\\ Screen & Media Studies - Graduate information //

FASS Graduate and Postgraduate website

General | Scholarships | Masters Proposals | Submitting work | Starting researching | Notes on 'Incomplete' v. 'Withdrawal'

General

Graduate Facilities

Graduate students have access to a shared room including two computers. Computer labs are available for general use in JB.01, JB.02 and JB.03. These labs are often booked. However, they can be used after hours once you have purchased a swipe card (the form can be picked up from the Faculty Information Centre). Lab bookings are posted outside each lab with times available to students.

Teaching

The Programme employs Sessional Assistants from the Graduate programme to undertake a limited amount of tutoring which is available each year. This is mainly in the first year papers, especially SMST101A Digital Screensand SMST102B Media Cultures, although tutoring may also be available in some higher level papers on occasions. Interested students should forward a letter of application and CV to the Administrator by 31 January. Such teaching also assists students in becoming part of the Programme's environment.

Programmeal Office

Enquiries including messages for staff, should be directed to Carolyn Henson, the Screen and Media Studies Administrator, in I4.22.

Paper Readings

For some papers, a book of paper readings is compiled, available to students through Campus Copy. Books of additional supplementary readings may be available for purchase.

Desk Copies

Selected texts are available on desk copy in the main university library. In order to use these texts, you must give the librarian your student ID card. These books can only be consulted in the library and are not available for loan.

Photocopying

Photocopying facilities for students are available in the Central Library. The Programme does not provide photocopying facilities for students.

Video, DVD and CD-ROM Library

The Programme has extensive holdings on VHS, DVD and CD-ROM of feature films, educational material and new media art and documentary. Graduates have full access to these resources. This is in addition to the video and DVD holdings of the central library.

Production facilities

As part of our commitment to critical and creative research, the Programme makes available to graduate students its full range of digital and analogue video cameras and editing facilities. There are opportunities for training on this equipment. There are also facilities and training available for website design and digital image manipulation.

Funding for Graduate and Postgraduate Research

Research expenses can be reimbursed and also costs for travel, conference attendance and thesis binding. For more details please refer to Faculty guidelines, or see the Programme Administrator.

Seminar Programme

Screen and Media Studies offers a programme of staff-student research seminars, in which both critical and creative work in progress can be discussed in a congenial and collegial atmosphere. We hope also to instigate a series of public seminars with invited speakers from industry and policy bodies.

Degree Show

2001 marked the first public degree show for students completing their degrees at all levels in Screen and Media Studies. This is an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our students, and to meet with previous students and with local and national figures from the media world.

Scholarship information

Scholarship information for graduate students can be found at the University's Scholarships Office. There are university staff specifically employed to coordinate scholarship information for Waikato University students and can be found on the ground floor of B block. Any postgraduate seeking funding, should contact the scholarship office:

Scholarships Office
The University of Waikato
Private Bag 3105
Hamilton
New Zealand 3240
Phone: 856 2889 ext 6320 or ext 6723
Fax: 838 4600
Email: scholarships@waikato.ac.nz

Any post grad (or a student considering postgraduate study) can subscribe to an electronic newsletter 'Scholarships Update' to receive up-to-date scholarship information. Subscribe by e-mailing to the address above, or http://www.fis.org.nz/index.php?page=BreakOut is a web-based database that lists scholarship, grants, and awards available to individuals (including criteria, application procedures, contacts etc).

Most common scholarships for post-grads in Screen & Media Studies include:

New Zealand Federation of University Women Fellowship:
The NZFUW offers a Fellowship of $4,000-$15,000 for one year to a woman graduate to undertake research or postgraduate study. The field of study is unrestricted but to qualify for tenure in New Zealand the fellowship will normally be held at doctoral or postdoctoral levels
Bank of New Zealand Graduate Scholarship:
To encourage university study in fields that are likely to be of direct benefit to the social, cultural or economic development of New Zealand.
University of Waikato Alumni Association Masters' Scholarship:
The fund was intended to provide support for students who have graduated with degree of the University of Waikato and are enrolled for a Masters degree at this University in the year of tenure.
University of Waikato Masters Scholarships:
To encourage research at the University of Waikato by assisting with course-related costs.

There are a number of scholarships specifically designed to encourage Maori students into postgraduate study. Each scholarship has particular selection criteria (e.g. research within designated areas, student an ex-pupil of a particular school etc).

MA/MSSc Thesis/Dissertation Proposals

Students should use this Word template for drafting their proposals for a Master of Arts or Master of Social Sciences thesis or dissertation: DOWNLOAD Masters Proposal Form.

Notes (these are repeated on the cover sheet of the form):

Please confer with the Graduate Advisors about when to submit this proposal. It may be by mid-December of the year preceding study, or by mid-February of your Masters year.
The proposal MUST be typed.
Spaces can be extended either by using this form as a document on Macintosh or by attaching separate sheets of paper.
The official terminology is as follows: a two paper equivalent piece of research is termed a dissertation; a piece of research equivalent to three or four papers is termed a thesis.

Submission of theses and dissertations

Students should consult the section Theses and Dissertations at the back of the University Calendar for regulations governing the submission and examination of theses and dissertations.

Deadlines

The final date of submission of a thesis for a higher degree is normally one year after registration, in the case of the MPhil, and at least two years after, in the case of the PhD. Applications for extensions and enquiries about deadlines for these degrees are a matter for the Postgraduate Studies Committee.

The final date for submission of theses and dissertations for the MA is the last Friday in February.

Supervision

All students enrolled in dissertations or theses, whether for the MA or for a higher degree, work under the direction of a member of the staff of the Programme, who is the chief supervisor. Candidates for higher degrees will normally have additional supervisors, often from other Programmes of the University, who can advise on the research.

Students must ensure that they regularly meet their supervisor(s). As a rule of thumb, students and their supervisors should be meeting at least once a fortnight during the academic year. Students should note that supervision is not always available during January. Thus, candidates for MA who must submit their work by the end of February should aim to have all the research and the bulk of the writing done by Christmas.

Extensions Procedure

All requests for extensions are to be submitted to the lecturer on the form available from the Programme Administrator. Extensions will only be approved by the appropriate lecturer and are given only for valid reasons, such as bereavement or certified illness.

Work accepted late without an extension may be commented on but not graded. Work given a valid extension will be treated in the same way as other work.

How to Start Researching

If you are new to Screen and Media Studies, or if you are returning to study after a break, or if you are changing the emphasis of your studies, we recommend the following books as good ways to get oriented in the field.

FILM TEXTBOOKS

Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson (1990) Film Art: An Introduction, 3rd edn, McGraw Hill, London (or any subsequent edition).
Kawin, Bruce F (1992), How Movies Work, University of California Press, Berkeley.

FILM STUDIES

Mast, Gerald and Marshall Cohen (eds) (1985), Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Gledhill, Christine and Linda Williams (eds) (2000), Reinventing Film Studies, Arnold, London.

TELEVISION

Newcomb, Horace (ed) (1994), Television: The Critical View, 5th edn, Oxford University Press, Oxford (or any subsequent edition).
Allen, Robert C. (ed) (1987), Channels of Discourse: Television and Contemporary Criticism, Routledge, London (or the second edition, Channels of Discourse Reassembled).
Hartley, John (1999) The Uses of Television, Routledge, New York.
Graeme Turner and Stuart Cunningham (eds) (2000) The Australian Television Book, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.

INTERNET AND DIGITAL MEDIA

Castells, Manuel (1996), The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture Volume One: The Rise of the Network Society , Blackwell, Oxford.
Druckrey, Timothy (ed) (1996), Electronic Culture: Technology and Visual Representation, Aperture, New York.

CULTURAL STUDIES

Chrisman, Laura and Patrick Williams (eds) (1993), Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory, Harvester-Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead (or second edition coedited by Laura Chrisman and Benita Parry, 2000).
Storey, John (ed) (1994), Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, Harvester Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead.
Tuhiwai Smith, Linda (1999), Decolonising Methodologies: Research and Indigenous People, University of Otago Press, Dunedin.

MASS COMMUNICATIONS

Mosco, Vincent (1996), The Political Economy of Communication: Rethinking and Renewal, Sage, London.
Thussu, Daya Kishan (ed) (1998), Electronic Empires: Global Media and Local Resistance, Arnold, London.
David Deacon et al (2000) Researching Comunications, Arnold, London.

PRODUCTION MANUALS

Jones, Chris and Genevieve Jolliffe (2000), The Guerrilla Film Makers Handbook, 2nd edn, Continuum, New York.
Zettl, Herbert (2001), Video Basics 3, Wadsworth/Thompson, Belmon CA.