Storygraph is a web-based computer program designed for the creation of story diagrams (storygrams) about nonfiction stories. Storygrams created with this program boil down the key events of a story, and their basic elements (the who, what, why, when, where, and how), all in a visual medium. The process of analyzing a story and its key parts helps people understand how the story is being told, and what the evidence is for one interpretation over another. If used in a classroom or other collaborative learning environment, storygrams can be used as props in discussions of events and the stories we tell about them.

Storygraph is designed specifically to help in the teaching and learning of history or other classes focused on stories about actual events (e.g., current events, media literacy). But anyone who wants to use it to diagram stories is welcome. We suggest using the tool to analyze published stories, or for planning one''s own version of a story based on research and multiple sources. For examples, go here [hyperlink to http://www.storygraph.org/view.html].

Storygraph is free and open to the public, because it has been created for educational purposes with the generous support of the Spencer Foundation. For more information about this program and the research related to it, see Joe Polman's "True Stories, Storied Truth" initiative.


"Stories and Myths of the Civil War in Frederick County Maryland", a summer camp to be conducted with the Catoctin Center for Regional Studies in June 2007.

Storygraph was designed and developed by Dr. Joseph L. Polman and the Technology Integration Group (Eric Aplyn, Jason Wagstaff, Rick Stanton, and Chris Yeoman) at the E. Desmond Lee Technology and Learning Center. We are part of the College of Education at University of Missouri-St. Louis.