Lecture 5 Instructions Report ( Writing Preliminaries)

1. Lecture 5 Instructions Report(Writing Preliminaries)

2. II. Some Preliminaries • At the beginning of a project to write instructions, determine the structure or characteristics of the particular procedure you are going to write about. • Audience and situation. • Number of tasks: How many tasks there are in the procedure you are writing instructions for.

3. II. Some Preliminaries • Preliminaries: introductory steps • Procedure: The whole set of activities your instructions are intended to discuss. (Ex. operating a microwave oven) • A task: is a semi-independent group of actions within the procedure. ( Ex. Setting the clock on a microwave oven, setting the power level….etc)

4. 1. step procedure 2. step One task 3. step 4. step • A procedure can contain one task (Changing the oil in a car contains only one task) • One task includes few steps >> number the steps.

5. 1.step 2.step phase procedure 3.step phase One task phase phase phase 1.step 2.step 3.step • One task includes many steps (assembling a kids’ swing set) >>> group similar and related steps into phases ( setting up the frame, anchoring the thing in the ground, setting up the box swing…) >> start numbering the steps at each new phase. • A phase: A group of similar steps within a single-task procedure.

6. Semi-independent task Semi-independent task procedure Semi-independent task Semi-independent task A procedure can contain semi-independent tasks ( using a microwave oven contains many semi-independent tasks like setting the timer, setting the clock, cleaning and maintaining the microwave… etc.)

7. II. Some Preliminaries • Best approach to the step-by-step discussion: how to focus your instructions: on tasks or on tools. • Task approach: See the example. • Tools approach: See the example • Sometimes instructions using a tool approach are hard to make work. (Why) • Sometimes instructions using a tool approach are preferable.

8. II. Some Preliminaries • Groupings of tasks. Sometimes we list tasks. However, sometimes we must group many tasks so that readers can find individual ones more easily. • Examples of common task groupings in instructions: See examples.