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Data Annotation Basics
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Text Annotation BASICS

4.7/5 (288 ratings) · 23+ certified

Teach AI to read. Mark what a sentence means, who it mentions and what the writer wants: the skill behind every chatbot.

Self-Paced
Always Open
Optional Certificate
Part of the Data Annotation Basics programme.

Self-Paced · Always Open

Free

Optional certificate:  

Access to your course in the DeeLab Learning Portal
Self-paced. Start any time, no fixed schedule.
Optional certificate after you pass

Overview

Start your Text Annotation journey.

Flat illustration of a text document with highlighted word spans linked to colour-coded label chips, the core task of text annotation

Text labeling is where language meets machine learning. The work is reading carefully and deciding: is this review positive or negative, what’s this article about, what is the user actually asking for, which words name a person or a place.

Every chatbot, classifier and NER pipeline starts with people annotating text examples, and getting the conventions right matters more than volume.

This Basics course covers the conventions: sentiment analysis, topic classification, intent detection, and named entity recognition (NER). Self-paced theory and knowledge checks; no fixed schedule.

Part of the Data Annotation Basics learning track. Optional verifiable certificate available for a small fee.

What You Get

What's included in your training

Structured Learning Modules

Learn at your own pace through structured modules on the DeeLab Academy learning platform.

Self-Paced Schedule

No fixed schedule. Start when you want, finish at your own pace.

Knowledge Checks

Worked examples and per-unit practice quizzes with instant feedback, plus a final knowledge assessment on the e-learning platform (80% to pass).

Optional Certificate

Optional verifiable certificate available for a small fee after you pass the final assessment.

Outline

What you'll learn

  1. Sentiment Analysis

    What sentiment analysis is and how positive, negative, neutral, and mixed labels apply.

  2. Topic Classification

    How topic classification assigns category labels based on subject matter.

  3. Intent Detection

    How intent detection identifies what a user is asking for.

  4. Named Entity Recognition (NER)

    What NER captures: people, places, organisations, and dates in a passage.

  5. Spotting Correct vs Incorrect Annotations

    How to recognise the difference between a clean annotation and a sloppy one.

Part of the Data Annotation Basics (DAB) programme.

Self-Paced Course

Free

Optional certificate:  

How our free courses work

🌱 One free course at a time. Finish this one before you start another.

✍️ When you complete it, a quick rating and honest review are required before your next free course unlocks. That is the only cost, and how we keep them free.

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How it works

From enrolling to certified

1

Learn at your own pace

Start the moment you enrol and work through the material in your own time. There is no cohort to wait for and no fixed schedule to keep up with.

2

Pass the assessment

The course ends with a graded assessment you take when you are ready. The result is what counts, not how long you took.

3

Add the certificate if you want it

Passing is free. The certificate is optional and paid, and once bought it carries a public verification page anyone can check.

Specimen Text Annotation Basics certificate, showing a mock name and sample ID

What you earn

Anyone can verify it in seconds

  • Earned by passing the course assessment, never awarded for finishing the material.
  • A unique ID with a public verification page, so you can share the link with any employer.
  • Issued and signed by DeeLab Academy.
  • Optional and paid: passing costs nothing, and you add the certificate only if you want it.
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Success Stories

What our trainees say

Unedited feedback from graduates who completed this course.

4.7/5 from 288 ratings

“I really enjoyed this course. It explained the fundamentals of text annotation in a simple and easy-to-follow way, making it suitable for beginners. I learned about different text annotation techniques and gained a better understanding of how annotated data is used to train AI models. I would recommend this course to anyone who wants to start a career in data annotation or artificial intelligence.”

Anastacia U.
Text Annotation Basics Trainee

“Great course for beginners in Data Annotation!”

Sri E.
Text Annotation Basics Trainee

“i learnt alot in a short time to progress my learning in data labelling annotation.”

Uche A.
Text Annotation Basics Trainee

“Its fun and insightful, allows me to have basic understanding of data annotation!”

Fanny I.
Text Annotation Basics Trainee

“I have learned annotation basics, done my assessments and passed. Its perfect!”

Beth N.
Text Annotation Basics Trainee

“It's perfectly designed for starters!”

Sajid M.
Text Annotation Basics Trainee
Got Questions?

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about this course.

It's designed for absolute beginners. No AI knowledge, no coding background, no NLP experience required. Text annotation is also a natural starting point for anyone whose strongest skill is reading carefully (editors, translators, researchers, paralegals).

The course is taught in English and covers conventions that apply across languages. Worth noting as honest market context: being a fluent native speaker of a less-widely-supported language is a real edge in production text annotation. LLM evaluation, multilingual chatbot training, and content moderation in non-English languages all pay premium rates for native annotators because there aren't enough of them.

Self-paced theory lessons and an online knowledge assessment on the e-learning platform. The Basics tier is focused on understanding the conventions: what sentiment, topic classification, intent detection, and named entity recognition are for, and how to recognise a clean annotation from a sloppy one. There is no hands-on work with annotation tools in this course; that comes in the paid Text Labeling Essentials course.

The course is free. The certificate is optional and costs a small fee. It's verifiable proof that you've completed the self-paced course and passed the online knowledge assessment. Useful on a CV or LinkedIn profile as foundation evidence. It does not mean you've been trained to production text-annotation standards; the paid Text Labeling Essentials course is the hands-on path toward that. Essentials-level courses make up the Certified Data Annotator (CDA) programme.

Two natural directions from here. To broaden your foundation, the Data Annotation Basics (DAB) programme has free courses on image, video, audio, segmentation, and 3D point cloud, all at the same level as this one. To go deeper into text annotation specifically, the paid Text Labeling Essentials course is the next level up: online sessions with an industry trainer, access to the labeling tools used in production, ongoing support, and a graded final assessment. The Essentials-level courses make up the Certified Data Annotator (CDA) programme.

No. This course teaches skills and gives you a certificate when you pass. It does not place you in work or guarantee income.

You have three months to complete the course, counted from the day you sign up. Within that window it is entirely self-paced and always open; your progress is saved automatically and you can return whenever suits you.

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