If you are a specialist in linguistics and sociolinguistic studies or strive to become one, this book will be an indispensable help for you. Here is the widest range of methods for analyzing text and discourse - how they are defined in theory and how they can be applied in practice. All methods are given in comparison with others, which greatly facilitates the selection of the appropriate one for each specific situation. The breadth of the approach and the versatile experience of the authors significantly sets the book apart from other works on textual and discourse analysis. Given its completeness, we can safely say - before you is an encyclopedia on sociolinguistic research.