Technical Communication Today
Author: Johnson-Sheehan
ISBN: 9780321907981
Find three sets of published written instructions for a simple task (good, bad, and ugly). Good instructions really work well
as a cohesive document, clearly organized, concisely written. The worst set of instructions would be poorly written,
ambiguous or unclear. The illustrations might be incomprehensible or missing. And the ugliest instructions are the most
poorly designed or visually difficult to understand and use.
Your written instructions may be digital . You may have used online tutorials or how-to’s with written steps. Feel free to
use any you are using for a project at work or school. You will need to be able to share these instructions digitally (will
need to scan or shoot a photo of printed materials). The instructions must be mainly written. YouTube tutorials or how-to
videos won’t work for this project. Feel free to post in “Hallway Conversations” or contact your instructor if you need more
information.
1st Post
Analyze the writing in these instructions using the information in “Sequentially Ordered Steps” section of Chapter 7.
1 Are the steps logically ordered? Are any out of sequential order?
2 Is there consistently one action per step? Provide an example
3 Is the writing concise? Provide an example. How could it be improved?
4 Are the steps numbered and do they include comments, notes or examples? Why does or doesn’t this work for these
instructions?
5 Is feedback with commentary provided after a difficult step? If not, where would you place feedback?
6 Are there graphics, and are they effective? Why or why not? Are the graphics referred to in the written steps?
– Respond to your own post: Which one was the best, most effectively written and designed? Why? Which was the one of the
worst set of instructions you have seen lately? Please explain. And which instructions were the ugliest, the most poorly
designed or visually difficult to understand? What is the dominant issue?
7 Reply to the Tutorial 1st and edit the subject of the post to be your name.
Copy and paste your rhetorical situation analysis into the text editor. Attach the PDF of the script (including short
descriptions of the screenshots to be used) for the tutorial.
This is the rhetorical situation
WHO: Describe the key characteristics of your audience:
8 Age range(s)
9 Education level(s)
10 Expertise/skill level(s)
11 Cultural perspective(s)
12 Expectations for the writing
13 Preconceived attitudes
WHAT: Describe the purpose and subject of the writing and the needs of the audience
• What is the subject of the writing?
• What is the purpose of the writing?
• What do the readers want and need, e.g., entertainment, knowledge, a way to make things right, etc.?
WHEN: Provide the time frame of this project
• When will the information be used, e.g., on a certain date, during work hours, on weekends, etc.?
• When is it needed, e.g., before the big game, after exams, before the last day of the month, etc.?
WHERE: Provide information about the reader’s location and context when accessing this writing
• Where will the reader use it?
• What is the context of use, e.g., an email attachment, a poster in a store window, web page, etc.?
WHY: Describe the action the reader will take
• Why do the readers need the information in this document, e.g., to enjoy life, to fix a problem, to learn a new
skill, etc.?
HOW: Describe how access will occur
• How does the user need the information to appear, e.g., which genre and medium?
• How will the user access the writing?