Unlike many other areas of linguistics, discourse analysis is a complex field to define, comprising a number of related but different theoretical and methodological frameworks. Discourse can mean many different things to different people.  Students often find these multiple meanings to be confusing and this book attempts to spell out and reconcile the different approaches, to give a holistic picture of discourse analysis as a branch of several disciplines. As well as comprising a glossary of key terms, the book provides clear, illustrative examples, a section on key thinkers and their ideas, and key texts for further reading. This book is essential reading for students on linguistics, language studies and media and cultural studies courses who are engaging in discourse analysis.