Hypertexts and Traditional Papers
Below is a brief outline of the parallels between traditional,
linear essays and hyperdocuments; these points can provide
extensive bases for evaluation of student hyperdocuments.
Features in common with linear text:
Document-wide
- Research (range and depth of understanding)
- Examples and quotations (relevance; extent of analysis; form)
- Thesis (interest; insightfulness; depth; relevance to assignment)
- Introductions and conclusions
- Document-wide organization, depth, complexity, clarity
- Audience awareness and address
Within units/spaces/screens
- writing (at the sentence/paragraph level: usage; complexity; imagery;
transitions; etc.)
- coherence
- clarity
- use of essay techniques (exposition; analysis; narration; etc.)
- voice and discourse-specific techniques (formal analysis)
Features in common with enhanced (multimedia) linear text
In the use of color, typography, visual design, graphics, audio, or
video materials, all of the following should be considered
- relevance
- image quality
- extent of analysis
- rhetorical effectiveness
- complexity of multimedia relations
- integration of textual and multimedia materials
Features unique to (or redefined in) hypertext
- links, departures, arrivals (akin to paragraph or section
transitions: are these coherent, effective, satisfying or confusing and
disorienting?)
- document-wide and area-wide design
- Entrances and exits (akin to Intro/conclusion but oriented toward the
hypertextual environment's need for navigational aid and its implicit denial of
closure)
- degree of development difficulty (depending on tools/environment; e.g., WWW
vs. Authorware vs. programming in Supercard or Toolbook)
- ease of navigation
- reliability of links
- multilinear coherence (how are the various pathways through the document
designed to promote understanding and/or enrichment for the user?)
- hypertextual organization (how well does the document exploit the medium?
degree of effective complexity? )
- management of hypertextual diversity (approach to the problem of endings)
- surprise