Welcome to Communication Studies 301: Communication Theory and Analysis, one of the courses that is intended to provide you with a grounding in the field of communication studies, a relatively new interdisciplinary field that draws many of its theoretical ideas about human communication from psychology, sociology, cultural studies, linguistics, philosophy, and literary studies. Most interdisciplinary fields begin that way, probably because the people who are attracted to creating new areas of study bring their intellectual baggage with them, including specialized theoretical tools shaped by an older discipline. What is fascinating about interdisciplinary work is that, gradually, something new and unique is fashioned with those tools—and the tools themselves gradually change to meet the needs of the new task.