Technical writing students often misuse models given them for their writing assignments because they fail to distinguish between model and example and between different kinds of models. The results of this misuse are texts that contain inappropriate material and are unfit for their intended audiences. The approach to writing taken by these students is too narrow and rigid. This article details the problem and defines the models used in writing as partially abstract, analogous representations of social codifications of linguistic experience. Since models are social artifacts shared by both writers and readers, a clearer understanding of them should help writers produce texts appropriate for their audiences while giving the writers greater rhetorical flexibility.