Writing Book 4 · Lesson 14

Notes from a diagram

A labeled diagram can be turned into three-level notes.

What it is

A diagram has no sentences to copy, so it forces you to decide the levels yourself. Its labels are not all equal: some name the whole thing, some name a part, some name a part of a part. Reading a diagram well means seeing that structure and writing it down as levels.

Watch it built

1
Name what the whole diagram is of. That is level I.
I. The parts of a flower
2
Take a label naming a main part.
  A. Stamen — the male part
3
Take a label naming a piece of THAT part.
    1. Anther — holds the pollen

One more

Labels: heart, ventricle, valve
↓
I. The heart / A. Ventricle / 1. Valve inside it
Remember
The whole thing, a main part, a piece of that part.
Ask yourself: “Which label is the main idea, and which are the parts?”

Remember

A diagram is notes someone else already made.

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