Academic Literacy in a Wired World

To build effective Web pages, students must develop the ability to think of texts in meaningful sections that may be linked in a variety of ways, instead of weaving the sections into a cohesive whole by using transitional devices. Hypertext is truly process-based, with the reader participating in the interactive process of constructing the text as a whole. Web hypertexts must incorporate graphic elements, possibly animation, sound, or video elements as well as verbal elements. Instead of developing a thesis, a linear thread through a document, student writers learn to distribute meaning across files and link meanings associatively and visually.