The Impact of Hypertext on Processes of Reading and Writing

introduction and conclusion and then skimming over the headings and looking at diagrams and tables. Depending on their purpose, they may content themselves with an overview constructed from skimming for the main points of each paragraph, or only read sections relevant to their goal. The point is that hypertext makes the situation much worse. Readers of printed texts can scan the page or thumb through the text to see how much is there, to see whether anything further down the page looks important or useful, or to see how much elaboration the writer considers it worthwhile to include. This is a lot harder to do in hypertext because readers must consciously choose to look at something (i.e., by clicking a button), because new information may displace other information on the screen, and because making such a choice may make it harder to get back to where the reader started.ix ÒField dependence/independenceÓ are widely used but little understood characterizations of Òcognitive styleÓ that are based on a personÕs strategies of visual perception, and that purportedly reflect the manner in which he or she attempts to solve problems. ÒField independentÓ people are characterized as more individualistic, more self-motivating, and less dependent on external cues than Òfield dependentÓ learners. For a review and critique of field