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Structured writing
Structured writing is a form of technical writing that uses and creates structured documents to allow people to digest information both faster and easier.
Horn and colleagues identified dozens of common documentation types, then analyzed them into structural components called information blocks. They identified over 200 common block types. These were assembled into information types using information maps. The seven most common information types were concept, procedure, process, principle, fact, structure, and classification. Rather than classifying information through paragraphs, structured writing uses these information blocks that typically include images, diagrams, and/or sentences that always appear under a header.
Origin
Robert E. Horn, Elizabeth H. Nicol, and Joel C. Kleinman published a journal article titled "Information Mapping for Learning and Reference" in August 1969.
Components of an information block
In his research, Horn identified four main points to creating an easy to comprehend information block. These points include:
- The Chunking Principle: In order to ensure an audience is retaining information, it's imperative that the author separates their information into concise information blocks.
- The Labeling Principle: Every information block, or set of blocks, must have a clearly identifiable label that indicates what the block or set of blocks is referencing.
- The Relevance Principle: Every diagram, sentence, or image must specifically relate to the concept being expressed within a specific block.
- The Consistency Principle: Throughout the information block as well as the reference material as a whole, the author must keep their language and formatting the same throughout.
Problems addressed by structured writing
Structured writing has been developed to address common problems in complex writing:
- Organizing large amounts of material
- Maintaining an orderly structure to provide a consistent experience to users
- Providing users with a more intuitive and obvious experience
- Ensuring the completeness of documentation
- Targeting content to varying audiences
- Coordinating writing projects among a group of writers
- Organizing each chunk of content in an intuitive way
- Organizing pages of content in a way that helps users understand its place in the whole body of knowledge
- Maximizing the efficiency with which documentation can be understood and used
Impact
In the years after its development, structured writing has been implemented in a wide variety of fields and has been proven to increase understanding. A study conducted by Hutkemri Zulnaidi and Effandi Zakaria in a middle school in Indonesia found that when implemented in a math class, information mapping yielded a higher percentage of students who understood and retained information compared to the students who were not taught using information mapping.
References
- {{cite book|author=Horn, Robert E. |year=1989
- {{cite book|author=Horn, Robert E. |year=1992
- Horn, Robert E. "Structured writing at twenty-five." Performance and instruction 32 (1993): 11-11.
Notes
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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