Use Stylometry to Identify Authors

Author(s): Lee Vaughan

Originally published on Towards AI.

Computational text analysis with Python and NLTK
Mashup poster of three novels by Dall-e-3 and the author

Stylometry is the quantitative study of literary style through computational text analysis. It’s based on the idea that we all have a unique, consistent, and recognizable style in our writing. This includes our vocabulary, our use of punctuation, the average length of our sentences and words, and so on.

A common application of stylometry is authorship attribution, used to infer the author of a document. This technique has been used to overturn murder convictions and even helped identify and convict the Unabomber in 1996. Other uses include detecting plagiarism and determining the emotional tone behind words, such as in social media posts. Stylometry can even be used to detect signs of mental depression and suicidal tendencies.

In this Quick Success Data Science project, we’ll use Python, the Natural Language Tool Kit (NLTK), Matplotlib, and multiple stylometric techniques to determine whether Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or H. G. Wells wrote the novel The Lost World.

In 1912, the Strand Magazine published The Lost World, a serialized version of a science fiction novel. It told the story of an Amazon basin expedition, led by zoology professor George Edward Challenger, encountering living dinosaurs and a vicious tribe… Read the full blog for free on Medium.

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Published via Towards AI