Being acquainted with discourse analysis. Types of discourse. What (Exactly) Is Discourse Analysis?

Step 5: Review your work
Hey, you’re nearly there. Good job! Now it’s time to review your work.
This final step requires you to return to your research questions and compile your answers to them, based on the analysis. Make sure that you can answer your research questions thoroughly, and also substantiate your responses with evidence from your data.
Usually, discourse analysis studies make use of appendices, which are referenced within your thesis or dissertation. This makes it easier for reviewers or markers to jump between your analysis (and findings) and your corpus (your evidence) so that it’s easier for them to assess your work.
When answering your research questions, make you should also revisit your research aims and objectives, and assess your answers against these. This process will help you zoom out a little and give you a bigger picture view. With your newfound insights from the analysis, you may find, for example, that it makes sense to expand the research question set a little to achieve a more comprehensive view of the topic.38
Let’s recap…
In this article, we’ve covered quite a bit of ground. The key takeaways are:

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  Discourse analysis is a qualitative analysis method used to draw meaning from language in context.
  
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  You should consider using discourse analysis when you wish to analyze the functions and underlying meanings of language in context.
  
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  The two overarching approaches to discourse analysis are language-in-use and socio-political approaches.
  
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  The main steps involved in undertaking discourse analysis are deciding on your analysis approach (based on your research questions), choosing a data collection method, collecting your data, investigating the context of your data, analyzing your data, and reviewing your work.
  

If you have any questions about discourse analysis, feel free to leave a comment below.

Defining discourse

Discourse is the creation and organization of the segments of a language above as well as below the sentence. It is segments of language which may be bigger or smaller than a single sentence but the adduced meaning is always beyond the sentence. The term discourse applies to both spoken and written language, in fact to any sample of language used for any purpose. Any series of speech events or any combination of sentences in written form wherein successive sentences or utterances hang together is discourse. Discourse can not be confined to sentential boundaries. It is something that goes beyond the limits of sentence. In another words discourse is ‘any coherent succession of sentences, spoken or written’. The links between sentences in connected discourse are as much important as the links between clauses in a sentence.