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Word processors have built-in searching tools that allow you to find a word or phrase, and as such, can be used as a simple text analysis environment. Word processors, however, are not suited to searching large texts interactively, nor do they present results in a manner that allows for greater understanding of a text. Computer assisted text analysis environments do three types of things beyond what the "Find" tool of a word processor might do:

• Text analysis systems can search large texts quickly. "Interactive" searching changes how you can work with the text - you can serendipitously explore without being frustrated by the slowness of the search process.
• Text analysis systems can conduct complex searches. Text analysis systems often allow you to search for lists of words or for complex patterns of words. For example you can search for the cooccurence of two words.
• Text analysis systems can present the results in ways that suit the study of texts. Text analysis systems can display the results in a number of ways; for example, a Keyword In Context display shows you all the occurrences of the found word with one line of context.