• To become aware of the diversity of theoretical perspectives available to analyze communication events, particularly in the media.
• To acquire conceptual tools for analyzing and reflecting on communication content.
• To know how to develop and evaluate arguments.
• To develop sensitivity, imagination and insight for the analysis and interpretation of communication content.

1. Foundations for the study of communication
1.1. The concept of communication
1.2. Communication, culture and society
1.3. Communication and perception
1.4. Processual and semiotic approaches to the study of communication
2. Models in studying communication
2.1. The elements of the communication process
2.2. Lasswell’s model
2.3. Shannon and Weaver’s model
2.4. Jakobson’s functions of language
3. Foundations of communication semiotics
3.1. Ferdinand Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce in the study of signs
3.2. Organizations of signs: paradigms and syntagms
3.3. Codes. Types of codes
4. Communication and argumentation
4.1. Types of arguments
4.1.1. Arguments based on examples
4.1.2. Arguments by analogyç
4.1.3. Arguments from authority
4.1.4. Arguments about causes
4.1.5. Deductive arguments
4.2. Fallacies in argumentation

• Fiske, John (1998) Introdução ao Estudo da Comunicação. Lisboa: Edições ASA.
• Hall, Sean (2012) This means this, this means that. A user’s guide to semiotics. London: Laurence King Publisher.
• Weston, Anthony (1996) A Arte de Argumentar. Lisboa: Gradiva.
• Wolf, Mauro (2006). Teorias da Comunicação. Lisboa, Editorial Presença.