These are all texts for which there is a published RST analysis by the development
team. These analyses, along with many others not shown here, span a range of
dates and choices of detail. We have applied a common set of conventions, including
the relations that have been added since the 1988 paper. This has led to some
renumbering, but the substantive details of the published analyses have generally
been retained.
Where they are available, scanned images of the published analyses and the original
texts have been included.
The right hand column shows counts of the signaled relations of each of these
texts, along with the total relation count. Signals here include conjunctions,
phrases, open class words and syntactic patterns. Methods of counting signals
have not been formalized, and there may not be a need to do so.
Click on the text name in the table to get a more detailed description of the text (below the table). Click on the detailed description for a pdf version of the analysis, including an RST diagram created with Mick O'Donnell's RST Tool. The image file (gif) was also created with the tool, and it is, in some cases, a large file. Both pdf and gif files open in a new window.
Common Cause Advocacy Letter -- PDF Common Cause Analysis -- GIF The Common Cause Text is an advocacy letter that
appeared as a letter to the editors of a magazine for members of California
Common Cause, a political organization. It was used in several publications
on RST. One notable features is the diversity of arguments and themes
in the letter that do not follow the RST structure, themes such as
emotional waste of money, the effects of spending by others and appeals
to organizational tradition. These themes serve as arguments or evidence
for the suitability of what the author advocates, but they are largely
embodied in choice of words and phrases. They are barely propositional,
and often presented without support.
Thumbs Text -- PDF Thumbs Text -- GIF This text is distinctive in that it has a known,
personal addressee. It is an excerpt from a handwritten personal letter
from a friend. (The letter goes on to talk about relearning the typewriter.)
It is unusual in the way that it raises a small problem as a means of raising
a moderate sized problem, leading to the entire excerpt as statement of a large
problem. This strategy perhaps indicates something about the personal self
representation intended by the writer.
The text was included in the published set as part of the effort to establish
the breadth of coverage of RST.
It's not laziness -- PDF It's not laziness -- GIF This is a short newspaper editorial with a political
purpose. It illustrates argumentation technique for persuading the reader
of something that is, for some readers, controversial and possibly part
of conventional wisdom.
Although both this text and the "bouquets" text are short expository
newspaper articles, analysis shows a sharp difference in their strategies.
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