CORPUS.BYU.EDU

seven online corpora | 45 - 425 million words each
corpora queries history researchers publications profile | register FAQ | questions contact us offline data


The following suggestions will solve about 99.9% of all problems that you might have with the corpora: 


1. Use the many context-sensitive, online help files for the corpora. For most elements of the search form, click on the relevant question mark ( ? ) at the right of the search form.
2. Look especially at the search syntax and part of speech help pages. Again, find these via the ? to the right of the WORD field, or via the drop-down [More information] link.

3. If you're getting strange/unspecified error messages when you do a query, things nearly always fix themselves if you just completely close the browser and start over.
4. If you get a strange error message about "database errors" and if you're using COCA and if you have another corpus open in another tab, make sure that you open COCA first (and please access COCA via the new address at http://corpus.byu.edu/coca, and not http://www.americancorpus.org.)

If you have already looked at the help files and still have questions, or if you have noticed obvious errors or bugs, then feel free to contact us: . But to help us troubleshoot the issue, you need to include the following:  


1. A link to one of the queries that isn't working (if that's an issue). 1
2. A clear explanation of what's happening, e.g. "I'm at page ... , then I click on ---, then I see ---," etc. 2
3. A screen shot (as an attachment in your email), so that I can see what you see (Help: Windows, Mac)
4. Operating system: Windows, Mac, iPad, smart phone, etc.
5. Browser: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc.
6. Screen resolution (click here to see)

If you send me a general email like "I can't log in" or "I can't access the corpus", and you don't include the information above, then I can't help you. As of late, my ESP and remote viewing abilities aren't working quite as well as I'd like, and it's getting increasingly hard for me to read your mind or see your computer screen from thousands of miles away; hence the need for the information above. :-) :-)

1 See "History" after logging in if you don't know how to link to one of your queries.

2 To find the page location, right click and then "Properties" in Internet Explorer or "This frame: View Frame Info" in Firefox; similar options in other browsers. Note that all pages end in .asp, e.g. http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/x2.asp.