People construct macrostructures to reduce and organize incoming semantic information. When they make a prediction on a paper's outcome based on the work's first sentence or paragraph, readers are using preliminary input to construct a macroproposition about the paper's focus. The macrostructure may be explicitly stated--either in the opening sentence or paragraph or within the text--or it may be inferred by the readers as they create links of the causal chain. Also important in the understanding of macrostructures is the idea of informativity, or the extent to which a presented text is new, unexpected, or unpredictable. A highly predictable text may be efficient for processing but cannot be effective because it stimulates little interest. Thus, both text processing and text production are complex cognitive operations requiring the construction of generalizations, abstractions, and inferences before effective communication can occur. (HOD)