PROBLEMS IN ACHIEVING A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE TEXT IN COMPUTER-BASED WRITING

When writing in a word processor, it is difficult to achieve a global perspective of a long text. For many writers, this creates a conflict with the strategies of on-screen drafting and revision encouraged by the medium. The lack of a global perspective may lead to an insufficient mental representation of the text, and a difficulty in achieving text coherence. This paper reports recent research directed at global aspects of writing, and suggests some distinctions between different types of global view of a document that may be helpful in the design of a computer-based writing system.