This book provides an introduction to genre analysis from the perspective of the 'Sydney School' of functional linguistics. Chapter 1 introduces our general orientation to genre from the perspective of system and structure, and places genre within our general model of language and social context. Chapters 2-5 deal with five major families of genres (stories, histories, reports, explanations and procedures), introducing a range of descriptive tools and theoretical developments along the way. Finally in Chapter 6 we deal with a range of issues arising for genre analysis in a model of this kind. The book has been written for a readership of functional linguists, discourse analysts and educational linguists, including their post-graduate and advanced undergraduate students.