Honours

Co-ordinator: Prof. Priscilla Boshoff

Email: p.a.boshoff@ru.ac.za

Office: Room 209

The Honours degree in Journalism and Media Studies is an NQF 8-level qualification. It is offered full-time over one year.

The Honours programme is structured to introduce students to selected key theoretical frameworks and the research methodologies and methods relevant to this level of study in the fields of journalism and media studies. The core courses are concept-driven rather than topic-driven. By the end of the year, honours students should be able to identify and work with key media studies approaches and apply these understandings independently within a chosen research area. Students should be able to recognise broad distinctions in the research paradigms taught, in particular between qualitative and quantitative research. However, they are only expected to demonstrate competency in the application of one research method under the guidance of the supervisor.

Students are therefore assisted to take full responsibility for their learning strategies. As part of their intellectual journey, students are encouraged to develop the ability to interrogate knowledge and to reflect critically on the complexity of knowledge creation when working with unfamiliar, complex and problematic social issues. They also learn how to respond creatively to such problems and issues and to effectively share these responses with their classmates.

The Honours programme is weighted at a minimum of 120 credits, and consists of five modules:

Media Studies: 30%

Media research methods: 15%

Two elective modules: 15% x 2 = 30%

Research paper: 25%

Media Studies – Prof Priscilla Boshoff

This course introduces you to some key concepts that offer a critical understanding of the relationship between contemporary digital media and society in South Africa, and Africa more broadly. In order to orient ourselves to our material, we start by looking closely at our current social context and how it has been shaped by the processes of coloniality and neoliberalism. Examples from contemporary empirical research in Africa demonstrate how we can apply - and expand our understanding of - these concepts in our lived context.

Media research methods – Prof Priscilla Boshoff

The purpose of this course is to give students the necessary tools and knowledge associated with doing research in the field of media. The course also intends to enable students to understand and critique literature from within media and cultural studies from a methodological point of view.

The electives

Students choose two electives from the range of courses offered in term three. One of these may be chosen from the fourth year electives offered in third term.

The research paper

Students are allocated supervisors early in the year and work closely with them in order to develop a research topic and proposal. In some years, depending on the research project run by the School, all students may be expected to work within the departmental research project on a dedicated theme, for example, Digital Inequalities, or Digital Cultures. This supports the research process, as students can share ethics approval, become part of a research community and can support each other on their research journeys.

Centre for Postgraduate Studies Programme

Funding

Postgraduate Gateway

Thesis proposal cover sheet

Thesis proposal format (Humanities)

Thesis Supervision Policy

Last Modified: Mon, 03 Nov 2025 15:28:45 SAST