Knowledge tree writing imposes structure, which both empowers and restricts the writer.

Conventional writing is "free form" in that any sentence in a paragraph can be the topic sentence, paragraphs can be presented in any order, and the topic of each paragraph is unconstrained by the topics of the other paragraphs nearby. In a knowledge tree, each paragraph always begins with its topic sentence, and that topic sentence (branch) must directly explain the branch "below" from which it grows. Conventional writing can ramble and meander or even be insanely incoherent in the sequence of ideas presented. With a knowledge tree, the writer begins with an arbitrary "root" idea, but all of the other ideas in the writing must be arranged in small sequences that explain some other idea in the tree.