Chapter 5
Characteristics of a Text
Introduction
Location
Layout
Headings
Length
Style
Here lies the peerless peer Lord Peter, Who broke the laws of God, man and
metre.
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Introduction
The function of a text is to convey information. A text has several major
characteristics in relation to information that affect how well it carries out this
task and how well it reads. These are location, layout, headings, length and
style.
Location
Introduction
Any piece of information in a text has a location. To facilitate citation of
information in a text, and retrieval of information from it, a text needs to have a
device for defining a location within it. Two methods are commonly used,
page number and paragraph number.
Page Numbers
Traditionally pages of a text are numbered. This is a simple means of
identifying parts of a text, but it lacks some advantages that numbering
paragraphs confers. In the simple cases, pages are numbered consecutively.
This is a common practice. However, pages of a text can also be numbered by
reference to the chapter in which they appear. Thus in chapter 20 of a text, the
first page would be 20-1, the second page would be 20-2, the third page 20-3
and so on.
Paragraph Numbers
There is increasing tendency for publishers to number paragraphs
of a text,
sometimes even in addition to numbering pages. At times the paragraph
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Epitaph for Lord Peter JG Lockhart
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