Writing Instructional Texts - uni-bielefeld.de · 2010-05-26 · Writing Instructional Texts ......
Transcript of Writing Instructional Texts - uni-bielefeld.de · 2010-05-26 · Writing Instructional Texts ......
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Writing Instructional Texts
Miriam Brandel
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Normed Communication
Language in:
• Law
• Science
• Medicine
• Advertising
• Etc.
• Instruction Manuals/ How-to Instructions
e.g. for technical equipment, software installation, etc.
• Prescribing information
• Etc.
Goal: intelligibility
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Instructions are…
• A tool for consumers to use or do something
• Specially designed to provide an adequate tool for the (possible) consumer
• Documents which are comparable not to an effort of writing but of engineering
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‘Good’ Instructions…
• Describe the actions/procedures necessary to perform a task (in a way the consumer understands)
• Explain how a product works and applications for which it is used
• Describe how the product may be misused
• Provide sufficient safety information (e.g. warn about possible hazards)
• Encourage consumers to act in a safe way
• Meet legal obligations for duty to warn
• Meet regulatory requirements/standards for giving certain information
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How can Instructions Fail?
Job application form question:
‘Give previous experience with dates’.
One candidate’s reply:
‘Moderately successful in the past, but I am now happily married!’
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Instructions (Can) Fail When…
• The product is poorly designed
• Possible hazards are difficult to perceive or control
• Procedures are too complex for the consumer to perform
BUT also when
• Poor or uninformed decisions have been made in the different stages of the development process!
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Writing Instructional Texts (James Hartley)
• Pre-Design- Planning stage
• Design- Producing the document
• Post-Design- Testing/Editing the document
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Pre-Design
• Making decisions about the scope and purpose of the document; i.e. answering the following questions:
- what are the goals of the instructions?
- who is the audience?
- what are the constraints?
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Goals of the Instructions
• Define the scope of your instructions
• Identify key tasks that users must perform based on the scope of the instructions
• Define specific and measurable criteria for success for each key task
• Identify all reasonably foreseeable hazards associated with the product
• Specify the knowledge and skills required to successfully perform each task with your product
• Find out how consumers are likely to use the product under real-world conditions
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Qualitative Techniques to Explore How Consumers may Use a Product
• Focus groups
• Usability testing
• Observational methods
• Affordance analyses
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Who is the Audience
• Identify and characterize the population of reasonably foreseeable users of the product and instructions
• Find out consumers’ attitudes and beliefs about the product
• Consider the different needs and abilities of novice (beginner) and expert users
• Consider the needs/abilities of the elderly (target age groups)
• Consider the needs/abilities of non-English-literate users
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Design Alternatives to Communicate to Non-English-Literate Users
• Translate the full text of the instructions
• Make alternative language versions of the instructions available (upon request)
• Provide safety warnings in multiple languages, but the rest of the instructions in English
• Use diagrams and graphics to illustrate actions; rely less on text
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What are the Constraints?
• Identify:
- government and legal regulations…
- voluntary standards and industry-recommended practices…
…that relate to instructions, warnings and other required consumer information for the specific type of product
• Identify requirements imposed by the manufacturer
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Design
• Producing the document; i.e.
- writing the appropriate text
- organizing/structuring the text
- presenting the text in a clear and simple language
- using appropriate illustrative materials
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Guidelines for Writing Instructional Texts
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Organizing Text
1) Titles
2) Summaries
3) Headings
4) Questions
5) Sequencing
6) Sequencing lists
7) Signaling
8) Typographic cueing
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Text Factors
• Paragraph length
• Sentence length
• Word length
• Clarifying text
• Text difficulty
• Difficult short sentences
• Ambiguities
• Clarifying numbers
• Reference numbers
• Footnotes
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Exercises
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Sources
Hartley, James. 1985. Designing Instructional Text. pp. 48-60
Smith, Singer. Developing Consumer Product Instructions. (Sections 1,2 & Checklist)
http://www.cpsc.gov/LIBRARY/FOIA/foia04/os/guide.pdf