# A Question About Textual Analysis Software

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-textual-analysis-software/641413>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 18, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-textual-analysis-software/641413 "2012-11-18T15:10:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-textual-analysis-software/641413/1 "2012-11-18T15:10:59Z")

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I have a question about software developed to scan large works of literature-and analyze the styles found in them. Are these programs reliable? take the following example:  
-a new, unknown draft of a novel by the late Ernest Hemingway emerges from a bank vault. Can could scan such a text, and determine that Hemingway actually wrote it?  
-claims of authorship (by different people) of the works of William Shakespeare: could such analysis refute these claims?  
Just wondering if a lot of these stories cold be laid to rest, if a robust analysis of styles, punctuation, sentence structure, etc., could prove that an author actually wrote something.