Chapter 21 – Preparing Instructions and Manuals
Chapter 21 provides excellent guidelines and information on how to create effective and usable instructions. Instructions have to be usable because someone will depend on that instruction to tell them how to perform a task. Analyzing your audience, task, & genre, effectively using text and visual content, and understanding learning principles will greatly aid you in creating effective instructions.
Principles of Adult Learning
Malcom Knowles researched characteristics of adult learners and comprised this list:
Self-concept. Instructions allow user to asses their prior knowledge and the instructions point user to appropriate place (like a search feature in a electronic help file).
Rationale. People generally like a reason as to why they should do/learn something.
Experience. Analogies and examples, when used well, can enhance learn-ability.
Orientation. Focus on the practical information: what, why, & how.
Motivation. I didn’t quite follow how Burnett ties motivation in with better instructions…something like options to instructions/manuals will appeal to a broader range of motivations I think.
Burnett points out a key factor to consider when developing instructions, aliteracy. People who are aliterate can read, but choose not to. This can be caused by any number of things: don’t have the time, don’t think they need to, or simply don’t want to. Some typcal characteristics of an aliterate reader are…
Scanning text, but not reading the text.
Depending on visuals rather than words for information.
Imbuing color, shape, position, and size with meaning to avoid writing language. I think Burnett means someone sees a picture in an instruction and says, “that’s how it should be” and doesn’t bother reading the instructions.
Analyzing the Task
Burnett identifies 4 categories of instructions…
1. Actions/behavior of personnel
2. Assembly of objects or mechanisms
3. Operation of equipment
4. Implementation of a process
Figure 21.1 on page 779 has four sections with questions to ask yourself when analyzing the task for your instructions.
Section 1 gets you thinking about the steps and detail required for the instructions. Section 2 considers the context in which the instructions will be used.
Section 3 takes into account constraints to completing the task
Section 4 wants you to start relating the task to the audience.
Analyzing the Audience
User-friendly instructions start with the author having a personal interest in the user and the instructions. A conversational tone, using “you”, and action verbs (like turn, push, adjust, etc…) are completely acceptable and help cement the link between instruction, user, and task.
It’s also very important to chunk and label your information effectively as this helps the user distinguish identify and distinguish information. A simple example is don’t bury safety points in the middle of a block of text, keep them separate and preferably in the front of the document to immediately alert the user of safety concerns.
It’s also important to consider international audiences. The world is getting smaller every day and having instructions in multiple languages is required for some products sold world wide. However, instructions that can be effectively depicted entirely with visuals can be universally “read” and understood by anyone from any country. Pages 786 & 787 provided pointers for designing instructions for international audiences, but I though a lot of their points can be applied to all instructions…
- Be consistent in the way words, links, and visuals are used.
- Use visual cue to indicate sequence or direction (like numbered steps or arrows indicating direction/orientation)
- Visually distinguish main steps from details/explanations (font size, type, style, etc..)
Choosing a Genre
The purpose, context and delivery format of your instructions affect how you should plan and design your instructions. Figure 21.6 on p790 provides several examples of purpose and delivery to give you an idea of the different genres of instructions. A key distinction to be made is that between short instructions and manuals. Manuals contain much more information and it’s important to provide users multiple ways to access that information based on their needs (table of contents, glossary, information chunking & organization)
Content
When considering your contend you need to think about your purpose and have a goal statement that matches that. You also want to have clear direct accurate information that people can understand and rationalize with.
Purpose
You need to stick to your purpose so you don’t put any doubt in the viewers mind. Many time the purpose is stated in the title or with the visual aids.
Necessary components
This is where you list all the necessary steps to get the user to the end goal.
Order
Make sure that it is in chronological order. (in most cases)
Select Grammatical Style
This is where you decide if you want to use a short hand version or proper English.
Selecting Visual Aids
You want to select the aids that don’t confuse the user but rather give better instruction than the words.
When using visual aids you need to make sure that you make sure everyting is very clear so that you can be held liable.
12 comments:
I think the concept of writing different types of instructions can be difficult and confusing. A balance must be maintained between providing enough detail so the instructions are clear and precise, but trying to avoid including too much information to make it overwhelming. This potential problem makes increasing the user’s understanding a very critical component in a successful instruction document. It’s important to tailor your instruction sheet/manual to the target audience. The instruction sheet I wrote for our bilingual assignment included words that most people who are not already familiar with guitars would not be able to understand. So that is why I made sure to include numerous visuals and arrows so the reader would know what part of the guitar I am referring to.
This chapter could have been very useful for our Instruction sheet assignment. Even when they talk about instruction sheets in multiple languages, that's exactly what we did and are doing now with the German students. The chapter talks about appropriate visuals and how it is useful in instructions. We also had to use a visual aid, I chose to use two different visuals to help show a few different steps of my instruction sheet. I don't know if my visuals had to be in the assignment inorder for someone to understand my instructions, but for people that do not speak English well or not at all, it would benefit them greatly. So identifying the audience first would be beneficial in writing instruction plans. There is a lot more detail that goes into writing instruction manuals then most people think and this chapter really defines those tasks in great detail.
I think that this chapter would have been very helpful with our instruction sheet assignment. I am an aliterate type of person. I usually just look at the images that go with the instructions and perform the task based on these. If I dont get the information needed by the images I will then go through and read the text. The images that go with the instructions are usually detailed enough where one wouldn't even need to read the text. I have realized that almost all instructions contain at least two different languages. This is essential for the diverse population of today.
I think it's real easy to misunderstand instructions sometimes. It's best to simplify them as much as possible so everyone can be on the same page in understanding them. Like with any form of communication though you'll run into interpreting things wrong.
There are numerous types of instructions in the world. Step by step instructions, paragraph form instructions, and many others. Personally, I don't like to use instructions because it's a sign of weakness, but if I had to use one, it would a step by step instruction. These instructions along with diagrams and pictures are well organized and very easy to read. This way, I only have to read instructions quickly, so nobody sees me.
Trying to just jump in and write an instructional sheet or manual is always a bad idea. Without proper steps, it will most likely miss its mark and not be nearly as effective as it could have been.
Instructions are a very helpful resource, especially when you are dealing with a new or unfamiliar task. Details in instructions are direct and to the point. Pictures are my favorite way to receive direction in a project and probably the most effective way to learn.
Wow, Im late adding a comment but didnt realize I had forgot to do one. I think this chapter would have been better to read before we had written our instructions. I am aliterate, I usually only scan a document and I do rely on pictures more than I should. I like things best when someone actually shows me how to do something first. I am not comforatable actually doing something after just reading instructions
I think that writing different styles of instructions are very helpful to different types of people who learn and follow directions from different points of views. Some people learn in different ways than others and if we can appeal to all different types of learners, it can make us a much more effective communicator with our audience. I thought this chapter was neat because it directly fits in with my job right now and it is interesting to see how my boss tells me to follow these very guidelines that this chapter was talking about, even though this was mainly talking about technical documents. However the relationship between this chapter and the application I use in my everyday life is huge.
I think the part about a reader seeing a visual aid and thinking "that's how it should be" really applies to most sets of instructions. When dealing with manuals and instructions I usually find myself getting more information out of the visuals than out of the text.
Instructions are very important to me when I am building something. In the construction field we instructions as well. They are not laid out step by step but more just explaining the rules and requirements of the job. Instructions are used for many other things and can be confusing if there is too much information involved. They can also be confusing if they are to vague.
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