What needs to be clarified
The analysis could assess comparability and identify features meaningful across communication settings. It matters who typed the text and whether templates, autocorrect, editing assistance or translation were used.
Materials to prepare
- The complete disputed text with available creation, format and provenance information.
- Varied undisputed texts by the proposed author, including longer material if available.
- Information about genre, recipients, editing and preparation tools for both sets.
What to compare
- Which linguistic features can be compared without confusing genre effects with possible author habits.
- Whether enough material exists to observe recurring feature combinations rather than one matching word.
- Whether the picture changes after excluding quotations, standard replies, templates and editorial additions.
Possible outcome of the analysis
A possible output is an assessment of the sample set, a list of comparable features and an explanation of which further texts could reduce uncertainty. Excluded passages would have stated reasons.
Limits of the conclusions
Different genres do not establish different authors, and similar work formulas do not establish one author. Insufficient samples may leave authorship unresolved despite apparent similarity.