Graduate Courses

The Spring Capstone Research Seminar provides structured, faculty-guided mentorship to help students develop a robust and well-designed media industries research project. Building on the intellectual foundations established in the program’s first semester, the course guides students through the iterative process of refining a research topic, formulating a feasible and appropriately scaled research question, and mapping the conceptual frameworks and scholarly conversations their project will engage. Because the early stages of project development often involve trial, error, and recalibration, the seminar emphasizes frequent feedback, proposal drafting, and thoughtful scoping of the project’s aims. Throughout the term, students design and implement their data-gathering strategy, which may include interviews, field observations, focus groups, or the use of publicly available datasets. By the end of the semester, they are expected to complete their primary research and conduct a comprehensive review of relevant academic and industry literature. The course culminates in a 10-page capstone proposal that articulates the research question, intended audience, significance, conceptual grounding, and analytic plan. This proposal serves as the foundation for writing the full capstone project in the summer.