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San Juan College Library Services

Communication Studies

An overview of the Communication Studies resources that we have at San Juan College

Welcome!

This guide is intended to assist with locating and retrieving information sources related to studies in Communication Studies.

If you would like to learn more about how to do research using the SJC Library and its resources click here

Please contact the SJC Reference Librarians at 505-566-3256 or libraryref@sanjuancollege.edu with any questions or suggestions.

What is Communication?

Communication is a field of study that focuses on how people use messages to generate meanings within and across various contexts. Messages are sent from one communicator to another via a medium. This medium can either be spoken, written, presented via television/social media, or communicated in any number of other ways. It is then up to the person being communicated to to interpret the messages being sent. The field of communication studies focuses on all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry.

Typically the field is called communication and not communications. Communications is a technical term referring to different forms of sending messages to a large number of people at a single time or to a single person at a great distance. Types of communications could include things like radio, television, and the internet. Communication can occur over communications. 

Communication includes a number of significant sub-fields such as 

  • Applied (Business) Communication – The study of process used to analyze the needs of organizations and businesses, including the design of training to improve communication between supervisors and employees. 
  • Electronic Media Communication – The study of the way that messages are sent between radio, television, media technology, and web design with streaming audio and video 
  • Interpersonal (Human) Communication – The study of messaging sending behaviors between dyads (pairs) and their impact on personal relationships. This can include relationship between strangers, friends, romantic partners, and other groups. 
  • Legal Communication – The study of the role of communication in the legal system
  • Mass Communication  – The study of the structure of verbal and nonverbal behaviors occurring between one person and a large number of people. Includes public communication campaigns 
    • Health Communication – The study of communication as it relates to health professionals and health education, including the study of provider-client interaction as well as the diffusion of health information through public health campaigns
    • Political Communication – The study of the role that communication plays in political systems.
  • Public Relations – The study of the management of communication between an organization and its audiences.
  • Visual Communication – The study of visual data, such as architecture, photography, visual art, advertising, film, and television as it relates to communication.