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How to Use JSTOR: Tools to Help Your Research

JSTOR Text Analyzer

Try Text Analyzer, from JSTOR Labs! It's a new way to search JSTOR: upload your own text or document, Text Analyzer will process the text to find the most significant topics and then recommends similar content on JSTOR. 

How Text Analyzer can help your work?

  • 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.

How to use Text Analyzer

  1. Follow the instructions at jstor.org/analyze to upload a text document. Tip: In general, longer text documents will produce better results! (It's secure - the uploaded text is only retained long enough for the text analyzer to process it. It is not stored or used in any other way.) 
  2. Text Analyzer examples the text within the document to find key terms (topics, names, keywords), and then uses the ones it deems most important — the "prioritized terms" — to find similar content in JSTOR.
  3. You can review and adjust the results (adding, removing or adjusting the importance of the prioritized terms) and then go directly to articles of interest.

Improve Your Research Skills!

Try JSTOR's free online course, Research Basics!

Research Basics is a free, self-paced online research skills course intended to help you build your research skills and prepare for college work.

The course consists of three modules focused on effective searching, establishing credibility, and citing scholarly work. Each module has three sections, and each section includes a 10-minute video overview of the topic.

After watching each video, use a set of practice questions to test what you've learned and then take an assessment quiz for the full module. Upon the successful completion of a module quiz, you earn a virtual badge!