Degree Requirements

GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

The university's general education program provides a coherent, integrated introduction to the breadth of knowledge you will need to consider yourself (and to be considered by other people) a generally well-educated person. This program requires six courses in different categories, plus writing, foreign language, and diversity requirements. For more details, visit the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences' General Education Program page.

MAJOR REQUIREMENTS

Required courses (24 units):

• COMM 200 Communication as a Social Science (4)
• COMM 201 Communication as a Liberal Art (4)
• and four of the following five (16 units):
  • COMM 202 Introduction to Communication Technology (4)
  • COMM 203 Introduction to Mass Communication Theory and Research (4)
  • COMM 204 Human Communication Principles and Practices (4)
  • COMM 301L Empirical Research in Communication (4)
  • COMM 322 Argumentation and Advocacy (4)

Elective courses (24 units):
You must complete an additional 24 units of upper division communication course work.

OPTIONS
Given the breadth of the field and the range of expertise of our faculty, you may choose to focus your studies on any of a number of areas of communication. Four representative foci are listed here, with relevant classes for each.

• Media, Law and Politics
  COMM 302 Persuasion
  COMM 310 Media and Society
  COMM 330 Rhetoric in Classical Culture
  COMM 335 Rhetoric in Contemporary Culture
  COMM 370 The Rhetoric of Ideas: Ideology and Propaganda
  COMM 372 The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture (enroll in JOUR 371)
  COMM 388 Ethics in Human Communication
  COMM 402 Public Communication Campaigns
  COMM 411 Communication Criticism
  COMM 412 Communication and Social Movements
  COMM 421 Legal Communication
  COMM 422 Legal Issues and New Media
  COMM 489 Campaign Communication
  

• Organizational and Interpersonal Communication
  COMM 304 Interpersonal Communication
  COMM 308 Communication and Conflict
  COMM 315 Health Communication
  COMM 320 Small Group and Team Communication
  COMM 321 Communication in the Virtual Group
  COMM 345 Social and Economic Implications of Communication Technologies
  COMM 375 Business and Professional Communication
  COMM 385 Survey of Organizational Communication
  COMM 480 Nonverbal Communication
  COMM 486 Human and Technological Systems in Organizations
  COMM 487 Communication and Global Organizations
  

• Communication and Culture
  COMM 324 Intercultural Communication
  COMM 330 Rhetoric in Classical Culture
  COMM 335 Rhetoric in Contemporary Culture
  COMM 339 Communication Technology and Culture
  COMM 340 The Cultures of New Media
  COMM 345 Social and Economic Implications of Communication Technologies
  COMM 360 The Rhetoric of Los Angeles
  COMM 365 The Rhetoric of London
  COMM 384 Interpreting Popular Culture
  COMM 395 Gender, Media and Communication
  COMM 424 Millennium in the Media
  COMM 425 Communicating Religion
  COMM 465 Gender in Media Industries and Products
  

• Entertainment, Communication, and Society

COMM 300 Foundations for the Study of Entertainment, Communication & Society
COMM 306 The Communication Revolution and the Arts
COMM 310 Media and Society
COMM 339 Communication, Technology and Culture
COMM 340 The Cultures of New Media
COMM 360 The Rhetoric of Los Angeles
COMM 383m Sports, Communication and Culture
COMM 384 Interpreting Popular Culture
COMM 395m Gender, Media and Communication
COMM 401 Audience Analysis
COMM 430 Global Entertainment
COMM 431 Global Strategy for the Communications Industry
COMM 432 American Media and Entertainment Industries
COMM 440 Music as Communication
COMM 455 Advertising and Society
COMM 456 Entertainment, Marketing and Culture
COMM 457 Children and Media
COMM 458 Race and Ethnicity in Entertainment and the Arts
COMM 459 Fact and Fiction: From Journalism to the Docudrama (enroll in JOUR 459)
COMM 465 Gender and Media Industries and Products
COMM 471 Communication Systems and Technologies
COMM 472 Telecommunication Strategic Analysis
COMM 480 Nonverbal Communication
COMM 498 Ethical Issues in Entertainment and Communication
COMM 499 **Special topics may be approved depending on the nature of the course.  Please check with an advisor.

Communication majors in this emphasis have the option to take up to four units from the following courses, which will count toward the twenty four unit requirement for upper-division course work.
COLT 365 Literature and Popular Culture (4)
CSCI 480 Computer Graphics (3)
CTCS 411 Film, Television and Cultural Studies (4)
CTIN 483 Programming for Interactivity  (4)
CTPR 386 Art and Industry of the Theatrical Film (4)
CTPR 410 Movie Business from Story Conception to Exhibition (2)
ENGL 392 Visual and Popular Culture (4)
FA 350 Art Theory and Criticism (4)
HP 400 Culture, Lifestyle, and Health (4)
JOUR 375 The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture (4)
MKT 450 Buyer Behavior (4)
THTR 303 The Performing Arts (4)