Project BA Journalism and Media

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6
• Convenor: Hilary Smith
• Assessment: an 8000-word academic project (100%), or a journalistic project comprised of a 2000-word journalistic component (65%) and 3000-word critical practice essay (35%)
  

The final-year project for the BA Journalism and Media provides you with an opportunity to explore a subject of your own choosing in depth. You are given a choice of two projects:

• an academic project, or
• a journalistic project.

The academic project

The academic project asks you to identify a problem or question and address it in an extended dissertation. You will develop familiarity with, and a critical evaluation of, the theoretical and methodological issues related to a defined research question. If you choose to complete an academic project you will need to conduct a detailed, yet focused, review of scholarly literature related the theoretical and methodological issues which arise from, and give context to, your chosen subject.

You will also need to carry out some form of limited data collection and/or analysis. This may include interviews, focus groups, textual analysis, visual analysis, ethnographic observations (including of online interaction) and questionnaires, amongst other possible methods.

Given the relatively short length of the final submission, most projects will make use of just one or two primary methods.

The journalistic project

The journalistic project asks you to: (1) identify a subject to be addressed in journalistic form, and (2) accompany this with a critical practice essay.

The journalistic component can be any form of journalistic or media production. The most common submission for the journalistic component is a piece of written journalism. This may take the form of a single feature article, or it can be subdivided across a number of written pieces (e.g. a shorter feature, a news story and a website story, or some other combination), possibly also directed at different publications/platforms.

However, you may also propose to undertake an equivalent form of non-written journalistic or media production (e.g. a short video or audio documentary, a web publication, a mobile news-related application, a magazine or newspaper design/layout, or perhaps even a portfolio demonstrating editing or subediting work). The mediums to be used, and their appropriate scope/length, must be negotiated in advance with the programme director.

You must ensure that you already possess the requisite technical skills and have independent access to the necessary equipment to be able to undertake the project; individual training and supply of equipment such as cameras cannot be provided. The journalistic component should be presented with regard to the format and conventions appropriate to the chosen publication or media platform.