Compare Texts to Verify Authorship
This recipe takes two works purported to come from the same author and uses tools such as distribution, Word Lists, etc. to suggest whether they may have been created by the same author.
This recipe and exercise will soon be available as a PDF download.Ingredients
- Two electronic texts from the same author to explore
- A Collocation tool such as the TAPoR Find Collocates Tool
- A Distribution tool such as the TAPoR Pattern Distribution Tool
- A List Words tool such as the TAPoR List Words Tool
This recipe is applied to a sample text in Exercise to Compare Texts to Verify AuthorshipSteps
- Obtain comparison texts from a source such as Project Gutenberg or use ones which you already have.
;
- Login to the TAPoR portal;
- Generate a word list (sorted by frequency) using the TAPoR List Words Tool and save the results to the Databench with a unique name;
- Run the TAPoR Pattern Distribution Tool on the text and save the results to the Databench with a unique name;
- Repeat these steps on all the comparison texts;
- Compare the two results visually for similaritie and differences in word usage and distribution;
Discussion
Finding a Text
Possible sources for electronic texts are listed on the Electronic Texts Panel of TAPoR. When preparing text for analysis, you should be aware that academic infrastructure included in the text may obstruct reading the text for its original construction. It may be useful to remove notes and other materials added by subsequent authors from the original work. You can use tools such TAPoR Extract Text to remove added material.Glossary
A Complete GlossaryNext Steps/Further Information
- List of All Recipes
- Exercise to Compare Texts to Verify Authorship
- Help with Particular Tools
- Background on Text Analysis
- Information about the TAPoR Collocation Tool
- Information about the TAPoR Frequency Distribution Tool
- Information about the TAPoR List Words Tool