Association and argument: Hypertext in and around the writing process

Abstract

While hypertext is often claimed to be a tool that especially aids associative thinking, intellectual “work” involves more than association. So, questions arise about the usefulness of hypertext tools in the more disciplined aspects of scholarly and argumentative writing. Examining the phases of scholarly writing reveals that different hypertext tools can aid different phases of intellectual work in ways other than associative thinking. Spatial hypertext is relevant at all phases, while page-and-link hypertext is more appropriate to some phases than others.