Required Credit Hours and Courses for a Major

All students working for a bachelor's degree at Drake must complete the Drake Curriculum (Areas of Inquiry) . A minimum of 124 total credit hours are required to graduate, including 31 to 37 credit hours in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication(SJMC). All SJMC majors must successfully complete JMC 30 Communications in Society, JMC 40 Pre-Professional Workshop, JMC 54 News and Reporting Principles, JMC 59 Introduction to Visual Communications, JMC 66 Media Responsibility over Time ( JMC 66 Required of students entering Drake after Summer 2003 ), and JMC 104 Communications Law and Ethics. A minimum of 65 credit hours must be taken in Arts and Sciences course work and must include Economics 1, Political Science 1 and Sociology 1. 40 credit hours must be in upper division courses numbered 100 or above.

Area of Concentration: In addition the JMC graduate must have completed a 21 credit-hour block of non JMC courses approved by the adviser and dean. This concentration, taken in a single department or as a unified area of concentration crossing departmental lines, usually is one particularly appropriate to the student's major or otherwise of special interest. At least 12 credit hours in the concentration must be taken in courses numbered 100 and above. Courses taken to satisfy other graduation requirements also may count toward this requirement.

Required Courses

• JMC 70 Print Media Editing - Copy editing for newspapers and news Web sites. Heavy emphasis on grammar, usage and Associated Press style. Also includes editing for accuracy, organization, structure, clarity, cultural sensitivity and fairness; headline and cutline writing; and law and ethics. (Interchangable with JMC 92)
• JMC 98 Reporting and Writing for the World Wide Web- Introduction to the Internet as a mass medium. Provides an overview of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Explores access to information, digital literacy, Internet credibility, privacy, law, ethics, and Internet influence on society, culture, and individuals. Second semester of newspaper-style writing and reporting. Student work is published on the World Wide Web.
• JMC 102 Editing Practicum - Newspaper layout and design. Theory and principles of design and presentation for print and Web; practical application using Adobe InDesign and other technology; headline and cutline writing; law and ethics.
• JMC 103 Public Affairs Journalism On-Line- Advanced course in reporting and writing in print style. Students report on governmental agencies and public affairs issues throughout the community, and their projects are published on the World Wide Web. Discussions of important current issues of the media and society.
• JMC 105 Web Page Design - Introduces students to the basics of designing pages for the World Wide Web. Students learn the ins and outs of pages, links, forms, and images. Intense introduction to the joys of creating Web pages.
• JMC 171 The Digital Newsroom- Capstone course in News-Internet sequence. Reporting and writing the significant and complex news. Interpretive reporting of public affairs, particularly governmental - city, county, state and federal. Stories and projects produced for the World Wide Web.
• HIST 76 US History - The course is divided into two periods. From 1877 to 1920, rapid industrialization both created a new social order and generated profound economic, political and cultural tensions. Since 1920, the lives of most Americans have been shaped by the growing power of the state and large corporations, the development of mass culture, international tensions, and the attempt to create equality for women and racial minorities.

See the Forms/Handbooks page for downloadable checksheets!

Academic Preparation
No specific courses are required; however, students are encouraged to take writing courses and participate in school media while in high school.