This paper is intended to serve as an introduction to text analysis as a research tool and vehicle for improving instruction. In terms of perspective, two major theses are maintained throughout the paper: text analysis should be used within the context of understanding that a multiplicity of variables can influence reader/text interactions, and various text analysis models can be used as complements to each other. Six different means of examining text are presented: story grammars, event chain formulations, expository prose predicate structures, mapped patterns, propositional analysis, and cohesion. Each is described briefly and its utility in research and educational practice is explained. The paper concludes with a general discussion of the potential applications of text analysis. (FL)