Outline and discuss the role of both code and context in making sense of pictorial public signs such as roadsigns.

Guidance

For general guidance about what is expected in your essays for this module, see the general criteria.

What Key Features Do I Look For? Familiarity with relevant texts Evidence - the stronger the better Argument - coherent and balanced Theoretical discussion - relation to relevant theories Understanding of relevant concepts Reflexivity - reflections on methodology Examples - insightfully analysed Style - readability and effective presentation

Please remember to avoid footnotes and to include an alphabetical list of 'References' which have been cited in the text (not a Bibliography of anything you have read for the essay). This list should include author's names, date, book titles (in italics), place of publication and publisher. Within the text always cite author's surname, date and page number. Double-space your text and number your pages. For more detailed notes on writing essays in this department, click here.

Advice for this particular assignment: Identify the kinds of codes and contexts you are referring to (e.g. particular kinds of textual codes and particular social, locational or situational contexts). In the case of interpreting road signs, the locational context is crucial - the (strongly) 'preferred meaning' of most road signs depends on them being in the appropriate place: for instance, a crossroads sign being just prior to where roads cross (rather than, for instance, on a student's wall, for instance). However, each roadsign also makes sense by virtue of being in relation to other signs within the system of roadsigns rather than as an isolated sign (so, for instance, a sign in a red triangle shares this feature with other signs within the roadsign system which are also 'warning' signs). Definitions of key terms can be found in Chandler and Munday (2011).

Note also that this is an assignment for which the inclusion of relevant pictorial illustrations is expected. These should be inserted electronically into your Word document rather than cut-and-pasted in. You can scan such illustrations in from print sources, save them from disk-based sources, download them from online sources (such as my Powerpoint slides) or even create them from scratch in a graphics package. Use them to help you to make points more effectively. Label each one, 'Figure 1' etc. and add a caption.

Some suggested reading

• Chandler, Daniel (2007) Semiotics: The Basics (2nd Edn.). London: Routledge
• Chandler, Daniel and Rod Munday (2011) Dictionary of Media and Communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Crow, David (2003) Visible Signs: An Introduction to Semiotics. Crans-près-Céligny, Switzerland: AVA
• Danesi, Marcel (1994) Messages and Meanings: An Introduction to Semiotics. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press
• Danesi, Marcel (1999) Of Cigarettes, High Heels and Other Interesting Things: An Introduction to Semiotics. London: Macmillan [a wide-ranging elementary introduction]
• Danesi, Marcel (2002) Understanding Media Semiotics. London: Arnold
• Fiske, John (1990) Introduction to Communication Studies. London: Routledge.
• Guiraud, Pierre (1975) Semiology (trans. George Gross). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul [an accessible introduction]
• Hall, Sean (2007) This Means This, That Means That. London: Laurence King
• Kress, Gunther & Theo Van Leeuwen (1996) Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge
• Messaris, Paul (1997) Visual Persuasion: The Role of Images in Advertising. Thousand Oaks: Sage
• Sturken, Marita & Lisa Cartwright (2001) Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Thwaites, Tony, Lloyd Davis & Warwick Mules (2002) Introducing Cultural and Media Studies: A Semiotic Approach (formerly Tools for Cultural Studies: An Introduction). London: Palgrave (very readable Australian application of semiotic principles)
• van Leeuwen, Theo (2004) Introducing Social Semiotics. London: Routledge