Analyzing documents : 1. The content element

(source: my thesis- improving learning ability through hypertext system)

Scheme of hypertext document construction methodology Thuring et al have proposed an approach to examine the component of a coherent hypertext document. This rule is applicable as a hypertext author guidance to analyze components in a document that will be acquired in hypertext development. There are three components to be analyzed – the content element, the organizational element, and the presentation element [Thuring et al, 1991].

1. The content element

1. Title: to attract the reader at first scan in the database list. The title should be concise, accurate and informative. Thus, the title is the content nodes that must have only the key words of the paper and must be identified all. The title nodes may have two heading statements. The usual format with two heading is to place the main thing as the most important key phrase as the main title and followed by subtitle.

2. Abstract: to stimulate the expert to read the paper and supplies the casual reader with definite information. Abstract can be become a summary node that usually between 150 and 250 words [Stapleton, 1987, p.21]. It includes four elements that become content nodes which must be stated in abstract:

a. The objective of research writing.

b. A succinct description of the methods.

c. Actual main results.

d. The significances and possible implications of the results.

3. Figures and tables: to summarize the results to the person scanning the article. The caption of the figures and tables are nodes that link to the main text and its reference list at the end of the paper.

4. Results: to give more detail research explanation. It consists of introduction, materials, methods, research results, discussion and references. Introduction has three nodes of information- the background to the work, a brief review of relevant literature, and a clear statement of the objectives or purposes. Materials have information to describe what the author used in his/her researches whereas methods have information to describe how the experiments of the research are accomplished in a logical order. The subsequent parts are research results, which have descriptive information that expose the research findings, and discussion or conclusion, which has three nodes of information: the found facts, commentary on the facts, and the theoretical implications or suggestion to following study. Thus, discussion has many links to previous work, objectives or hypothesis in the introduction, relevant literature, data findings and analysis, and relation to other fields or researches. Reference list has information from which an author cites a paper. It has information such as authors’ name, year of publication, title of article, edition / volume number, name and place of publisher, and number of pages.

5. Rest of paper: read for information such as appendixes, authorship, copyright, and guarantee of material.

This information is important for readers in terms of getting the paper noticed by accessing library and computerized databases. Following reproduced Figure is the comparison between the order of physical nodes and the importance of communication nodes of a scientific article [Stapleton 1987]

Figure Comparison of Physical And Importance Order In Scientific Articles

References:

[Thuring et al., 1991] Thuring, M., Haake, J.M., and Hannemann, J., 1991, Hypertext '91 Proceedings.

[Stapleton, 1987] Stapleton, P., 1987, Writing Research Paper: An Easy Guide for Non-Native-English Speakers, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, 1987.