1. Object:
The object of a text is the portion of reality it intends to study, explain, describe, etc. For example, an essay about the fall of the Roman Empire would be studying the Roman Empire; therefore, the object would be "the Roman Empire", or even "the fall of the Empire".
2. Topic:
The topic is the answer to the question "what is this text about?"
3. Problem
3.1 Problematic Facts:
These are the specific facts the author identifies and asks questions about. They are directly related to the Object. The problematic facts are things that amazed the author, made him ask questions. In the example used above, these could be "the Roman Empire ended for some reason", "the reasons historians have given for the fall of the Empire don't really explain why it fell...", or many others.
3.2 Question(s) (Objective):
These are the questions that arouse from observing the problematic facts, and the author intends to answer with his text, article, essay, conference, etc. An example could be "how did the Roman Empire fall", or "how did the barbaric invasions affect the economy of Rome", etc.
3.3 State of the Art:
This is the portion of the text that presents what other people have said about the same topic and problem. This would include the information the author of our example fictional text gives us about what others said about the fall of Rome.
3.4 Importance of the Problem:
This refers to the reasons the author gives to support the fact that it is important in some way to answer those questions, study that problem or topic, etc. There is some argumentation here; the author is arguing that his work is important and interesting. This would include, in the example, the propositions that argue that it is important to understand the fall of Rome, or to explain it more fully, etc.
4. Solution
4.1 Hypothesis:
This refers to the propositions in the text which the author shows as answers to the Question(s). They are the main propositions the author tries to prove and convince his readers of.
4.2 Rationale:
This refers to the propositions that are presented by the author as supporting his Hypothesis(ses). Propositions in the rationale form a network of reasons that support the hypothesis(ses).
5. Conclusions:
This is the part of the text where the author gives his concluding remarks, usually summarizing his rationale, and restating his hypothesis and answers. It could also include new questions that were left open or new topics for further research.
6. Bibliographic References:
This part includes the complete bibliographic references of the articles, books, etc. that were used to complete the scheme and understand the text; only those which are different from the text itself are included here. There could be no articles referenced here.
1 Taken and adapted from the Esquema de Lectura by professors Felipe Pardo and Julia Baquero in their book La Argumentación en el Texto Jurírico. Un instrumento para su comprensión. Bogotá: Ministerio Justicia y del Derecho. 1997