Text analysis as a research tool: How hierarchical text structure contributes to the understanding of conceptual processes in writing

Since the early 1970s, composition researchers have shown a consistently growing interest in process issues. The cognitive approach received its major impetus when Hayes and Flower (1980) introduced their writing model. This line of research, however, also had its drawback: the idea took root that processes can not be inferred from products (cf. Witte & Cherry, 1986). This conviction has been challenged fiercely by Bereiter and Scardamalia (1983). They pointed to the need to know what rules less skilled writers actually use and how these rules differ from those of experts. Because the most direct way to discover these rules is by analyzing texts, they argued for research that approaches texts as complex phenomena exhibiting internal lawfulness.