Lesson plan
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. From 1963 to 1965, Robert E. Horn worked to develop a way to structure and connect large amounts of information, taking inspiration from geographical maps. He coined the term "Information Mapping" to describe his method of analyzing, organizing, and displaying knowledge in print and in the new online presentation of text and graphics. 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.
Article summary
Structured writing is a form of technical writing that uses and creates structured documents to allow people to digest information both faster and easier. From 1963 to 1965, Robert E. Horn worked to develop a way to structure and connect large amounts of information, taking inspiration from geographical maps. He coined the term "Information Mapping" to describe his method of analyzing, organizing, and displaying knowledge in print and in the new online presentation of text and graphics. 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.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.