Adding Discourse Statements to a Semantic Program

Abstract

We have developed state-based semantic programs that describe scientific research phenomena. However, implementing interactive research reports requires more than a model of the phenomenon: it also requires discourse elements such as rhetorical and genre structures. We use the term discourse broadly to cover how material is presented. This paper treats those structures as an overlay on the semantic program of the base phenomenon. We discuss two examples related to the Snowball Earth Hypothesis.