WordCruncher offers you information at three levels. At each level, the cursor keys allow users to move around:

Word List Level: Like a concordance, this list shows you each word in a group of plays and tells you how often it is used. At this level you can type and enter a word (INSert key), a word list (INSert key), combinations (F2 to start a second list), and phrases (space bar after each word in phrase). Pressing ENTER takes you to the second level.

Passage List Level: This list shows you a word or words in context. It identifies the act, scene, and line of a play where the keyword(s) occur and shows you three lines with the keyword(s) highlighted. At this level you can use the F4 key to get information about the frequency with which a word is used. If the three-line window is not enough, you may want to go to the third level.

Play Text Level: You can read the text of the play. The basis for this text is the Riverside Shakespeare. (You can see a list of errors in the WordCruncher Text of Shakespeare at this link.)

It's very simple. To move from one level forward, press the ENTER key; to move backward, press the ESCape key. Use the cursor keys to move within any of the lists.

When you're in WordCruncher, here's how to do things:

1. If you need help or information, enter F9 or shift-F9. 2. To move around, use the cursor keys (with little arrows). (If they don't seem to work, check to make sure NUM LOCK is off.)

3. To jump from one screen forward, use the ENTER key; to jump backward, use the ESC key.

4. To find a word in the play, type the word, and then press the INSert key to add it to a word list. When you have all the words in your word list that you want, press ENTER for a list of all the passages in which those words appear. Use the light bar to mark the passage you want to see. Then press ENTER again to see the place in the play where that passage occurs. [HINT: You can also look up strings of words. If you enter friend* (using the asterisk key above the number pad), the computer will carefully choose all the words that begin with "friend." You need not press the INSert key; using the asterisk automatically inserts the word into your list.]

5. To find a phrase in a play, follow the same general procedure. Instead of typing a word and pressing INSert, however, type the first word in the phrase and press the space bar, type the next word in the phrase and press the space bar, and so on. When you have typed the final word in the phrase, once again press the space bar followed by ENTER. WordCruncher will list all the passages of the play in which your phrase occurs.

6. To combine word lists, create your first list. Then, to start the second list, use the F2 key. When that list is completed press ENTER. You will be given options for combining the two lists. To change the A options, simply press the letter A. The same procedure works for B and C, although the C options allow you to choose a certain range of characters within the text.

7. To learn the frequency with which a word appears in a play (or in a combination of plays), make sure you are in the passage list (second) level and then press F4. By pressing shift plus the up or down arrow, you may move between various plays. Shift plus page up or page down will allow you to move through scene references.

8. To leave the program, enter shift-F10.

Saving and Printing Text

You'll want to save text. You can save text by printing it out OR by making it into a separate file. If you make it into a separate file, you can save it onto your own disk.

What's the absolute easiest way to save a screen of text? Turn on the printer. Make sure the top of the paper is touching the metal bar across the roller (a platen). Tap the PRT SC (print screen) button. The machine will print out whatever is on the screen.

To print an entire list, use the F6 key and follow the program's instructions. There are a number of choices you'll need to make. The printer is noisy and slow, so you'll probably just want to ask it to give you the line references. Then you can consult your textbook at your leisure.

To save text to a computer file for use in word-processing, there are only two stages:

1. Put a formatted disk in the A drive.

2. Use F6. Tell the machine that you are going to save a report to a disk. Think of the filename you want to use. Type that name whenever you see the word "filename" in this example. When the F6 program asks you where you want to save the file, tell it the following: a:\filename

Keep answering the machine's questions and it will produce an ASCII file of the information you tell it to keep. Just remember that you're taking an ASCII file from WordCruncher and your word processing program will have to translate it so that you can edit it.

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