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Books are both hierarchical and linear. With the exception of encyclopedias and other reference works, it is assumed that a text will be read straight through from the first to the last page. The table of contents, "a hierarchical description of the contents of the book"(Bolter, 112), sets out the organization in outline form. Generally, chapters relate the main chunks of information; within that structure, each section of a chapter and then each paragraph is subordinate.

Also, the author sets out his/her arguments under the assumption that the reader will have read them in context; that is, the reader will have read the last point of the argument and will be going on to read the following point as well. The modern methods of rhetoric and argumentation assume a linear and hierarchical structure. Bolter says, "...today, all of our major forms of non-fiction-the essay, the treatise, the report-are expected to be hierarchical in organization as they are linear in presentation"(Bolter, 113).

The stable text

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