Working with Written Discourse

Working with Written Discourse in three words: erudite, elegant, engaging. Grounded in an extensive, up-to-date literature, Cameron and Panovic provide here a beautifully and sensibly organized introduction to the field. With constant opportunities for further reflection and discussion, the book is also chock-a-block with contemporary examples and fresh ideas for hands-on practice. I would – no, I will – use this book as a core text in my graduate seminars as readily as I will my undergraduate courses. Cameron’s Working with Spoken Discourse has been a key text in my classes for over a decade; my only (quite unreasonable) gripe being that it didn’t offer me enough on things like new media discourse and multimodal discourse. Well, here we have it: a perfect complement.  And much more besides. -- Professor Crispin Thurlow
This volume is written in an admirably clear and understandable style, without compromising on the depth of the arguments and discussions. It is comprehensive and up-to-the-minute in its discussion of areas like multimodality and the new media, without overlooking ‘older’ media and more conventional writing. I will recommend it highly to students at all levels.
-- Dr Mark Sebba
This is an outstanding introduction to discourse analysis of written language in an age that is more and more characterized by multilingual, digital, and generically hybrid texts. In an accessible style, Working with Written Discourse illustrates how these texts can be analyzed employing a wide variety of approaches that are critical, multidisciplinary, and productive. -- Professor Jaffer Sheyholislami
Working with Written Discourse is an engaging read on current theoretical and methodological approaches to the analysis of written discourse. The book enjoys a number of distinctive features compared to parallel publications. First... this book provides a thorough introduction to common underpinning concepts and current literature on written discourse and its analysis. Second, it presents an interesting array of examples, activities and further readings to initiate the reader to a hands-on experience in written discourse analysis. Third, looking beyond conventional textual and formalistic aspects of written discourse, it highlights the role of socio-political and cultural variables and contexts in shaping and transforming written discourse as well as its analysis. Most importantly, it is one of the pro-technology publications on written discourse analysis ,as a big portion of it is dedicated to technology-mediated discourse and technology facilitated discourse analysis. The image on the front cover is a subtle gesture in this respect.  -- Pejman Habibie, Faculty of Education, The University of Western Ontario, Cananda
A potentially useful if dense introduction to this topic. -- Dr Bonnie Meekums * drupal *
“Working with Written Discourse” provides a clearly written introduction to the various ways to analyse discourse and visual communication in modern society. The fundamentals of analysing texts are clearly outlined and up-to-date references to on-line material are a great resource for students. Furthermore, each chapter contains activities for students and recommended readings. Although the book is mainly aimed at students of linguistics, it provides a solid framework for those of other disciplines. The final chapter discusses how to design a research project and would be of great assistance to undergraduate students. I would recommend this book for classes that explore the analysis of discourses in the modern era of digital discourses. -- Dr Elaine Burroughs * drupal *
An interesting book that tackles the subject reasonably well. Some useful insights are offered. -- Dr Jane Jackson * drupal *
Not quite suitable for beginning students. -- Dr Jane Jackson * drupal *
A good book that helps students to understand DA. -- Dr Moheeb Abualqumboz * drupal *
Excellent book, recommended to MPhils and PhDs working on dissertations that relate to discourse analysis. -- Dr Roxane Farmanfarmaian * drupal *
Clear and accessible introduction. Full of useful examples and exercises. Popular with my students. -- Mr Anders Hansen * drupal *
This text addresses quite lofty ambitions in that the author takes a complex subject and addresses its main components succinctly and with clarity. The fact that this deft trick is pulled off is testament to the depth of their knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
For our purposes this text is intended to enlighten a group of non-specialist students in accessing a level of understanding which allows them to use elementary analysis of written discourse in their research assignments and it appears that they have understood the subject well enough, using this text in support of the taught componnent, to achieve the desired ends. Only their assignments due in two weeks time will gauge this accurately. In the menatime we will be suggesting that next years stage two students purchase a copy of the book and also asking our library to purchase copies for general use. -- Mr Andrew Thorne * drupal *
An ideal text for undergraduate researchers looking to get to grips with discourse analysis. -- Mr John Perry * drupal *
Students have found the book a bit difficult to follow. -- Professor Raquel Ribeiro * drupal *