In accordance with an embodiment, described herein is a system and method for use of text analytics to transform, analyze, and visualize data, including support for data flows of unstructured text or other types of textual data input. Additionally described are various examples of algorithmic processes and user interfaces that can be used to enable text analytics in particular environments or use cases. In accordance with an embodiment, the system can be implemented within a cloud environment that enables self-service text analytics. A user, for example an organizational business user who may not be expert in the use of machine learning as applied to data processing, can interact with the system via a user interface, to apply natural language processing or other text analysis techniques to a data flow or set of input data, to generate visualizations or other types of useful information associated with the data.