Several tools exist for analyzing text for trends and themes. Below are just a few examples.
Note: these will not do a discourse analysis for you! These merely provide ways to look for trends in a text to aide you in your own analysis.
For more information on how to find particular transcripts, video, and audio, reach out to me! You can also visit the guide below and click on the Transcripts & Video tab in the navigation pane for tips on best use of these resources.
Some other strategies for building a corpus include going through a specific Twitter tag, going through YouTube comments, etc.
You can search the Libraries' catalog for ebooks to look for literature to analyze.
Many of our primary source databases also allow for content analysis through full-text, machine-readable scans of archival material. Below are just a few examples, but if you want other suggestions or tips on how to use them, please let me know!
Evaluating Information with the ACT UP Method
In order to be responsible cultural producers of information (as opposed to being cultural consumers), we need to think critically about the resources we are using and citing in our projects. It is no longer enough to just say a resource is peer-reviewed or scholarly. We are now aware of the institutionalized oppressions that exist in the publication and dissemination of information. By definition, ACT UP means to act in a way that is different from normal. We know that normal usually means the patriarchy and the systemic oppression of people of color and other marginalized groups' contributions to the conversation. To ACT UP, means to actively engage in dismantling oppressions and acting upwards to create a more socially just system.
.edu, .org, .gov are sometimes more reliable than .com and .net
Be wary of domain names that have the word 'blogger' or 'wordpress' in the address as they indicate personal blogs.
Pay attention to ".com.co". This usually indicates it is a fake site pretending to be a legitimate news site of the same name.
But, remember some domain names might be country specific like .ca for Canada.
The ACT UP Method was developed by Dawn Stahura at Simmons College.