Major Requirements

Eleven courses are required for the Communication major. Four courses are common requirements, four courses are distributed requirements, and the three remaining courses are electives that are appropriate to each student's area of emphasis. While the department will transfer communication electives, the common and distributed requirements must be taken at Boston College.

Common Requirements (4 courses):

CO010--Rhetorical Tradition
CO020--Survey of Mass Communication
CO030--Public Speaking
CO350--Research Methods

Distributed Requirements (4 courses):

1. Cluster Area Requirement
Choose one of the following courses:

CO249--Communication Law
CO250--Mass Communication Ethics
CO251--Gender and Media
CO253--Interpersonal Communication
CO255--Media Aesthetics
CO260--American Public Address
CO263--Media, Law and Society
CO268--Business of Electronic Media

2. Theory Requirement
Choose one of the following courses:

CO369--Social Protest Theory
CO372--Mass Communication Theory
CO374--Human Communication Theory
CO375--Argumentation Theory
CO377--Visual Communication Theory
CO378--Rhetorical Theory

3. and 4. Writing Intensive Seminars
Choose two of the following courses:

CO425--Broadcast Century Issues
CO426--Television and Society
CO427--Communication Culture and Power
CO429--Globalization and the Media
CO435--Rhetoric, Resistance and Protest
CO438--Rhetoric and Public Memory
CO440--Communication and Theology
CO442--Intercultural Communication
CO445--Seminar on Freedom of Expression
CO447--Communication Criticism
CO448--Television Criticism
CO449--Crisis Communication
CO451--Gender Roles and Communication
CO456--Relational Communication
CO458--Radio in Culture and Society
CO460--Fiction, Film and Video
CO462--Popular Music and Identity
CO463--Media and Popular Culture
CO464--Violence and Media
CO465--Health Communication
CO466--Nonverbal Communication
CO468--Organizational Communication
CO470--Conflict, Decision and Communication

Elective (3 courses):

Choose three of the following courses organized to form an area of emphasis or concentration:

CO105--Elements of Debate
CO204--Art and Digital Communication
CO213--Fundamentals of Audio I
CO214--Fundamentals of Audio II
CO215--Soundcasting Media
CO222--Studio Television Production
CO223--Field Television Production
CO224--Digital Nonlinear Editing
CO226--Final Cut Pro Editing
CO227--Broadcast Writing
CO230--News Writing
CO231--Feature Writing
CO233--Advanced Journalism
CO234--News Ethics
CO235--Advertising
CO238--Marketing the Arts
CO239--Principles of Theater Management
CO240--Public Relations
CO242--Producing Performing Arts
CO245--Advanced Public Relations
CO248--Computer Aided Drafting and Design
CO259--Cyberlaw
CO266--Dark Side of Communication
CO270--Linguistics and Communication
CO280--Broadcast Programming and Promotion
CO285--Cultural Diversity in the Media
CO291--Persuasion
CO293--Advanced Public Speaking
CO298--World Wide Web and Digital Media
CO310--Advertising Campaign Planning
CO400--Advanced Television Production
CO401--Visual Design
CO404--Advanced World Wide Web and Digital Media
CO478--Producing Documentaries
CO485--Advanced Intercultural Communication
CO520--Media Workshop (Internship)
CO592--Honors Thesis
CO597--Readings and Research

NOTE: "Extra" cluster courses, theory courses, and writing-intensive seminars can be counted toward the elective requirement.

SEQUENCE OF COURSES

The four required courses, CO010 Rhetorical Tradition, CO020 Survey of Mass Communication, CO030 Public Speaking, and CO350 Research Methods are prerequisites for all other communication classes. Majors should not register for a theory course, writing-intensive seminars, or any elective until after they have completed Rhetorical Tradition, Survey of Mass Communication, Research Methods and Public Speaking.

After finishing the common requirements (sophomore year or the first semester of the junior year), majors should enroll in a theory course. At some point during your junior year, one or both writing-intensive seminars should be taken, but never in the same semester. If you enroll in at one writing-intensive seminar your junior year, you can complete the remaining writing-intensive during your senior year.

The remaining communication courses, cluster requirements and electives can be concluded concurrently with the distributed requirements. Please check course requirements and listings; some courses require professor permission and prerequisites for enrollment.