Journalism
Associate of Arts
Transfer Major
Decisions on the transferability of courses are made by the four-year colleges and differ from school to school. Students enrolled in this major should contact the Transfer Services Office early in their academic program to determine which courses will transfer to the college of their choice.
Department of Language & Literature
Grupp 105 • Phone (215) 968-8150
Curriculum Code No. 1045
Students interested in Journalism at Bucks need to meet with a Journalism faculty member for advising.
The Journalism major prepares students for news reporting, writing, copy editing, and page layout in both print and online journalism. The courses parallel the offerings in the first two years of most four-year journalism programs. The weekly campus newspaper provides practical workshop experience. Students gain computer skills by writing stories in computer labs and by using the Internet and electronic databases to gather information.
The Journalism Program of Study is for students who
- intend to transfer to four-year colleges in journalism or a communication major;
- want to gain employment in entry-level news reporting or editing;
- want to use the most current layout software in publishing or a newspaper position; and
- desire experience in both print and online journalism.
Graduates of this program are able to
- recognize the complexities of media and society studies;
- practice the skills and knowledge necessary for jobs in print and online journalism, including the fundamentals of news reporting, writing, editing, and page layout;
- demonstrate their understanding of journalism ethics, press freedom, the First Amendment, and libel law.
- demonstrate technological competence appropriate to the major, such as using computer software to do newspaper layout, creating digital video news reports using cameras and professional video and audio editing software, and uploading stories and photographs to the student newspaper website.
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| COLL101 Orientation to College | 1 |
| COMM110 Effective Speaking A,2,4,5 | 3 |
| COMM111 Media and Society 3,8 | 3 |
| COMP110 English Composition I A,2,10 | 3 |
| COMP111 English Composition II B,2,4,10 | 3 |
| ECON111 Principles of Economics - Macro 3,8 | 3 |
| HIST151 U.S. History: Young America 1,3 | 3 |
| HIST152 U.S. History: Modern America 1,3 | 3 |
| JOUR175 News Reporting and Writing B,4,10 | 3 |
| JOUR275 Newspaper Editing and Page Layout C | 3 |
| JOUR276 Feature Writing for Newspapers and Magazines 10,C | 3 |
| JOUR277 Public Affairs Reporting C | 3 |
| JOUR278 Webcast News Production C,9 | 3 |
| POLI120 American State and Local Government | 3 |
| Literature D,1 | 3 |
| Journalism Elective E | 3 |
| Math A,B,F,6 | 3 |
| Science A,B,G,7 | 4 |
| Social/Behavioral Science G,3,8 | 3 |
| Elective I | 6 |
| Total Credit Hours | 62 |
Recommended Semester Sequence
The recommended course sequence is designed for full-time students who average 15 credit hours per semester. Students may need more time to complete major requirements based on placement testing. This additional time will entail some adjustments to the sequence recommended.
First Semester
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| COLL101 Orientation to College | 1 |
| COMM111 Media and Society 3,8 | 3 |
| COMP110 English Composition I A,2,10 | 3 |
| JOUR175 News Reporting and Writing B,4,10 | 3 |
| POLI120 American State and Local Government | 3 |
| HIST151 U.S. History: Young America 1,3 | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 16 |
Second Semester
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| COMP111 English Composition II A,2,10 | 3 |
| COMM110 Effective Speaking A,2,4,5 | 3 |
| ECON111 Principles of Economics - Macro 3,8 | 3 |
| JOUR276 Feature Writing for Newspapers and Magazines C,10 | 3 |
| Math A,B,F,6 | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 15 |
Third Semester
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| JOUR275 Newspaper Editing and Page Layout C | 3 |
| JOUR278 Webcast News Production C,9 | 3 |
| Journalism Elective E | 3 |
| Literature D,1 | 3 |
| Elective I | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 15 |
Fourth Semester
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| JOUR277 Public Affairs Reporting C | 3 |
| HIST152 U.S. History: Modern America 1,3 | 3 |
| Social/Behavioral Science G,3,8 | 3 |
| Science A,B,G,7 | 4 |
| Elective I | 3 |
| Total Credit Hours | 16 |
A Placement testing required. B Prerequisite or co-requisite required. C Prerequisite: JOUR175. D Choose LITR232 or LITR277. E Choose VAMM100 Digital Imaging or JOUR155 Advertising Copywriting. F Choose MATH101, MATH115, MATH117, MATH118, MATH120, MATH125, or MATH140. G Choose BIOL101, CHEM101, PHYS106 or SCIE103. H Choose one from: GEOG110, POLI111, PSYC110, or SOCI110. I Pre-college level courses do not fulfill this requirement. 1 Satisfies Arts/Humanities 2 Satisfies Critical Thinking 3 Satisfies Diversity 4 Satisfies Information Literacy 5 Satisfies Oral Communication 6 Satisfies Quantitative Literacy 7 Satisfies Scientific Literacy 8 Satisfies Social Sciences 9 Satisfies Technological Competence 10 Satisfies Writing