3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the paragraph pairing step includes: pairing paragraphs from the second, cited document with paragraphs from at least a first document that contains citing instances of the second, cited document.
1. An automated method for selecting content words from a document based on degree of relevance to a cited document, implemented using a computer system including a processor, memory, and computer programs executed by the processor, wherein the processor interacts with a human user through a user interface, the method comprising the steps of: (a) pairing paragraphs of at least a first document, using the computer system, wherein at least a first paragraph of the pair of paragraphs contains at least one citing instance of a second, cited document; (b) processing text in the pair of paragraphs to eliminate text that conveys little about the content of the pair of paragraphs, using the computer system; (c) identifying content words that are not eliminated by the processing step and that are common to both paragraphs of the pair of paragraphs, using the computer system; (d) tallying a frequency count for each identified content word by adding one to the number of times the identified content word is in both paragraphs of the pair of paragraphs, using the computer system; and (e) forming a content word list including the identified content words linked to respective frequency counts, using the computer system.