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Media Studies Option

Note: University regulations apply to all students at Laurier. If there is any discrepancy between the program or progression requirements outlined on this page and those in the university's academic calendars, the academic calendars are the official sources of information. The information below is from the latest calendar, and you may be following progression requirements from an earlier calendar. Students are responsible for checking the appropriate calendar. Contact your program coordinator should you notice any discrepancies.

The Media Studies Option recognizes that the study of media is an integral part of contemporary studies. The ability to understand our contemporary world is informed, in a way quite different from our ancestors, by the ways it is mediated; we largely understand it through images shaped by complex, often commercially and politically influenced processes of production and distribution.

Studying media literacy in the context of contemporary studies provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate and create messages in a variety of forms — from print to video to the Internet. It builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy.

The Media Studies Option is only available at the Brantford campus.

The option consists of a minimum of 4.0 credits. Students must complete the 1.0 credit of core courses (MX211 and MX212), 1.5 credits within Media Theory courses, and 1.5 credits within Media and Cultural Critique.

For graduation, students must have a minimum GPA of 6.00 computed on all 4.0 credits in the option.

Core Courses (1.0 credit)

  • JN211/MX211: Introduction to Media Studies
  • JN213/MX213: Reading Media

Media Theory Courses (1.5 credits)

  • CT222/JN222/MX222: Digital and Social Media: Critical Approaches
  • JN307: Media, Culture and Democracy
  • JN420: Advanced Digital and Social Media Research and Theory

Media and Cultural Critique Courses

1.5 credits chosen from the following:

  • CT326/YC326: Children, Toys and Media
  • CT226/JN226/MX226: The Media in a Global World
  • CC311/MX311: Crime, Media and the Law
  • FS345: Film Theory and Mass Media
  • JN229/MX229: Journalism, the Internet and Emerging Media
  • JN327/MX327: Social Documentary
  • KS205: Cartoons and Comics
  • MX380: Directed Studies in Media
  • RE220: Religion and Popular Culture

Notes

  1. Students should be aware that some of these courses have prerequisites and may be offered only at the Waterloo campus. Although prerequisites may be waived by the department administering the course, it is the responsibility of the student to make such arrangements.
  2. No more than 1.0 irregular credit may be counted toward a general degree (only students admitted prior to Sept 1, 2007), and no more than 3.0 toward an honours degree.
  3. Students in the Honours Digital Media and Journalism program are excluded from completion of the Media Studies Options.
  4. The Faculty of Liberal Arts offers a BA without a designation. No further designation (major, option or minor) is awarded with this degree.

Program Worksheets

Download the printable program worksheet (PDF) from the year you started to help you keep track of which requirements you have completed. If you need a program worksheet from an earlier year, contact Laurier Brantford Academic Advising.