An introduction to a range of theoretical frameworks and methodologies that inform the interdisciplinary endeavor of media studies. Focusing on the analytical capacities and conceptual grounding necessary for reading, interpreting, and producing media studies scholarship, the aim is to develop practical skills for academic professionalization. Explores methods to design and execute media-theoretical research projects including semiotic and discourse analysis, genealogy, and archival research. Throughout, students engage with contemporary methodological debates and examples of a variety of genres and approaches to writing and critical analysis as they practice and develop their own written projects. Assignments include several smaller projects and a larger research project employing an original methodology.