John Mark King, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Public Relations/Mass Communications | East Tennessee State University

 
JK Photo 12 Tips to Excel in the Master's 
in Professional Communication Program 
in the East Tennessee State University Department of Communication

1/ Develop a critical, analytical mind.  Question everything you already "know."  Synthesize.

2/ Understand that knowledge is cumulative.

3/ Develop a seriousness of purpose in your graduate studies.

4/ Get a fix on theories and all their pieces and parts.  Make sure you discuss all the parts in your papers.  Think about how each theory applies to a real-world communication problem.  Be able to dissect and reassemble models of communication as well.

5/ Make sure you understand the differences between various methods of knowing and inquiry in social science.  Think about how you would apply a research method to a particular real-world communication problem.

6/ Pay attention to print, broadcast and online news, speeches, politics, interpersonal communication, intrapersonal communication, corporate communication, governmental communication, advertising, theatre and public relations activities.  Critically analyze all of this in your daily life.

7/ Practice applying theories and professional practices you have learned to real-world communication problems.

8/ When your professor assigns you to read five books, make sure when you are writing about the fifth book that you include how it relates to the other four books you have read and digested.  You did read the other four books didn't you?

9/ Remember some of what you learn in the research methods course.  You should be able to immediately explain what nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio data are, what probability is, what a chi-square is, what a t-test is, what intercoder reliability is, what a pretest-posttest experiment is, what a random sample is, what a focus group is, what content analysis is, what ethnography is, etc., etc., etc.

10/ Get familiar with the library.  Know what an abstract is.  Know what an index is.  Know where to find Communication Abstracts.  Figure out the various databases available.  Get acquainted with the various communication and mass communications journals.

11/ Talk to your professors about your research ideas early.  Get a fix on what you really want to investigate.  Figure out the various parts of a thesis including the introduction, lit review, research questions and hypotheses, method, results, discussion and recommendations.  Make sure your thesis will answer the so what? question.  Think a great deal about the feasibility of the thesis you are proposing.

12/ Think seriously about presenting your newfound knowledge outside the walls of ETSU.  Work with your professors to enter research competitions, present papers at conferences and publish your work.

13/ Okay, one more.  Remember that in the whole scheme of things, most problems you will encounter along the way will likely be rather small.  Keep things in perspective.  Have some fun.  Yes, you should have a seriousness of purpose, but discovering new answers to old and new communication problems is very exciting.  When you apply your own knowledge and hypotheses or research questions to a real-world communication problem in your thesis, the real adventure begins.  The rewards are quite meaningful and fun.  My hope is that your graduate education will change your life and improve the community in which you interact with other human beings.

14/ Okay, just one more.  Get involved in the professional association for your academic discipline.  This is another activity that can help you get a career boost and change your life.

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