The TIME Magazine Corpus is a tool that allows users to examine how word usage has changed over time. The database is compiled of 275,000 TIME magazine articles and over 100 million words from 1923-2006. This link shows the number of texts and terms contained within the database per decade. This website offers a plethora of features: including the ability to search for single words, evaluate word frequency over time, display collocates, and compare words, among many others. This website can be helpful for many different fields. Examining the usage of words over time can reveal shifts in culture and ideas. This is also a good resource for grammarians exploring how English has evolved. TIME Magazine Corpus provides a much more efficient alternative to manually sorting through hundreds of thousands of articles.

Tutorial

Step 1: Register

Click register to create an account.

Step 2: Choose Which Feature You Want to Use

All the features are listed under “Search.” You may choose from “List,” “Chart,” “Collocates,” “Compare,” and “KWIC.” Once selected, input the variable(s) you want to examine into the search bar. The rest of this tutorial will walk you through how to use each feature.

Feature 1: List

For this tutorial, let’s use the word “pandemic” and search by frequency.

We can now see how often the word “pandemic was used in TIME magazine articles each decade. This feature allows the viewer to examine trends in word usage overtime.

Under the “context” tab we are able to see the specific usage of the word.

Feature 2: Chart

To use the chart feature, type in your variable(s) the same way you did for list. The chart feature just provides a more visual representation of the data you are examining.

Feature 3: Collocates

This feature displays which words most commonly appear next to other words. There are various instances in which this would be useful. One example, is if one wants more context for how a word is being used. For this tutorial, let’s stick with the word “pandemic.”

We are now able to see a list of words most frequently used in conjunction with the word “pandemic”. Clicking on specific words will give you more context for when and how the word was used.

Feature 4: Compare

This feature allows you to compare the collocates of two words. The figure below displays the result of comparing Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Other Resources

The Digital History Methods blog provides a more in-depth step-by-step walkthrough of TIME Magazine Corpus if you want to learn how to use more complex tools.

This YouTube video offers a 20-minute introduction to what Corpus is for absolute beginners (part of an 11-video series).