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After reading this chapter, you should:

 know about some of the assumptions and ideas central to the study of discourse; and

 be familiar with the general outline and the purpose of this book.

Those undertaking work on conversations, discourse and documents are fascinated by language, written or spoken. I am not actually sure what those interested in discourse have not studied yet – like the Internet, nearly all the areas of human (and non-human) conduct have been investigated. There are classic pieces of work that focus on racism, sexuality and madness, but these days anything goes: from the role of ‘uh huh’ in talk between friends to government legislation on genetically modified food. The range of sources of potential materials to analyze is equally massive: official documents, political debate, all the types of media outputs, casual conversations, talk in workplaces, interviews, focus groups, ethnography, blogs, chat rooms, and so on. This book aims to explore how you can research language-in-use. It aims to outline in detail the very practical issues that you might face and the very practical solutions you can employ.