Mar 29, 2024  
2018-2019 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2018-2019 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions


 The department offers selected courses from this catalog as warranted by student needs and availability of faculty. Specific offerings for each term may be found in the Schedule of Classes.

Course Renumbering Project

Effective the Fall 2017 semester, all undergraduate and graduate courses at Oakland University were renumbered from 3 digits to 4 digits.

Most subject codes will remain the same, but the new four-digit course numbers may in some cases be similar to the previous three-digit course numbers and in other cases be different because academic departments have resequenced their course numbers.

Follow this link to the conversion list.

This searchable PDF is a guide to see how the course numbers have changed. Each row represents a course, and the columns represent: the subject code, the previous three-digit course number,and the new four-digit course number for that course, beginning in Fall 2017.

To search this PDF for a specific course using the old number, you can just hit “Control” (or “Command” if on Mac) and “F,” then type in a specific course (e.g. “WRT 160”) to find the new course number .

The following subject codes have changed:

  • Studio Art (SA) changed to (ART)
  • Some English (ENG) courses changed to Creative Writing (CW)
  • Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) and Computer and Information Technology (CIT) changed to Computer Science and Informatics (CSI)
  • Music Theory and Composition (MUT) changed to either Applied Music (MUA) or Musicology and Music Education (MUS)
  • (MLS) changed to (CDS)
  • Some (JRN) courses changed to (PR)

For more information, please contact your academic adviser. Graduate students, please contact your academic department for advising.

NOTE: If you enrolled or transferred after fall 2014 please be sure to search the 2017-18 catalog courses and review the 3 to 4 digit conversions list.

 

Journalism

  
  • JRN 2000 - Introduction to Journalism and News Writing

    (4)
    History and principles of U.S. journalism; training in the practical aspects of news gathering, interviewing and basic news writing techniques; and discussion of the various journalism media. Satisfies the university general education requirement for writing intensive course in general education or the major, not both. Prerequisite for writing intensive: completion of the university writing foundation requirement. Satisfies the university general education requirement in the knowledge applications integration area. Prerequisite for knowledge applications: completion of the general education requirement in the writing knowledge foundation area.
  
  • JRN 2400 - Introduction to Advertising

    (4)
    Introduction to advertising in print, electronic and online media. Emphasis on marketing, strategy, and the social and legal environment.
  
  • JRN 2650 - Intro to Media Communication

    (4)
    Identical with COM 2650 
  
  • JRN 2654 - Audio Production

    (4)
    Analysis and evaluation of contemporary audio/radio production and programming introduction to writing, producing, and performing audio programming. Identical with COM 2654 .
  
  • JRN 3000 - Advanced News Writing and Editing

    (4)
    Advanced training in news writing and various news story types. Fundamentals of editing news and information for online and print publication, including journalistic grammar and style, and decision-making processes that determine what is published.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000 
  
  • JRN 3110 - Public Affairs Reporting

    (4)
    Practical training in the news coverage of government and government agencies, including schools, public safety and the courts.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000  or permission of instructor.
  
  • JRN 3120 - Feature Writing

    (4)
    Practice in writing human interest features for newspaper, magazine and online publication. Study of the aims, styles, categories, techniques and structures of feature writing.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000  or permission of instructor.
  
  • JRN 3130 - Magazine Writing and Freelancing

    (4)
    Practical training in writing magazine-length articles. Discussion of medium-specific differences, how to write and sell freelance pieces, legal liabilities and rights of the freelance writer, including a discussion of the U.S. copyright laws.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 3120 
  
  • JRN 3140 - Sports Reporting

    (4)
    Writing sports for both print and electronic media. Emphasis on writing and interviewing, from teaching the proper techniques of conducting individual interviews to covering large press conferences. Students will conduct real-world interviews as well as cover local sporting events. Various Detroit-area sports media personnel will lecture and share experiences.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000 
  
  • JRN 3290 - Digital Storytelling for the Media: Diversity, Identity, and Community

    (4)
    Examination of the relationship between journalism, media institutions, digital technologies, identity, and community - especially in relation to ethnicity, race, gender, and class. Study of digital citizenship with application in the assembly of non-fiction digital media content, using a variety of software. Satisfies the university general education requirements in U.S. Diversity. Satisfies the university general education requirement for a writing intensive course in general education or the major, not both.
    Prerequisite(s): WRT 1060  with a grade of (C) or higher.
  
  • JRN 3310 - Digital Photojournalism

    (4)
    Practice of photojournalism in the contemporary digital environment. Visual storytelling, camera operation, digital processing, professional/ethical issues.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000  or permission of instructor.
  
  • JRN 3330 - Digital TV News

    (4)
    Practical application of TV reporting, writing, editing, producing and anchoring skills. Student-produced news reports and newscasts are published on a variety of platforms.
    Prerequisite(s): COM 2656 
  
  • JRN 3410 - Advertising Account Planning and Research

    (4)
    Focus on the strategic aspects of advertising and integrated marketing communications (IMC), development of media strategy, sales promotion and the new media.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2400  or permission of instructor.
  
  • JRN 3420 - Advertising Creative Strategy

    (4)
    Practical application of creative strategy towards the development of a complete advertising campaign in an ad agency group format.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2400 
  
  • JRN 3440 - Advertising Copywriting

    (4)
    The planning, research and writing that goes into promotion of a company, product or person as part of an advertising campaign.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2400 
  
  
  • JRN 4020 - Ethical Issues in the Media

    (4)
    Study of ethics with an emphasis on problems that arise in digital, broadcast and print news, public relations and advertising. Students learn to identify ethical dilemmas, discuss basic principles for ethical decision-making, and build strategies for applying those principles.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000  or instructor permission.
  
  • JRN 4030 - Media Law

    (4)
    Introduction to media law, basic principles governing the American judicial system, historical context for First Amendment issues and analysis of key legal decisions governing the media’s right to gather and disseminate information. Students discuss issues dealing with prior restraint, libel law, invasion of privacy, protection of news sources, obscenity law, copyright law and FCC regulations.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000  or instructor permission.
  
  • JRN 4100 - Multimedia Journalism

    (4)
    Multimedia storytelling through an introduction to a variety of software programs and digital applications. Students create websites, podcasts, slideshows and short videos, and participate in crowdsourcing, (micro) blogging and citizen journalism projects.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000  or instructor permission.
  
  • JRN 4120 - OU Student News Bureau

    (4)
    Applied learning experience running a web-based news organization. Students learn how to research, report, edit and package multimedia news for online delivery. Satisfies the university general education requirement for a writing intensive course in general education or the major, not both. Prerequisite for writing intensive: completion of the university writing foundation requirement. Satisfies the university general education requirement for the capstone experience.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000  and JRN 3000  and permission of instructor.
  
  • JRN 4200 - Media Design

    (4)
    Workshop in design to explore techniques and trends in typography, layout and design in traditional and new media. Students learn the theory and practice of text-heavy print and digital projects designed to communicate with specific audiences in a diverse society.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000  or instructor permission.
  
  • JRN 4210 - Advanced Media Design

    (4)
    Advanced skills and trends in typography, layout and design in traditional and new media culminating in the exhibition of a multi-faceted body of work. Final project must include a significant graphic component as well as a substantive writing element.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 4200  and permission of instructor.
  
  • JRN 4350 - Video Documentary Journalism

    (4)
    Assembly of short- and long-form documentary journalism for traditional and non-traditional visual media. Students report, shoot, edit, and package video and multimedia stories in a range of storytelling styles, including investigative, historical, or biographical. Emphasis not only on the story, but on the storytelling.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 3330  or permission of instructor.
  
  • JRN 4900 - Special Topics in Journalism

    (4)
    Various topics subject to change from semester to semester. May be repeated for additional credit under different subtitles.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000  or instructor permission.
  
  • JRN 4950 - Journalism Internship

    (4)
    Full- or part-time internship at a newspaper, online news organization, radio or television station, public relations firms, advertising agency or a non-profit organization. Open only to journalism majors and minors. May be repeated once for credit in a different medium. Satisfies the university general education requirement for the capstone experience. Satisfies the university general education requirement for a writing intensive course in the major. Prerequisite for writing intensive: completion of the university writing foundation requirement.
    Prerequisite(s): JRN 2000  and three other JRN courses.
  
  • JRN 4996 - Independent Study

    (2 OR 4)
    Individual research projects in journalism. May be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits.
    Prerequisite(s): junior/senior standing and permission of program director.