Objectives

The MA in Corporate and Organizational Communication Comprehensive Examination option is required of all students who are not pursuing the option of writing a Master's Thesis. The examination is a capstone experience intended to evaluate the student’s competence, knowledge, and understanding of the field of corporate and organizational communication. It is offered every Fall and Spring semester. The Comprehensive Examination consists of a four week (28 day), take-home examination in which students are required to answer two questions.

Requirements to Take the Comprehensive Examination

Students may take the Comprehensive Examination option only after 24 credits of coursework have been completed and the student has a GPA of 3.0 or higher.

Directions

Students will answer TWO questions from a choice of 8-10 questions provided. Sample questions from past examinations can be found by clicking the link on the left side of this page. The questions will be based on the students' prior coursework. The Comprehensive Examination is intended to evaluate students' knowledge of corporate and organizational communication as a field rather than any particular sub-topic within that field. Therefore, none of the questions on the examination should be considered course specific. Students may use material for any course/area to support any answer.

Students must write 20 pages per answer (40 pages total for both answers). This page length does not include the title page or bibliography. End-notes may be used, but only very sparingly, if at all.

Fall 2009 Exam Logistics

The examination will formally begin at 10:00am on Monday, October 12, 2009. You may begin work on the examination immediately upon receipt but please send back an email to the Program Director (jennifer@fdu.edu) indicating that the examination has been received and opened successfully.

The examination will formally end at 6:00pm on Monday, November 9, 2009. You are required to submit your exam responses using the Digital Drop-Box feature of Blackboard. A hard copy of your answers must also be submitted to the Program Director at the following address:

Dr. Jennifer K. Lehr, Director
The MA in Corporate and Organizational Communication
M-AB2-02
Fairleigh Dickinson University
285 Madison Avenue
Madison, NJ 07940

Evaluation of the Comprehensive Examination

Student answers will be reviewed by 3-person panel consisting of: (a) the Program Director, (b) a member of the Graduate Faculty, and (c) a member of the Board of Corporate Advisors.

Each student will be scheduled to give an oral defence of their answers in front of a panel consisting of the Program Director, a member of the Graduate Faculty, and a member of the Board of Corporate Advisors. The oral defence will take about one hour. The candidate will give a brief statement outlining the main points of their answers. They will then take questions from the 3-person panel.

The decision to pass or fail the student will be made by the Program Director and Graduate Faculty member, with input from the Board Member.

Students can receive only the following grades: high pass, pass, or fail.

A grade of high pass is issued when the student’s responses are clearly superior to the expected level of knowledge. This is evidenced by accurate citation of specific references, well-developed logic and organization in answers, and critical thinking and analysis displayed in answers.

A grade of pass is issued when students meet minimum expectations for appropriate answers on both questions.

It is possible for a student to pass one question and fail the other. If this occurs, students will be given the opportunity to revise the answer in a time-frame to be determined by the Program Director.

Failure to pass both question will result in the student retaking the entire exam, with new questions, during the next semester in which the exam is offered (Fall or Spring).

Students will be allowed to retake the Comprehensive Examination only once. If a student does not successfully pass both questions within two attempts, he/she will be dismissed from the program.

Grading Criteria

The following criteria should be borne in mind as you prepare your answers. These are the same criteria that will be used by the examiners when evaluating your answers.

• Relevance: To what extent does the discussion and supporting evidence relate directly to the question?
• Use of Appropriate Sources: To what extent does the candidate use appropriate supporting evidence?
• Thoroughness: To what extent does the candidate cover what is needed to be discussed within the space limits of the examination?
• Critical Thinking and Integration of Ideas: To what extent does the candidate analyze data and ideas logically and coherently? Is the candidate able to integrate material from different areas across the curriculum in their answers?
• Creativity and Originality: To what extent does the candidate provide new ideas or new interpretations of existing ideas? Is the candidate able to apply material covered in the program to contemporary situations and issues?
• Style and Clarity: To what extent is the writing clear and free of editorial and typographical errors?

This page last updated July 9, 2009, by Gary P. Radford and Jennifer K. Lehr.