2. What is Computer Assisted Text Analysis?

Word processors have searching tools that allow you to find a word or phrase. Such finding tools can be used as a simple text analysis environment. Your word processor is not, however, suited to searching large texts interactively, nor does it show you the results of a search in a way that can help you understand a text. Computer assisted text analysis environments do three types of things beyond what the "Find" tool of a word processor might do:

• Text analysis systems can search large texts quickly. They do this by preparing electronic indexes to the text so that the computer does not have to read through the entire text. When finding words can be done so quickly that it is "interactive", it changes how you can work with the text - you can serendipitously explore without being frustrated by the slowness of the search process.
  
  
• Text analysis systems can conduct complex searches. Text analysis systems will often allow you to search for lists of words or for complex patterns of words. For example you can search for the cooccurence of two words.
  
  
• Text analysis systems can present the results in ways that suit the study of texts. Text analysis systems can display the results in a number of ways; for example, a Keyword In Context display shows you all the occurrences of the found word with one line of context.
  
  

For more on computer assisted text analysis click here for A History of Computer Assisted Text Analysis.