Hypertext and Pedagogy: Strategies, Techniques, Ideas Wendy Warren Austin, Miami University Jennifer L. Bowie, Texas Tech University Billie Jones, Penn State Capital College Hypertext Research Papers: Pedagogical Strategies and Possibilities Even though most colleges and universities require a course in research writing, the research paper genre itself has always seemed to come under fire. Yet what type of writing is most frequently associated with college writing classes—the dreaded research paper!      Starting in the 1920’s, and solidifying as a staple in the ‘40’s, one writing professor wondered in the ‘60’s what percentage of colleges actually required this genre and found that about 85% of colleges did (Manning). Twenty years later, two more professors conducted a similar survey and found a similar result (Ford and Perry).Yet they also discovered that teachers were much more conflicted about its aim and audience than ever before.      Now, with the World Wide Web as an instant research resource as well as a constantly widening display rack of written genres, it would seem inevitable for the research paper genre not to undergo a change. Yet the genre has always been the quintessential linear document, while the web stands as the quintessential hypertext, so omnipresent that students may even be confused as to what the phrase “hypertext” means, even though they have been navigating through it probably for years.      Should the research paper genre be taught now as a hypertext written genre? Can it be taught as a hypertext genre? Do its original goals as an academic kind of writing conflict with the public and personal and business type of writing that is modeled on the web? If students are writing the research paper as an argument / position paper, how well can an argument be carried off in a non-linear writing genre?These are some questions we ought to be asking ourselves as writing teachers. -Warren Wendy Austin Student Problems with Hypertext and Webtext: A Student-Centered Hypertext Classroom? This text examines the realities of hypertexts and webtexts for students. Hypertext has been envisioned by many to solve the problems that occur with linear writing. It is seen as a form of art closer to the way people think. Others believe it has the potential to break the hetero-patriarchy's rules and ideas of reading and writing. Still others suggest it could be a medium that connects male and female ways of writing without favoring either. Hypertext appears to be both a technology and a medium that could be a part of a student-centered pedagogy.      It may seem like hypertext has all the answers, but it appears that students in classrooms where hypertext is used end up confused. Many students are uncomfortable with the hypertext they have to read, which is often literary hypertext. They want better navigation, a sense of completion, and a work that fits their needs/desires. However, many of these same students spend countless hours surfing the web without these same problems. What is it between these two hypertextual mediums that creates such a difference?      This text looks not only at the possibilities of hypertext, but the realities of hypertext in the classroom. I focus not only on the issues of promise and problems, but particularly a small study that examines student reactions to hypertext and the web. I examine the perceived differences between the two media including student evaluations of hypertext and the web for navigation, closure, confusion, comfort, usability, audience, completeness, and interest levels. Before we move further with hypertext in the classroom, we must examine hypertext from a student-centered approach. If we don’t, the promises and benefits of hypertext may never be fully realized. -Jennifer L. Bowie From Linear Text to Hypertext: A Cyber Odyssey Worth Taking? As I worked to add hypertextual writing to my first-year writing classes and planned for an upper-level hypertextual writing course, I debated over whether to have students create native hypertexts or translate linear print texts. On one hand, the foundational differences between linear, print-based texts and hypertexts are so great, that only global “re-visioning” of a print text can allow a writer to make such a translation. On the other hand, the process of translating a linear text can help students see hypertext as a distinct medium for thinking, writing, and reading more clearly than simply writing native hypertexts. This debate led me to ask: "To translate or not to translate" linear texts to hypertexts–that is the question. To answer the question, this text explores the feasibility and efficacy of translating a linear text into a successfully functioning hypertext.  Using Bolter’s concept of “remediation,” in which newer media "define themselves by borrowing from, paying homage to, critiquing, and refashioning their predecessors [...]" (Bolter, Writing Space 2nd ed., 24), I argue that moving students incrementally through the process of revising/translating linear print texts into hypertexts helps students see both the commonalties and the differences between the two sets of discourse conventions.      Precisely because these two media are so different (one a “remediation” of the other, and sometimes even remediations of each other), such an activity can be used in a classroom setting to the benefit of both linear and hypertextual writing. -Billie Jones