How to Compare Target and Reference Corpus in AntConc | Step-by-Step Tutorial
📥 Download AntConc here:
http://www.laurenceanthony.net/softwa...
In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use AntConc to compare a target corpus with a reference corpus—a powerful technique for identifying keywords and distinctive language features. Whether you're doing corpus linguistics research, studying discourse, or analyzing linguistic patterns, this video walks you through the entire process.
🔍 What You’ll Learn:
What is a target and reference corpus?
How to prepare your corpus files for analysis
Loading both corpora into AntConc
Performing keyword analysis
Interpreting keyword lists and frequency data
Exporting and saving your results
🧰 Tools Used:
AntConc (Free corpus analysis toolkit by Laurence Anthony)
Sample corpus files (plain text format)
🧪 Step-by-Step Instructions Covered in the Video:
Introduction to Target and Reference Corpus:
Target corpus: The main corpus you're analyzing.
Reference corpus: A baseline or comparison corpus to highlight unique keywords in the target.
Preparing Your Files:
Save your target corpus files in a folder (e.g., TargetCorpus).
Save your reference corpus files in a separate folder (e.g., ReferenceCorpus).
Make sure all files are in .txt format.
Launching AntConc:
Open AntConc.
Click on "File" → "Open Files" to load your target corpus.
Loading the Reference Corpus:
Go to Tool Preferences (top menu).
Click "Keyword List" in the left panel.
Under the "Reference Corpus Files" section, click "Add Files" to load your reference corpus.
Click "Apply" and "Close".
Generating the Keyword List:
Click on the "Keyword List" tab in AntConc.
Click "Start" to generate keywords—words that appear significantly more often in the target corpus than the reference.
Review the list along with log-likelihood or other statistical values.
Interpreting Results:
Use the keyword list to identify words that are statistically significant.
Click on any keyword to view concordance lines showing the word in context.
Analyze how those keywords contribute to the overall discourse or style of the target text.
Exporting Your Results:
Click "File" → "Save Output" to export the keyword list or concordance lines.
Save the output in .txt or .csv for further analysis or reporting.
📌 Tips:
Use clean, well-prepared text files without formatting.
You can adjust statistical thresholds in the preferences to filter keyword output.
This Channel covers English Literature, English Linguistics, English Grammar, MCQs on all fields of English, PPSC Written Exam preparation, PPSC Interview Preparation, Spoken English and IELTS. So far many candidates have succeeded in their professional and academic lives after being connected with this channel.
Dr. Jahanzeb Jahan (PhD English Linguistics) is the author of First ever alliterated poem on the life of Holy Prophet PBUH which is published on AMAZON. has been working as English language teacher in a Public Sector University since 2007 . He followed his passions and proved himself as a successful teacher, trainer and content developer. Drawing from this vast experience and his extensive study of English literature and linguistics, Dr. Jahanzeb Jahan aims at making this channel, the most comprehensive Youtube Channel of English Language and Literature. He has a rare ability to give better understanding of all the topics on English language and literature. He has a unique methodology of combining conventional teaching patterns and unconventional research on the topic. Having a strong hold on Greek Mythology and British History, he explains the ideas unlike many Youtube Channels. Dr. Jahanzeb Jahan is a writer of three books and the best of his works, "Muhammad (PBUH) the Messenger, The Crown of Creation", is near its publication. This book is completely in alliteration which covers the entire life of Holy Prophet Muhammad PBUH, A unique work in English to praise the Supreme Creation.
=====
FOLLOW US ON THE SOCIALS
=====
Facebook: / jjahan
Instagram: / jahanzeibmalik
Link to the Book on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JVV9VPQ/...
