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INSTRUCTIONS: FORMAL PARTS

1. Intro and Background
What will these instructions help me do?
Is there anything I need to know to be able to use these instructions effectively?
Includes subject, purpose of procedure, intended readers, scope, organization, conventions,
motivation, and safety.

2. List of Materials
Before she begins to write the genre/follow the set of instructions, is there certain information
that your reader needs to collect? In order to write a lab report, for instance, your reader will
have to have completed an experimentare there special things to pay attention to/collect
while performing the experiment?
Where do I gather materials from?
Are there tools I need? What are they and what do they look like?

3. List of Steps and Sub-steps

Once Im ready to start, what exactly do I do?
Written for scanning, rapid comprehension, action-oriented headings, branching steps clearly
represented, notes on what might go wrong on specific steps.
How can you incorporate bits and pieces of the examples from your genre analysis?

4. Trouble Shooting
Something isnt working correctly. What do you predict it is and how do I fix it?

5. Glossary of Key Terms

Key terms that you might have to use that I might not know.
Key websites and other sources of information that might prove useful.

TYPICAL SCENARIO
1.A company calls me and
asks me to write a
manual for them on how
to use a new piece of
software or some
hazardous process.
2.They say that they have
time to do a one-hour
phone call.
. What information do I
need to collect?
. What questions do I ask?
. Who should I interview?
. What observations
should I make?

QUESTIONS READERS ASK: HOW CAN

YOU ANSWER EACH QUESTION AS YOU
WRITE THE MANUAL?

What will these instructions help me do? Do I really need to

read them?

Is there anything special need to know to be able to use

these instructions more effectively?

If Im working with equipment, where are the parts I need to

use?

What materials? Equipment? Tools do I need?

Once Im ready to start, what do I do?

Something has gone wrongnow what? How do I fix it?

IF
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3 WAYS PEOPLE READ INSTRUCTIONS

1. Some, but only a few, read instructions all the way
through before beginning to follow any of the steps.
2. Others read and perform each step without looking
ahead to the next.
3. And still others begin a task without reading any
instructions and turn to them only when difficulties
arise.

How do we design for all 3?

FEEDBACK MECHANISMS

What is feedback?

Tell readers what to expect after following the instructions.

How will they know earlier than the end of the instruction
set if they are doing it right?
Your food will be hot, but not as brown as if heated in the
oven rather than the microwave. A few minutes of
standing time will complete the cooking cycle and
distribute the heat uniformly
This means, as with lab reports, you must take careful and detailed
notes as things occur.

WHATS WRONG WITH THESE?

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