One of the most common things students say when applying to the programme is that they want to become good communicators, but not everyone has stopped to think about what that really means. Unless we know what we're communicating for, how will we be able to tell if we're doing a good job? This module takes apart our intuitive, naïve understanding of communication (which roughly says “communication is about getting my ideas into someone else's head”) and builds a more realistic and complex one, where we take into account the audience we're communicating with, the media we're using to do so and the context in which communication takes place.

Good writing is part art, part science, and a lot of craft. This module helps students become better writers by introducing the key techniques of this craft (how to build sentences, paragraphs and longer texts that are both engaging and clear), and by practicing them over and over until they are second nature.

Other modules teach you the knowledge that others have amassed before you. This one teaches you how to make new knowledge by yourself — a skill that's not only important in academia, but in many professional roles in the creative industries (from data journalism to market research, opinion polling, customer engagement, public relations and more).

Writing and designing for the web means coming up with content that will be equally clear, attractive and useful regardless of whether your audience is using a modern smartphone or an aging desktop, connected by broadband or 3G, reading leisurely in their room or hurriedly on the tube. This module teaches you the technical and creative skills to deal with this problem.

Communication, media and culture studies is a fast-moving field. Whether it's climate denialism or fake news, #MeToo or #BlackLivesMatter, K-pop stans on Twitter or pro-ana communities on TikTok, much of contemporary politics and culture happens in a mediated form. In this module, we look at aspects of CMC that are the topic of current debates and explore them in depth through discussion seminars and reading groups.

The promotional industries (marketing, public relations, branding and so on) are an increasingly important part of our economy — and also an increasingly important part of the social and environmental problems we face, from plastic pollution caused by packaging to the reproduction of sexist, racist and ageist stereotypes in ads. In this module, we learn both how to do branding and how to think about its broader and problematic consequences.