Dialogic approaches of Mikhail Bakhtin  ( Russian Formalist ) or the Interpellation methods of Altusser (Structuralist ) are really resourceful for textual analysis. If you stick to any specific formalistic method for long, it may create ambiguities in the interpretation of context within and beyond the text!

Thankyou - I have heard of Bakhtin but not too familiar - I will try that.

Jenny, thanks for sharing... I suggest that "word count" is not an appropriate marker in research/writing, 

Dear Jenny, 

I would recommend to you two names Teun A. van Dijk and J. Gee. If you need an easy written manual try to read Tim Rapley's book concerning texts and documents analysis tit."Doing Conversation, Discourse and Document Analysis (Qualitative Research Kit)"(2008).

I have a suggestion - Discursive Psychology, which uses the coding framework developed by Jefferson. There is no prescriptive menu for how to do DP, but it's a fascinating way of analysing texts (both talk and text). The key assumptions are that people construct their world, and understanding of the world, in their texts. DP analyses text for construction, function, consequentiality and variation.  See Edwards and Potter (1992): Discursive Psychology. London: Sage. Happy to detail this out some more if you're interested. I have used a version of DP in my PhD thesis, and publications.

Thanks all for responses,  - word count is part of time constraint and project/self management - for me. I am familiar with most of thee things you mention to one degree or another. it is the Teun and Rapley texts that are new to me - i will look them up. I feel comforted with the knowledge that what I already have found out is sufficient and I can come up with the goods. thanks again. Over and ouut.

This is actually for CDA, but can be adapted for DA.

Huckin, T. N. 2004. Social approaches to critical discourse analysis: http://exchanges.state.gov/education/engteaching/pubs/BR/functionalsec3-6.htm

Dear Jenny,

 you might want have a look at:

Cutica, I., Ianì, F., & Bucciarelli, M. (2014). Learning from text benefits from enactment. Memory & Cognition, 42, 1026-1037.

for criteria revealing the depth of the elaboration of the text...

Dear Jenny,

another great book about discourse analysis in social sciences:

Ruth Wodak (Editor), Michal Krzyzanowski (Editor): Qualitative Discourse Analysis in Social Sciences.

http://www.amazon.com/Qualitative-Discourse-Analysis-Social-Sciences/dp/0230019870

Paperback: 204 pages Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; First Edition edition

(July 22, 2008) ISBN-10: 0230019870, ISBN-13: 978-0230019874

It is an overview about using discourse analysis with different kind of text-sources (newspapers, new media, tv-documentaries, focus groups, etc.). You can choose the most relevant for your research.

And the authors are at top of the field (Ruth Wodak, Martin Reisigl, Alexander Pollak, Greg Myers, Florian Oberhuber, Michael Krzyzanowski etc).

• Comprehensive reading of Texts is not comparison (better comparative), or reading against per se. There are other ways of reading, like reading Intertextually, not comparison or 'reading against' but 'reading beneath' the text and 'reading behind' the text as well. In this reading the original author is not by passed but with and beyond his/her reading of the context. I believe that all texts are formidably contextual, ( even revealed texts, because even if it was revealed it was in a context without context its parroting, and may lack authenticity of its historicity and people centrality. I suggest  Jenny Arnold to check out semioticians like Bhahtin ( as being suggested already) and Julia Kristeva (Bulgarian). Of course reading Gademer (Hans-Georg) is a MUST even if his slant is philosophical (Truth and Method, 1960). Then of course there are other readings of texts Eg. from feminist, post colonial, ecological and many other perspectives. All texts today are challenged to respond to the emerging socio-political issues and other human predicaments. Hence hermeneutics today is carving new areas, making discursive analysis poignant, equally complex but could be refreshingly new. 

Deborah Cameron's new book 'Working with written discourse' (with Ivan Panovic) may be useful. For me, it all depends on what you are investigating and your approach. A CDA will investigate how lexical components and grammatical structures of the text express ideology and power relations. 

OK everyone, great suggestions and I have stumbled upon what I need via considering your suggestions. You can stop making suggestions now. Thank you everyone.

Ruth Wodak (1999), discourse historical model for discursive studies