Project 1 Draft 2 Assignment Handout ENGL 3010 Fall 2017

For this assignment, you will revise your instructional document in the light of teacher comments, peer review, class discussion, and this handout. The goal is to make the instructional document as successful as we can—that is, an A paper. These direction should help you revise your D1 into a more successful D2 whether you have small changes to make or big ones.

Here is what to consider:

1) Think about your topic selection. Remember that we are trying to write instructions on how to do something here, not a simple list of ingredients. Did you pick a subject that will allow real explanation, with stages and steps, notices, supplementary discussion, etc.? Some subjects are too simple to result in a fully developed piece of instruction.

That said, bear in mind that some apparently simple subjects could often be explained more fully, to the users’ benefit. Think about what mistakes your reader could make, and try to prevent those mistakes in the instructions and in the supplementary discussion. Also, see #2 below.

2) Think about your audience. One chef writing to another might say, Scramble three eggs to a light froth and stop there. The same chef writing to a novice in the kitchen might say this:

1. Scramble three eggs until slightly frothy. This can be done with a fork, but it works best with a hand blender, the kind you crank. If you use an electric blender, be careful not to overbeat or your quiche will dry out.

CAUTION: Be sure to break the eggs on a flat surface to avoid driving fragments of shell into the egg. If you break eggs with a knife or fork or on the edge of a bowl, break this habit! You don’t want your customers to be crunching egg shell in their quiche.

3) Think about stages and steps. Most processes that have any explanatory complexity can be broken into stages to make understanding easier for the reader. If you have no stages and 21 steps, it is easy for readers to forget which step they are on. If you have 3 stages each with 5-8 steps, it is easier for readers to keep their place in the directions.

4) Think about adding explanation (supplementary discussion) to back up the steps in the directions. Use supplementary discussion to turn a list into a full explanation. See #2 above for an example.

5) Add pics. We will do this in class.

6) Consider doing some outside reading to learn more about your process. This can help a lot with supplementary discussion. If you do use outside sources, be careful NOT to cut and paste from them: always paraphrase info from sources. 7) Work on using alignment as a conceptual organizer. Alignment is a way of reinforcing relationships among ideas. So, all stages should be left-aligned with each other, all steps should be left aligned with each other. If you wrap the writing in a step, bold the step name:

Prepare the car for the wash.

Step 1: Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah [NOTE: this is best done with hanging indent.]

Prepare the car for the wash.

Step 1: Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Warning: Note that this warning is aligned with “Step 1” and so is about Step 1. If it were aligned with the stage, it would be about the whole stage.

NOTES: do not auto number stages, just steps. Avoid Roman numerals. Keep the numbering clean and clear.

8) Work on special notices. Here are some rules about using them correctly”

 Locate special notices where they will do the most good. If the notice applies to the whole process, put it at the beginning. If the notice just applies to all of stage 2 (for example), put it right after the intro to stage 2. If it applies to stage 2, step 3, put it right after step 3.

9) Work on correct mechanics. In instructional writing, especially be sure that you:

 Use all articles (a, an, the). Instructions are not shorthand. Sentences should be complete.  Use correct sentences. Avoid run ons and fragments, both of which are easier to do in this kind of writing  Use punctuation and capitalization correctly