Design practices that Dent argued would accomplish this task included using strong, well-defined edges for the figure, articulating the figure, and depicting the figure as a closed shape. He concluded the article by observing that the figures on the map carry the important intellectual content, but that an effective map cannot be created without visually integrating the geographic data of the ground into the whole. Dent's most significant contribution to the fields of cartography and geography was the textbook he first published in 1985. The first edition was entitled "Principles of Thematic Map Design", but the title was changed for all subsequent editions to "Cartography: Thematic Map Design". "Principles of Thematic Map Design" was written for a college audience, and it is clear that a deliberate effort was made to make the text as pedagogically valuable as possible. Dent wrote in the introduction to the text that “ideas are conveyed in a straightforward manner that stresses the integration of modern cartographic theory and practice.” This is obvious from the beginning of the text, where the prevailing cartographic theory of the time, the map communication model, is discussed in the same chapter with more practical design considerations. As a student of the map communication model, Dent was always concerned with quality of design, and so included information on good design principles as well as more technical information about map projections and geodesy. Part of the value of the text is that Dent approached thematic cartography from a number of different directions. He offered the reader both theoretical and technical insight into the practice, but also encouraged them to apply their creativity to the process. In an interesting portion of the text, Dent explains that  there appear to be certain activities shared by people considered to be great  thinkers, scientists, or artists:  It is this highly varied and holistic approach to mapping that contributed to the popularity of Dent's first offering, "Principles of Thematic Map Design". Dent published the second edition of his text, this time entitled "Cartography: Thematic Map Design", in 1990. In this version, he called attention to the addition of a section on geographic cartography, which he explained is “distinct from other branches of cartography in that it alone is the tool and product of the geographer.” The distinction here appears to be the type of map that is generally created, with the cartographer more often producing general reference maps and the geographic cartographer more often producing thematic maps. Much of the content in this version is the same as the first addition, although Dent remarked that he did endeavor to incorporate new information about trends in the discipline of cartography that he had identified, such as a focus on choropleth mapping in quantitative cartography and “a growing interest among professional cartographers in the history of thematic mapping.”