Text Structure: Overview
structure
text
body
div
An outline view of the topics covered within the discussion of text structure
This section on textual structure discusses the high-level structures of the text, and those features which are common to most textual genres. We include here a description of how to represent the large chunks into which texts are typically divided, and how to encode the basic building blocks: lists, headings, quotations, letters, and so forth. Use the outline below for navigation, or have a look at the example, in which all of the elements shown are links to discussions of how they are used.
Text structure: overview
Subdividing the text with div
What’s inside a div?
- Overall structure
- At the top: openers, headings, epigraphs, arguments and summaries
- The use of openers and closers
- In the middle:
- paragraphs
- quotations, used for direct speech and for material from outside the text
- lists
- figures, illustrations, and graphical material
- other chunky things
- At the end: closers and trailers
- A comparison of closers and trailers
Other major text components
- Indexes and tables of contents, and a comparison between them
- Frontispieces
- Advertisements
- Dedications
- Subscriber lists
- Errata lists
Specific prose genres
- General notes on letters, and the special case of letters embedded in prose
- Postscripts
- The use of openers and closers
- A comparison of closers and trailers
- Salutes and signatures
- Essays
- Journals, diaries, and other entry-based genres
Issues and challenges
- Overlapping elements
- Sequencing errors in lists
- The Scheherazade problem: nested narratives within a div