Introduction to the Study of Communication (261243)

Learning Outcomes

• To become aware of the specifics of scientific argumentation and research in the communication sciences;
• To become aware of the diversity of theoretical perspectives available to analyze communication events, particularly in the media;
• To acquire conceptual tools for analyzing communication content;
• To develop sensitivity, imagination and critical sense for the analysis and interpretation of communication content;
• To develop oral and written academic communication skills.

Study Program

1. Foundations for research in social sciences
1.1. The scientific argument
1.2. The logical moments of scientific activity
1.3. The stages of the research in social sciences
1.4. Basic Social Science research terminology
2. Conceptual foundations for the study of communication
2.1. The concept of communication
2.2. Processual and semiotic approaches to the study of communication
3. Models in studying communication
3.1. The elements of the communication process
3.2. Lasswell’s model
3.3. Shannon and Weaver’s model
3.4. The semiotic-informational model
4. Foundations of semiotics
4.1. Ferdinand Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce in the study of signs
4.2. Roland Barthes in the study of signification
4.3. Organizations of signs: paradigms and syntagma
4.4. Umberto Eco: the ‘Open Text’ concept
4.5. The functions of language according to Roman Jakobson

Bibliography

MAIN REFERENCES: 

Campenhoudt, L. V., Marquet, J. & Quivy, R. (2019). Manual de Investigação em Ciências Sociais. Reformulado, complementado, actualizado. Lisboa: Gradiva. (there is an edition in French)
Chandler, D. (2017). Semiotics: The Basics. Routledge.
Fiske, J. (1998). Introduc?a?o ao Estudo da Comunicac?a?o. Lisboa: Edic?o?es ASA. (there is an English edition in ISMT’s library)
Hall, S. (2012). This means this, this means that. A user’s guide to semiotics. London: Laurence King Publisher. (there is an edition in Spanish)