Communication Capstone Project

Communication Capstone Project
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All declared Communication majors must complete the Capstone course (COMM 496, formerly COMM 196) before graduating. We will be offering two sections for Spring 2024. 

The Capstone project you produce in COMM 496 represents the culmination of your experience studying Communication with our department. It requires you to make a scholarly or creative contribution to the field of Communication Studies and should draw upon the work you have accomplished in your major courses.

We will offer a Capstone Info session (via Zoom) during Community Time on Friday Nov 3, 1:30-2:15pm... details when we know them. "Attendance" at the session is helpful for most students, but it's not mandatory. You can decide on your topic on your own, and then submit your proposal (just follow our step-by-step guide). 

To secure a place in a section of COMM 496 for Spring 2024, write up your proposal by answering the questions on our handy Capstone Project Proposal Guide about the research or creative project you plan to complete, detailing the topic, method, and theories that you will use. If you need help focusing your interest into a proposal, you can email interim Communication Chair Scott Schönfeldt-Aultman (sschonfe@stmarys-ca.edu). He'll be happy to help you. Then email your proposal (attached to an email as a digital copy) to Administrative Assistant Lori Erokan (le6@stmarys-ca.edu). Deadline to submit the proposal: Thursday, November 9, 2023. 

Please note: After you submit your proposal, we'll review it and then "open" the course to you on Gael Xpress 2.0. Be sure to leave room in your Spring 2024 schedule for M/W 12:05-1:20pm. Then register for the course by yourself. If you have trouble registering, please contact Lori asap. We can help if there's a problem! And if the "problem" is that you suddenly realized that you MUST take Capstone next semester, contact Lori RIGHT THIS MINUTE. We will get you in.

*Jason Jakaitis will be advising one section of Capstone for Spring 2024 (specialty: media)

*Veronica Hefner will be advising the other section of Capstone for Spring 2024 (specialty: quantitative methods)

All of our Capstone advisors can work with your project, whatever it is, but we recommend that those of you on the Media Maker track sign up with Jason, and those of you on the Communication Strategist track sign up with Veronica,

Students who plan to do a quantitative project must have completed COMM 110 (now COMM 310). Students who plan to do a qualitative project must have taken COMM 111 (now COMM 301). And students who plan on producing  a media-based project: you must have completed at least one upper division application course. 

Questions? Please call Lori Erokan at 925-631-4048.