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JSTOR: Jstor's Text Analyzer

How to search Jstor database

What is Text Analyzer

Text Analyzer is a tool built for researchers to search for content on JSTOR just by uploading a document. This can be anything: a paper you're writing, an outline of a work in progress, an article you just downloaded, even a picture of a page of your textbook. Text Analyzer will help you to:

  • Explore a new topic: upload a starting document (for example: assignment description, encyclopedia description) and get recommendations for related content on JSTOR.
  • Find better keywords: upload classic article or key document (paper outline, notes, etc.) to find keywords and academic terminology to help refine your search. 
  • Find things you missed: upload an outline of a paper, key sources, or notes to find recommendations that may have been missed with a traditional search.

TEXT ANALYZER

How Text Analyzer works?

  1. Upload a document with text in it. This can be anything: a paper you're writing, an outline of a work in progress, an article you just downloaded, even a picture of a page of your textbook. (Don't worry, we won't store or share the text.)
  2. The tool analyzes the text within the document to find key topics and terms used, and then uses the ones it deems most important — the "prioritized terms" — to find similar content in JSTOR.
  3. Review the results and download any articles you're interested in.
  4. Adjust the results you're seeing by adding, removing or adjusting the importance of the prioritized terms.

File types supported

You can upload or point to many kinds of text documents, including: csv, doc, docx, gif, htm, html, jpg, jpeg, json, pdf, png, pptx, rtf, tif (tiff), txt, xlsx. If the file type you're using isn't in this list, just cut and paste any amount of text into the search form to analyze it.

Languages supported

English, Arabic, (simplified) Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish (see FAQ, below, for details)

Hints & suggestions

  • The more text within your document, the better.
  • Be sure to use the controls to add, remove and adjust the importance of your prioritized terms. Add your own term or phrase if you're not seeing it.
  • The results are created using only the prioritized terms: be sure to add any identified term you want included.
  • If you access Text Analyzer using your phone, a camera icon will appear — use it to take a picture of any page of text and search with that.
  • To run Text Analyzer on the text of a webpage — whether it's a Google Doc or a NY Times article — drag and drop or paste the URL into the search box.
  • Get creative with the kinds of documents you search with: try your class syllabus, the webpage of a news article, or the first paragraph or outline of a paper you're writing.
  • Try searching with non-English-language content if you have it — Text Analyzer can help you find you find English-language content about the same topics in JSTOR.

Text Analyzer tutorials

University of Zululand Library Guides