This volume assumes no prior knowledge of the subject. For students who have never studied Communication Studies before, it will give an idea of what to expect. For students already studying Media or Communication Studies at school or college, it will provide a concise but comprehensive learning aid. Part One includes an overview of Communication Studies, a survey of the current approaches to and theories about Communication that are taught in the majority of UK universities, and the Communication Studies Toolkit - a roundup of the different approaches used to make sense of their objects of study, including semiotics, discourse analysis, social constructionism, visual rhetorics, historical materialism, psychoanalysis, gender criticism (including feminism, postfeminism, and queer theory), structuralism and poststructuralism, postmodernism and postcolonialism. Part Two covers study skills for undergraduate communication - the level of reading required, types of assignments and assessment, time management, how to use a tutorial, recording notes in lectures, writing skills and revising for and passing examinations (including ‘model’ exam questions and answers).

Will Barton is Senior Lecturer in Communication, Culture and Media at Coventry School of Art and Design. Andrew Beck is Principal Lecturer in Applied Communication at Coventry School of Art and Design.