A corpus-based deconstructive strategy for critically engaging with arguments

My broad concern is with texts which aim to persuade an audience of a particular point of view on a particular topic – persuasion texts. Political speeches and newspaper editorials are examples of this text type. I put forward a strategy for critically engaging with such texts. Its focus is a persuasion text's cohesion – how it is held together through its vocabulary and grammar. The strategy explores whether or not the cohesion of a persuasion text is unstable, if it deconstructs. Since a persuasion text's credibility is dependent, amongst other things, on effective cohesion, showing where a persuasion text's cohesion deconstructs diminishes its credibility. I call this critical reading strategy Electronic Deconstruction: ‘Electronic’ reflects the fact that the strategy draws on corpus linguistic method; ‘Deconstruction’ refers to the deconstructive approach of this strategy. An advantage of Electronic Deconstruction is that it can still facilitate critical engagement with an argument where it is difficu...