  We carry out an analysis of the canonical system of a minimal complex surface
of general type with irregularity q>0. Using this analysis we are able to
sharpen in the case q>0 the well known Castelnuovo inequality K^2>=3p_g+q-7.
Then we turn to the study of surfaces with p_g=2q-3 and no fibration onto a
curve of genus >1. We prove that for q>=6 the canonical map is birational.
Combining this result with the analysis of the canonical system, we also prove
the inequality: K^2>=7\chi+2. This improves an earlier result of the first and
second author [M.Mendes Lopes and R.Pardini, On surfaces with p_g=2q-3, Adv. in
Geom. 10 (3) (2010), 549-555].
