Compares the effectiveness of two approaches to decreasing user navigation problems in hypertext: providing maps, and constraining the hypertext structure. Finds that for learning details, linear formats should be retained; whereas for more global overall learning, a constrained structure is a good alternative. (SR)

Presents an activity used with ninth and tenth grade remedial readers which introduces the students to five patterns in writing that are common in textbooks: listing, sequence, cause-effect, problem-solution, and comparison-contrast. (PRA)

Presents a procedure to compose or evaluate structurally sound text, encompassing inclusiveness, exclusiveness, hierarchy, sequence, and language. Offers guidelines for making text structure visible to the reader with headings, format, signals, reminders, and effective paragraphing. (SR)

Studies the comprehension processes of good and poor readers within a severe to profoundly deaf orally educated population. Supports a multiprocess model where an individual's knowledge both of text structures and of specific content areas play major roles. Shows that characteristics such as age and linguistic experience are important factors in…

Presents an instrument to observe students' quantitative literacy abilities. Discusses document strategy factors and quantitative factors contributing to task difficulty. (SR)

Discusses how changes in the technology of text, specifically a shift in the medium of presentation from paper to screen, will invariably trigger changes in the shape of the text. Utilizes a text analytical approach to identify nine dimensions of the key differences between paper and on-screen text. (HB)

Discusses issues of document organization, document length, and writing style for avoiding bureaucratese in writing government documents. (SR)

Examines cohesion in the introductions to some scientific articles and compares the patterns to those from popularizations. Discusses a computational model of cohesion. Argues that readers of scientific articles must have a knowledge of lexical relations to see the implicit cohesion, whereas readers of popularizations must see the cohesive…

Examines memory for visual narratives as a function of cinematic structure. Identifies two important principles (establishing shots and directional continuity) for restructuring real-world activities into coherent filmed sequences. (SR)

Examines how conceptions of the text, reader, author, and context are altered by postmodern theories of intertextuality (ITX), and what ITX itself has come to mean as articulated by this theorizing and research. The idea of deconstructing reading is described. (Contains 48 references.) (JP)

Questions the notion that William Blake's epic poem "The Four Zoas" is simply a manuscript--it is a part of Blake's working through the problems of publication during the reign of a conservative, nationalistic government at war with France. Suggests that Blake's construction of the text makes the act of reading "both traitorous and…

Describes Avital Ronell as attempting to "secure the space of academe as a sheltering place of unconditional hospitality for dissidence and insurrection." Provides an interview with Ronell which includes (1) what it means to be a writer; (2) what Ronell hoped the performance of "The Telephone Book" would accomplish; and (3) how…

Argues for the teaching of "visible features of written texts," or document design, in composition classes. Concludes that educators must teach students how to see their own texts through the eyes of the readers they hope to attract, converse with, and persuade. (SC)

Considers how New Zealand has seen a need for providing readily understandable business and government documents. Reports a psycholinguistic study testing the level of consumer comprehension of bank contracts, and the effect of using plain English to rewrite them. Finds that the most effective means of enhancing comprehension was that which…

Studies problems students face when visualizing a hypertext audience. Traces students' problems with audience analysis to three independent issues: (1) letting operational and functional levels of construction take precedence over figurative meaning; (2) confusing demands of print and oral audience expectations; and (3) conceiving of hypertext as…