Your Degree

As you'd expect from a Russell Group university, the Journalism Studies BA is intellectually demanding.

The best journalists grapple with the complex legal and moral issues around their work. They need the brain power to make tough decisions in an instant and call it right every time. You'll need to prepare for this by getting stuck in to the heavyweight academic content on the course.

We'll also equip you with practical skills like framing a camera shot, shorthand (still a vital tool in journalists' locker) and editing digital audio and video. You'll learn to write sharp, attention-grabbing copy, structure news bulletins and use social media like a pro.

But it doesn't end there. You'll need to go out and uncover stories for yourself, attending council meetings and court cases, and making contacts in your 'patch'. Then with your team you'll turn your stories into TV, radio and web content back here in our newsrooms, meeting real deadlines to break the news.

So you’ll need initiative, persistence and imagination to be successful on the course – and as a journalist. It's no easy ride and we know it's asking a lot. But don't be put off. If you get a place on the course, it means you're good enough.

For optional modules that are outside of the department, we may not be able to avoid timetable clashes as we don't have access to check other departments timetables. Due to this you need to check your timetable for every week (as the timetabling may differ between weeks) and let us know as soon as possible if if there are any clashes. We aren't able to change the timetable for these clashes and so whilst we will try to accommodate as best we can, there are times when you may be required to choose another optional module. If, due to exceptional circumstances you need to change seminar groups, please contact journalism@sheffield.ac.uk.  Please note that issues arising with commuting or employment commitments will not be considered as exceptional circumstances for a seminar group change.

Teaching on our degree courses is organised into modules. Each module is a programme of study concerning a particular aspect of journalism, media and communication. Modules all have their own particular reading lists, timetables of lectures and workshops, and systems of assessment (exams, coursework and so on).

All the content you'll cover in the first year of the degree is combined into an a module called Essential Journalism. In your second and third years, core modules cover more of the fundamental skills and knowledge; while optional modules allow you to shape the degree to your career goals or research interests, such as investigative journalism, storytelling with data, or advanced broadcast production.

A full outline of your degree structure, with a list of all modules (including the Guided Module Choice list for Levels 2 and 3) can be found searching for your programme in the Programme Regulations Finder. This will show a breakdown of which modules take place at each level of study. Importantly, it also shows any specific progression requirements for each level.

Level 1 Modules

Essential Journalism (CORE) - 120 credits

This module develops news writing, news production and academic skills, combined with theoretical understanding of journalism in both a national and international context. It also provides an introduction to key future themes such as media law, ethics and analysing information. Students will learn how to write and structure news stories, develop interviewing skills, source and use quotes, and journalistic social media skills, amongst others. Themes include; journalism and politics; media freedom; journalism and society; audiences; technology and innovation in journalism; law and ethics; current debates in industry; and analysing news agendas.

Level 2 Modules

Core modules

Live News Production - 60 credits

This module will give students a range of multi-platform production skills to showcase their journalism and to enable them to operate as critically thinking professionals. The module will gradually build up students' real world experience and will enable them to operate as self-motivated individuals as well as within a team. Students will work as Journalists in a variety of ways - ranging from the fast paced Newsday environment to the production of features, documentaries, projects and portfolios over a longer period of time. Students will learn to work as professionals while adhering to industry guidelines and making connections with academic theory.

Media Law for Journalists - 20 credits

This module provides for those wishing to be journalists, or studying journalism, essential knowledge of media law applying in England and Wales, and of regulatory codes which UK journalists should comply with. This law includes that of defamation, privacy and contempt of court, and other law governing court reporting. The codes seek to uphold journalistic standards generally, including protection of people's privacy and of the identities of sources promised confidentiality. The module also demonstrates that UK journalists can assert `human rights' which in law and the codes uphold freedom of expression, including publication of material `in the public interest'. 

Optional modules - A

Reporting Justice - 20 credits

This module introduces journalism students to the skills required to write news reports from Crown, magistrates' and coroners' courts cases. Student will visit these courts to makes notes on real cases for these reports. Feedback is given to each student on their draft and finalised reports, and on their notes. Their accuracy in note-taking and speed in writing such a news report is assessed in a formal examination in which they write up a news report of a hypothetical 'prosecution opening' of a trial.

Introduction to PR for Journalists - 20 credits

This module will provide students with knowledge and skills necessary to communicate messages through the media. Case studies and practical workshops will allow students to learn about the practice of media communication. They will learn how the media operates and how to communicate messages through interviews, press conferences, news releases and social media. Topics covered in the module will include the development of communication strategies, the understanding of news values and news cycles and strategies for successful and ethical communication.

Optional Modules - B

Data Driven Storytelling - 20 credits

Data-driven approaches to reporting are gaining in popularity and importance in today's world. Established media institutions, such as The New York Times in the US or The Guardian and Press Association in the UK (and many more around the world) already have units that specialise in data journalism. Thus, it becomes essential for the next generation of journalists to be data-literate and to appreciate how data can be verified and used not only to find stories but to tell stories. This module is designed to make you confident and comfortable in working with data and, furthermore, to expand your journalistic toolkit for data-driven, analytic and investigative journalism.

Introduction to Investigative Journalism - 20 credits

The module provides an introductory grounding in the skill sets, methodology and knowledge needed for investigative journalism, and includes practical assessment. It includes opportunity for students to further develop knowledge of how to use the Freedom of Information Act.

Journalism and Political Communication - 20 credits

Journalism and Political Communication explores news media coverage of political events, procedural political processes such as policy making and societal processes such as civic campaigning. By focusing on different aspects of political communication - broadcast and digital - both in Britain and internationally, the module seeks to answer a significant and central question: Does media reporting of politics help to inform and clarify or to obfuscate public understanding of policy, political processes and political issues? The module is delivered via interactive lectures and seminars. Assessment is via a case study on a topic selected by the student and approved by the module leader.

Journalism in History - 20 credits

This module aims to set the processes and outputs of UK journalism in their historical context. You will develop an understanding of how journalism developed as a commercial activity and a recognisable profession in the nineteenth century, and how these beginnings influenced the shape of journalism throughout the twentieth century, with the growth of the tabloid press, the battles of the press barons, the rise and fall of the print unions, coverage of scandals, and the growth of consumer and lifestyle journalism. You will discuss and debate key issues such as the emergence of a free press, campaigning and investigative journalism, the development of an alternative media and representation of diversity within the press.

JNL225 Sports Journalism  - 20 credits
This module focuses on what specialist sports reporting in a digital age involves and explores the skills necessary for a modern sports journalist across all platforms. The module encompasses a range of sports including football, F1, basketball and cricket, with a focus on how sports news is gathered, delivered and consumed. Students will learn about how to thoroughly research specialist sports as well as the importance of finding a niche. The module will explore how the sports news agenda is driven by data as well as looking at the wider context of societal and cultural issues within sport and also how sport operates as a business. Reporting on social media and the distribution of content on different platforms will be a pivotal part of learning how to produce sports stories for a specific audience with an understanding of how social media has transformed how live sports events are covered. The module will also enable students to learn about live sports reporting and the best techniques to deliver content through conventional kit and mobile journalism. 

Level 3 Modules

Core Modules

Magazine Journalism and Production - 40 credits

In this module you will produce a multi-platform brand specifically for a target market. It combines working under your own initiative and working as part of a team to launch a new magazine that you will write and design as well as creating digital and social content and appropriate multimedia, as well as commissioning content from colleagues. You will undertake market research, an analysis of your competitive set and produce a business plan that demonstrates the commercial potential of your brand. When working as a team, you will learn how to deal with different personalities and skill sets while developing a sense of professional conduct as you produce a magazine that is the sum of all your work.

Final Project - 40 credits

You will prepare and execute a substantial piece of work that either analyses an issue in journalism, or is a piece of journalism publishable on a platform of your choice. Under the guidance of a named supervisor you'll be able to choose your own topic, and in the process be able to see how almost any topic can be investigated and researched from a journalistic and academic perspective. You'll be able to make an informed choice about the nature of your project in relation to your own strengths, weaknesses and ambitions.

Optional Modules - A

News Project - 20 credits

This module aims to coach, support and develop the skills required in specialist reporting, such as crime, education, data, health, politics, in a bid to allow you to report more creatively, analytically and develop off-diary news-gathering abilities to appeal to both regional and national, and international audiences as well as exploring campaign opportunities and developing project management skills by the creation of a branded news organisation.

Television and Radio Live Production - 20 credits

The module will cover the production of individual radio packages including pitching story ideas, and using sound and audio imaginatively to create radio packages. You will be part of a team producing a television news magazine-style programme, where longer television news packages and special reports will be put together over a number of weeks.

Optional Modules - B

Free Speech and Censorship - 20 credits

Free Speech and Censorship critically explores the historical and contemporary status of freedom of speech and expression and the limits and constraints on this liberty. The module covers topics as varied as the philosophies of free speech; the history and significance of free speech; debates about harm and offence; the political economy of censorship; privacy and surveillance; censorship during war and informal censorship. Students taking this module should be interested in examining these debates as they apply to contemporary media and political systems. Assessment is via a case study on a topic selected by the student and approved by the module leader.

Gender, Feminism and the Media - 20 credits

This module critically examines the media through a feminist and gendered perspective. It considers how women, ‘femininity’ and women’s issues are constructed in the media across a variety of cultural contexts. It introduces theories and approaches with which to analyse a variety of media including newspapers, magazines, and social media. Students will comparatively analyse traditional and social media from a feminist, intersectional, and postcolonial perspective. They will consider the role of the media in both perpetuating, but also challenging, normative ideas about gender. The module draws on a variety of case studies. Topics include LGBTQI+ identity, activism, and the body.

Radio and Development - 20 credits

Radio plays a crucial role in development. It is the main source of information in many countries in the Global South and obtaining factual, independent and timely information allows listeners to make informed decisions, promoting empowerment and democracy. This module focuses on, and engages with, the role of radio in development. It examines theoretical discussions and also practical applications used, and sometimes misused, by radio and development agencies internationally, during conflicts and pandemics and the challenges they encounter culturally, politically, economically, legally and institutionally. It brings together practical skills (radio production) and theoretical understandings.

JNL327 Journalism in Film and Fiction - 20 credits
The ways in which journalists are portrayed in popular culture can help moderate public feeling about both news gathering and news gatherers. Positive or negative representations of the ways in which news is brought to audiences are central to how (or whether) journalism functions within a democracy. This module offers students an engaging and insightful exploration of how the worlds of journalism and storytelling intersect in the realms of cinema, TV and literature. The interdisciplinary course delves into the portrayal of fictional journalists and considers the ways in which these portrayals may help build public narratives around issues such as trust. Through analysis of representations of the media, the module identifies common tropes, stereotypes and the influence of contemporary popular culture to depict journalists and their roles within a social context. The module provides students with a unique opportunity to explore the dynamic interplay between the reality of being a journalist and fictionalised accounts by helping to enhance critical thinking and media literacy skills while gaining a deeper understanding of the impact of journalism on society and the ways in which these representations help shape our understanding of the world around us. 

Please note that information about the Guided Module Choice list for 2024/25 can be seen in the Degree Structure section above. All module descriptions of modules that are from outside of the department can be found in the Online Module Directory.

1. Online add/drop form

You need to complete the online add/drop form to officially request a change. The online form is available from 8am on the first day of each semester.

1. Log into MUSE using your university name and password

2. Choose 'My Services', then 'View All Services'

3. Under the letter 'M' choose 'Module Add Drop'

4. Follow the instructions on the screen

2. Approval

Your add request will be sent to the department who owns the module.

The department will make a decision based on availability.

3. Blackboard & timetable

If your request is successful then your student record will be updated, and you will gain access to your new module's Blackboard page. Your timetable will also be updated to show your new class times.

Please be aware that this could take up to two days. 

When you drop a module, you will not be automatically removed from the Blackboard site.

If you would like to transfer onto a different degree programme, please be aware that places on most programmes are limited. You should read the information on this page and make contact with the admissions tutor or course leader of the programme you are hoping to transfer onto. You should also seek advice from either the Journalism Student Experience team or an academic member of staff. 

The dates for the current, future, and past standard semesters at the University can be found here.