How to connect and understand the relationship between ideas? Emmitt and Pollock suggest learning a text is like - at the top-level structure of a coat-hanger on which hang all the different ideas.

Students must learn ideas from the text, and understand the relationship between the ideas, “Like the ideas themselves, there is an order of importance among their interrelationships. They fan out like branches of a tree. Minor ones are like twigs joining leafy words, which are small details. More important ones are branches joining clusters of twigs and their leaves. That way, they are interrelating chunks of information, and  together they play fairly significant supporting roles for ‘critical’ message content. Key relationships are the sturdiest of the branches. They set a framework for the critical message information and usually span to many different parts of the communication. At the very core is ‘one’ relationship – the top level structure. It is like the tree trunk, a key to the whole structural scaffold (Bartlett et al., 1988 cited by Emmitt and Pollock, 1988).

There are four types of patterns in specialised texts:
1. Comparisons
• To organise information in a range of subject areas.
• Occurs in Science, mathematics, Social Studies, History, Second-Language Learning.
• Ideas are compared.

2. Problems and solutions
• Work the problems and resolve for solutions.
• In social and behavioural Sciences, and economics, social studies, geography and mathematics.

3. Causes and effects
• Science
• Unfamiliar for unskilled readers at all levels.

4. Description and lists
• Vital in narratives.
• Use of author manipulation of order such as foreshadowing and flashback.
• Include graphs, time-lines, or charts.
• List structure is preferred by students, and help students easy recall of information.

These patterns in specialised texts are often occurred in everyday life and work situation according to Emmitt and Pollock. Companies are often using two popular patterns; compare and problem-solution structure. The advantages of the top-level structure are (Emmitt and Pollock, 2008):

1. Recall more information.
2. Longer memory.
3. Understanding the text.
4. The ability to read more critically.
5. The main idea can be found more easily.
6. Summaries and note-taking are made easier.
7. Written assignments can be organised better.
8. The use of the strategy can be verbalised.

Reference
Emmitt, M. and Pollock, J. (1997). Language and Learning. Second edition: Oxford University Press.