5043 Research Methods and learn how to design the methodology for their hypothesis and research questions developed from the JOUR5023 Theory class. Students are given a template for a thesis proposal in JOUR 5043. 

A Traditional Thesis must include the following:

  1. Introduction: A brief description of the background information, problems, theories used, hypotheses & research questions, and methodology. 
  2. Literature review: a literature review of the relevant academic/scholarly and industry research literature (i.e., research articles, not opinion pieces or features, etc.) to provide extensive background, findings, and detail on the student’s thesis topic. A minimum of 10 double-spaced pages up to 20 or 30 pages of text (not including the references section) and a minimum of 30 scholarly and industry research sources (not news stories, opinion pieces, feature stories, etc., but academic and/or industry research articles). Then, hypotheses and/or research questions are proposed.
  3. Methodology: varies depending on the project and advisor. Describe the way to gather data to answer hypotheses & research questions. 
  4. Results: Report the results for hypotheses & research questions. 
  5. Discussion: Discuss findings by comparing with previous work in the industry, theoretical and practical implications, and limitations. 
  6. Appendixes: survey questions, lists of measurement, IRB protocol etc.

Journalism graduate theses are compliled on a ScholarWorks repository.

Students are expected to follow the graduate school’s thesis guidelines found at https://graduate-and-international.uark.edu/_resources/forms/thesis-dissertation-guide.pdf. Student must give an oral defense of their completed theses before their thesis committee members.

Members of the Journalism Graduate Committee:
Dr. Brandon Bouchillon (bcbouchi@uark.edu)
Dr. Jee Young Chung (jychung@uark.edu)
Professor Larry Foley (lfoley@uark.edu)
Dr. Bobbie Foster (bjf001@uark.edu)
Assistant Professor Rowena Pedrena (rpedrena@uark.edu)