 Lecture 30, As-Salaam-Alaikum. Welcome to the virtual university's course on business and technical communication. In this lecture, we're going to look at how to write instructions. We will look at the different varieties of instructions. We'll keep in mind some important points. Basically, three most important points to remember when writing instructions are that instructions shape attitudes. Good visual design is essential for effective instructions and good visual design includes page design and visual aids. Another thing to remember is that testing is often indispensable as far as writing of instructions is concerned. We're also going to look at a conventional superstructure for instructions which will include the introduction. The introduction looks at the deals with the subject, the aim, the intended readers, the scope, organization, usage, motivation and background of the instructions. The other elements of the instructions are the description of the equipment, theory of operations, lists of materials and equipment and directions. Directions could include presenting all the steps in a list. In your list, you will give one step per entry. You will use headings and titles to indicate the overall structure of the task that you are giving instructions about. And you will use the active voice and the imperative mood. Then we will look at all these things in detail in the lecture today. You will also talk about the fact that you will be using a lot of illustrations in instructions and why that is important. You need to place warnings where readers will see them before performing the steps which you are talking about. You will also tell the readers what to do in the case of an unexpected result or a mistake. We will also talk about how to tell the readers how to take alternative steps. If alternative steps may be taken, you will help your readers to quickly find the information that they want. Also, it is important to provide enough detail for your readers to do everything that they must do. Then there is also a section on troubleshooting which is an essential section as far as instructions go. You need to have a troubleshooting section which basically tells the readers what to do if things go wrong. Now, first let us have a look at the different varieties of instructions. What are the different types of instructions that you might need to write? If you were to look at a sampling of the various kinds of instructions which are written at work, you would see that instructions vary greatly from situation to situation and they vary in length and complexity. Different types of instructions differ in length and complexity. Whatever situation, whatever things that you are giving instructions about, whatever procedure that you are explaining about, according to which instructions can be long and complicated or short or simple. The simplest and shortest instructions can be as few as just a few sentences long and long instructions can go over hundreds of thousands of pages. An example of a simple instruction would be, for example, the instructions that the state of Ohio prints on the back of one by one inch registration stickers that Ohio citizens must buy and fix on their automobile license plates every year. It is simple. There are stickers as well. We will see an example. In the United States, people have to put stickers and license plates on them and instructions are written on them. It is very simple. You will see many such instructions in your everyday life on different things. Let us see one example right now. In instructions, three basic instructions have been given. The first step is position sticker on clean dry surface in lower right hand corner of rare plate. And in brackets it says truck tractor front plate. Basically, if you are driving a truck or a tractor on the front plate, whether it is a car or an automobile, then it is on the back plate. Step number two, if plate has a previous sticker, place new sticker to cover old sticker. And number three, rub edges down firmly. There are very simple instructions. There are only three stages of instructions. Basically, we are telling you how to put stickers, which is a very simple thing. There is no need to give instructions. But because it is a government law that a sticker can be placed on one specific place, it was necessary to give instructions. So this is an example of very simple instructions. And you will also see such simple instructions in your everyday life. Other instructions are hundreds or even thousands of pages long. Examples of these long and highly complex instructions are, for example, those written by companies like General Electric, Rolls Royce, McDonnell Douglas for servicing airplane engines that they manufacture. Sahara, airplanes engines. The instructions for their service and maintenance will be very complex. A simple task or a sticker sticker will be very simple. So depending on the motive, depending on the complexity of the product that the instructions are to a company, the complexity of the instructions will also change. Other examples of long instructions could be instructions that a company IBM equipment or other computer equipment that company's right to accompany their computers. This lecture will basically describe the superstructure for instructions in a way that will enable you to use the patterns for any instructions that you write, whether those instructions are long or short. So today we will see what a superstructure is that you can use in any kind of instructions. What are the basic rules and basic conventions of writing instructions? And according to you, whatever instructions you write, whether they are short or long, you will know that these are the basic rules and these are the necessary instructions. And these are the motifs of writing instructions in a specific way. So then you will be able to write all these instructions effectively. There are three important points to remember when you are going to be writing instructions, no matter how long or complex or how short or simple those instructions are. First, when writing instructions, you should keep in mind that instructions shape attitudes. Secondly, good visual design is essential. And thirdly, testing is often indispensable. Now let's have a look at each of these three points in turn. Instructions shape attitudes. What does this mean? Instructions can mold and shape someone's attitudes. Now all the communication that you write at work has a double aim. It helps your readers perform some tasks and it affects your readers' attitudes in some way. Attitudes, obviously, will have such an effect that when they read instructions about something, they will feel that it is very easy to use these instructions. So their attitude will be favorable. If they read instructions and feel that it is very difficult to use these instructions, then their attitude will change accordingly. And since this is the case, it is very important for writers to remember that instructions are indeed shaping attitudes. However, many writers of instructions focus their attention so sharply on the task that they want their readers to perform, that they forget about the reader's attitudes. There are many times when writers concentrate so much on what they want their readers to do, that they forget about their attitudes, that what their attitude will be by reading these instructions. To write effective instructions, you must not commit this oversight. You must keep your readers' attitudes in mind. Their present attitude as well as their future attitude. The most important attitude with which you should concern yourself is that of your readers towards the instructions themselves. Readers, what is their attitude towards instructions? You need to remember that most people dislike instructions in general. Most people do not like reading or listening to instructions. That is because generally people do not like to be told what to do. People like to have the presumption, people like to feel that they already know what to do. So, therefore, there is always that slight resistance towards instructions. And when faced with the work of reading, interpreting and following a set of instructions, people are often tempted to toss the instructions aside and try to do the thing or whatever job it is. They try to do it themselves by using their common sense. And this is a very natural thing. Even you, I, everyone's first instinct, most of the time this is what happens. Whenever we see something that we have to use, we can use it with our common sense and our logic. And first of all, we do not read its instructions. When it does not happen to us, then we read the instructions that it is not happening to us. Now let's see what the instructions were like to do it. So that's a very, that's human nature. That people, especially if it's something which seems simple enough to perform, that we don't bother with instructions in the first place. So the attitude towards instructions is that they are, a lot of the times that they are unnecessary. But you need to remember that you and your employer will often have good reason for wanting people to use the instructions that you write. You need to put yourself in on the other side. You are now writing the instructions. You are not using the instructions. And as instructions writers, you will have good reason to write those instructions. Whatever your product is, your employer, your company has a good voice to send instructions with those products because it is obvious that until there are no instructions, there is a lot of chance that they will not be able to use your product properly. So obviously you will need to write instructions and you will have very good motivation for that. It could be that the job that you are describing is dangerous. If it isn't done in a certain way or maybe the product or equipment that you are providing may be damaged if instructions are not followed properly. So for whatever reason you are writing the instructions, there will always be a good enough motivation for writing them. It could also be that you know that failure to follow instructions will lead many readers to an unsatisfactory outcome and which may then lead the blame to your company or to your employer. Without using the instructions, if your readers or your consumers will use your product, it could be possible that they are not completely satisfied with the product because they are not able to explore all its features or they are not able to take full action from it. The blame is on the productivity of your product, your company, your employer. That is why it is important that the instructions are well written so that the full potential of the product can be used for full utility. So all these reasons combined to make it important that instructions should be well written and that you are able to persuade your readers that they need to read the instructions. As an instruction writer, you also want to shape your readers' attitudes towards your company and its products. The first thing we talked about is that the attitude that is very important to look at is what is your readers' attitude towards instructions. The second thing that you are responsible for is that your readers' attitude towards your company and your product keeps on reading these instructions. So, it is obvious that if the instructions are written in a difficult way then the consumer wants to use the product or he wants to use the product a little bit with the result that his or her attitude towards your company that is manufacturing the product will also not be very favourable. If your readers feel that the product is reliable and the company thoroughly backs it with complete support which includes good instructions then the consumer or your reader will be more likely to buy other products from your employer and to recommend these products to other people as well. So, good instructions make for good marketing as well. Another thing, the second element that we talked about which was very important to keep in mind when writing instructions is the visual design of the instructions. Good visual aids are very important as far as writing effective instructions is concerned to create instructions that will help your readers and also shape their attitudes in the way that you want. You must pay special attention to the instructions and how they are designed. You need to pay special instructions to visual design which includes page design and the design of drawings, charts, flow charts, flow diagrams, etc. So, you have to look at the overall page design and the different diagrams that you are making you have to look at their designs carefully and make them very well. Now, what do we mean when we talk of page design? What is the difference between page design and visual design? In instructions, you need to have a good page design. Page design will be the layout of the page. If your reader sees the page, what impression will they get from that page? How are things set apart? What are the things that are set on the page? The design of the diagrams is designed in the way that the individual diagrams are designed. What is their look? Coming back to page design, readers almost invariably use instructions by alternating between reading and acting. When there is an instruction booklet in front of them, readers generally read one or two chapters and then they do the work and then they read instructions and then read the next chapter and then they do the work and then read the third chapter and then they do the work. So, they read a step, then do the step, then read the step, do the step and so on. So, they are alternating between reading and actually doing. So, by designing your pages effectively, you can help your readers find information where they left off to follow the step, to do the action actually. And every time they come back to the page, they need to be able to find their place on the page easily. If they have to hunt for the spot where they left off, if the instructions are written in a long paragraph form and every time the reader is looking away from the page and coming back to it, they have to try to find the sentence where they left off, then it becomes very frustrating. So, although it may seem like a very trivial concern, it seems like a small thing to say that maybe you will be thinking, what difference does it make? That the page design, whatever the instructions are, they have to read and work. What difference does it make? But it is not only beautiful. This is a very practical thing because if the reader gets frustrated, if he has to find his position on the page then maybe he will stop reading the instructions. And obviously, if he stops reading the instructions, then the product will not be able to be managed and they will not be able to use it effectively. And then he will stop using it. So, for your company, for your marketing, it will be bad for that. Maybe he will not buy any other products from your company. So, it is a small thing, and its long-term effects can be strong. Good page design ensures that your readers can grasp the connections between the related blocks of material in your instructions and what they need to do. They can make the connection between an instruction and a drawing or an instruction and another visual aid that accompanies it. And all these things are important. The instructions that are written and the visual aids and drawings and the instructions that are written according to the sentence should also be clear. And when they are removed from the page and go back to the page, then they should not be affected. It is also important to remember that the appearance of instructions influences the reader to use those instructions or not to use them. If the instructions appear difficult and very dense and too complicated to follow or if they appear unclear and unattractive, readers may decide not even to use them at all. If the instructions look at the booklet, the readers feel it is very difficult and complicated. They will have to read it for hours. They will not read it. They will keep it somewhere in the booklet. So keeping this in mind, you can increase the effectiveness of most instructions by including visual aids. Well-designed visual aids are much more economical than words. Ensuring readers where the parts of a machine are located or what the result of a procedure should look like. They will be used more and use less words. So it is much easier for readers to understand things. Especially when they have to tell parts of a machine or have to tell different steps of a procedure or have to tell what the result of the procedure will be. In these types of things, visual aids are more effective so that you can explain those things in paragraphs. However, if the visual aids are poorly planned and poorly prepared, they can be just as confusing and frustrating for readers as poorly written prose or poorly written paragraphs. So when you are using visual aids, you need to be very, very sure that they are clear, that they are attractive and that they are not confusing to the reader. I will be giving you more advice about visual aids in lectures that will follow. But for today, it is important to know that visual aids for instructions need to be very clear and it needs to be very obvious what you are trying to show. Coming to the third important consideration that I talked about earlier, testing. Testing is often indispensable. It may seem that all instructions are among the easiest of communications to write and therefore, they don't need to be tested. However, this is a fallacy. Instructions do need to be tested. You may feel that the instructions are very simple but until you test the instructions, you will not see that the results are correct or not. The machine operates the way it should operate and after following these instructions, you may not be sure that your instructions are correct or not. Generally, when you are writing instructions, you are describing a procedure that you know very well. You know a procedure very well and that is why you are writing and your objective is to tell your reader that this work can be done in the simplest and easiest way and you tell them in such a clear and direct way that they are not getting any confusion. It is very simple to say that you are an expert and you have to tell how to do that work. But actually, instructions present a considerable challenge to the writer because when you actually get down to writing instructions, you will find that it is often difficult to find the words that will tell your readers what to do in a way that will be quick and clear to understand. Because we know one thing very well but it is not necessary and we have to find the words clearly and directly and simply and also quickly so that the readers are not wasting time in understanding what you need to say. Also, because you know the procedure so well, it may be very easy for you to miss out some crucial information when you are writing instructions because you do not realize that it is important for the audience to know it because you just take it for granted that the reader will know what needs to be done because you know it so well and the reader might not know it. So, you need to be careful that you are not making any slips because the consequences of even relatively small slips in writing even only a few directions in a set of instructions is very great because you might feel that this thing is not very important to spell out or you might not realize that it's important to spell out but if the reader misses out even a single step in the instructions then they will not be able to operate the product successfully. Every step contributes to the successful completion of the task and the difficulties that the readers will have with any step can prevent them from completing the task in a satisfactory manner. So therefore all steps have to be clear all steps have to be spelled out even if the readers eventually figure out how to perform all the steps their initial confusion with one or two steps can greatly increase the time it takes for them to complete the procedure. All steps have to be clear so that there is no confusion with even one or two steps as far as the readers are concerned. Furthermore in steps that are potentially dangerous one little mistake can create tremendous problems. So again if you feel that there are some parts of the instructions, some steps that need to be taken that might be dangerous then you need to be very careful in how those instructions are given and you need to warn readers in advance of what not to do. You will be telling them what to do but you also need to tell them what to avoid. So it is absolutely necessary to determine if your instructions will work with your intended audience or not. So it is absolutely essential for you to know if your instructions will work with your audience or not and to do that to give draft of your instructions to people who are a representative sample of your audience. Do a test run of your instructions to make sure that they are actually easily understood and the information can be easily managed by the type of people who will comprise of your audience. Have your test readers work in a situation that closely resembles or as closely as possible the situation in which your readers will work. Gather information without interfering with the reader's activity. Because once you have tested the instructions and if you feel or if the feedback you get from the representatives of the audience is that there need to be any changes then it is better to make those changes at a stage where the instructions have not gone out to all the readers rather than publishing the instructions and then getting feedback from readers saying we couldn't operate the product or whatever it was that the instructions come in need because the instructions weren't clear to follow. So it is always better to pre-test what you are writing and then make the necessary changes before giving out the final version. We look at a conventional super structure for instructions. There are key elements in instructions, there is an introduction there is the description of the equipment if the instructions are for running a piece of equipment there is the theory of operations and lists of materials and equipment all that is accompanying the instructions and a guide for troubleshooting. The simplest instructions contain only directions most complex instructions contain some or all of the five elements that we talked about. The selection depends upon the aims of the writer and the needs of the readers most instructions also contain elements found in longer communications such as reports and proposals and amongst these are things like a cover a title page, table of contents appendices list of references, glossary list of symbols, index etc. These are things which can be found in longer instructions and because these elements are not particular to instructions we will not discuss them here in this lecture we have discussed parts of these in lectures earlier lectures on reports etc. So if you are writing long instructions where any of these elements need to be taken in account then you can refer to that but generally for short instructions you will not have these additional elements. Let us have a look at the introduction of instructions as we discussed earlier some instructions contain only directions and no introduction often however readers find an introduction to be helpful or even necessary in the following example you will see how to apply that general advice when you are writing instructions. In the conventional superstructure for instructions introductions tell some or all of the following things they talk about the subject the aim the intended reader they tell you a bit about the scope organization usage they tell you about the motivation and the background in which the instructions were written. Let us have a look at some of these elements of an introduction the subject writers usually announce the subject of the instructions in the first sentence we are going to have a look at a first sentence from the operating manual of a 10 ton machine used at the ends of assembly lines that make automobiles and truck tires this subject line says this sentence says this manual tells you how to operate the tire uniformity optimizer here is the second sentence from the owner's manual for a small light weight personal computer this one says this manual introduces you to the apple macintosh computer as you can see these sentences announcing the subject can somewhere at the very beginning of the introduction generally the first or the second sentence these sentences are intentionally kept simple for the sake of understanding coming to the next element the aim from the beginning readers want to know the answer to the question what can we achieve by doing the things this communication or these instructions instruct us to do with some instructions that you write the purpose or outcome of the procedure described will be obvious for example most people who buy computers know many of the things which computers can do and for this reason a statement about what computers can do would be unnecessary in the macintosh instructions which in fact contain no reasons however other instructions do have to answer readers questions about the aim of instructions in operating instructions for pieces of equipment for example readers, writers often answer the readers questions about what the procedure will achieve by telling the capabilities of the equipment a lot of the times readers don't know what the equipment is capable of or what the equipment can achieve and consequently what the instructions achieve for the reader so the writers then do this by telling the readers about the capabilities of the equipment basically which means if you follow these instructions this is what the equipment will be able to do depending upon your options and your machine for example if you're writing the manual for optimizer tires it may do one or all of the following jobs you may test your machine may test tires it may find irregularities in tires it may grind to correct the irregularities if possible it may grade tires it may mark tires according to grade or sort tires by grade so if that's what your machine does then these are the different things that it can do and these would be the aims that would be achieved by following the instructions of that particular machine so therefore it's important that if it's a piece of machinery or if it's a product with which readers might not be very familiar then it's important that the aims are actually set out in terms of a list of things that that machine can actually do now coming to the intended readers who will be targeted in the instructions and there will be some form of reference to them in the introduction many readers will ask themselves are these instructions written for us or for people who differ from us in interests, responsibilities, level of knowledge and so on many times this would happen with you that you would have picked up an instruction booklet and you would have thought that this instruction booklet is for me because I only have to use the television or for those who want to correct the television so what is the level of knowledge that is required by the readers that is something that's important so it's important that the intended readers are obvious to whoever is reading the instructions often a lot of the times readers will know the answer to that question without being told explicitly and how will they know the answer when they see the instruction booklet they will be able to understand whether it is for them or for someone else if the readers are technical experts they will be able to understand the basics how to operate the technical experts will be able to understand that the instruction manual is not written for us it is written for users but if it is detailed of the television then it would be obvious that the manual has been written for the technical experts and not for the layman users people for example who pick up computer manuals often wonder whether the manual will assume that they know more or less about computers then they actually do in such situations it is most appropriate for you to answer the question you don't need to know anything about the Macintosh or any other computer in order to understand these instructions if you write a sentence in between then the readers will be able to understand that we can also sell these instructions and it will increase their confidence also in reading those instructions now coming to scope information about the scope of the instructions answers the readers questions what kinds of things will we learn to do by reading these instructions and what things won't we learn because of these instructions we will not learn for example the writers of a tie uniformity manual would answer that question in their third or fourth sentence the writers of the Macintosh manual answer the same question in this way they say this manual tells you how to and then the list they say use the mouse and keyboard to control your Macintosh chapter one get started make your own work make changes to it and save it chapter one now whatever the scope of the manual is covering they write it in a list form and they also tell you where they will get these things a table of context is also included now the organization the scope also refers directly to the organization where things will be found and they will be set apart in the instructions manual by describing the organization of the instructions writers answer the readers question how is the information given here put together your readers may want to know the answer so that they can look for specific pieces of information they don't need to read a complete instruction booklet they may need specific information so when they find out how you have organized it the information don't suck in here the readers may want to know about the overall organization simply because they can then understand the instructions more rapidly and thoroughly then they could without the instructions the writers of the Macintosh manual announce its organization at the same time as they tell the manual's scope what about usage usage is also something that will be addressed in the introduction as they begin to use the set of instructions readers will often ask themselves how can we get the information we need as quickly as possible sometimes the obvious answer is to simply follow the instructions from beginning to end or to look for a certain type of certain set of steps and then follow them generally if you have a question about how we get the information do you want to read the entire booklet and get the information or if you need specific information you can find it in the manual and then follow those instructions for example if you have a television manual and you know how to operate it how to volume it how to use it etc but you don't know exactly how to save the channels then you just go to that section and learn how to save your channel the manual for the tyre uniformity optimizer is used in just such a straightforward way so it contains the special advice about how the readers should use it a lot of the times manuals have instructions on how to use the manual as well and that is what we are referring to here another important thing is motivation as pointed out before with the work of using a set of instructions they are often tempted to toss out the instructions and try to use the job try to do the job by using common sense you can do several things to persuade your readers not to ignore your instructions for instance you can use an inviting and supportive tone and an attractive appearance such as used in the Macintosh manual you can tell the user directly why it is important for him or her to read the manual and follow the instructions in the examples that we are going to look at we describe two kinds of statements that writers provide to motivate readers to read from the operating instructions of typewriters we have taken an example for you which says to take advantage of the automatic features of the IBM 60 you need to take time to do the training in this manual the other example is from the operating instructions of an office photocopy machine and it says please read the manual thoroughly to ensure correct operation now as you saw both of these sentences are very direct and they are actually urging the reader to read the instructions so that they can actually perform their task better coming to the background the last thing that will be addressed in the introduction the particular pieces of background information that your readers need vary from one instruction to the next there are two kinds of background information which are important a description of the equipment and explanation of the theory of operations so in your introduction you will have both of these or at least you will have some kind of reference to both of these now this is the introduction these were different elements that are addressed in the introduction now coming to directions after the introduction you will give directions on how to do things you will present the steps in a list in your list you will give one set at a time for example if you say 14 step 14 drain the canister and then within that you will give specific steps for doing that release the latch that locks the canisters drain cap unscrew the cap as you have seen in this example any step if there are sub steps they are also given in the list form and you will also use headings and titles to indicate the overall structure of the task you give the headings and titles to number the steps so that it is easy for the readers to follow the steps and what they have to do ahead you will use the active voice and the imperative mode for example you will write set the dial to 7 this is much simpler than saying the operator then sets the dial to 7 you are giving instructions so your imperative mode will be as you are ordering in that if you have any please no need to say nice things and no need to use passive voice you will also use illustrations to show where things are how to perform the steps and what the results should be you also need to make sure that you place warnings where readers will see them before they actually perform the steps to which these warnings apply if you are going to warn the readers of something that they should not do something they should take care then it obviously makes sense to let them know of that of whatever hazard a certain act can result in before they are actually going to do that step also where alternative steps may be taken help your readers quickly find the one way that they want if one thing can happen then don't confuse your readers don't confuse them look at all the options and directly guide them which option is better for them you also need to provide enough detail to your readers to do everything that they must do so by keeping all these points in mind you can write very effective and very attractive instructions in this lecture we have talked about the different varieties of instructions we have looked at the important points to remember attitudes visuals and testing we have looked at a conventional superstructure for instructions where we looked at the different elements of introduction which included the subject aim, intended readers scope, organization usage, motivation and background we looked at how to describe the equipment if need be the theory of operation and also we talked about the fact that you needed to include lists of materials and equipment if necessary we also looked at how to write the directions I told you that it was important to write the directions in the all the steps as a list in your list you need to give one step per entry you need to use headings and titles to indicate the overall organization structure of the task and you need to use the active voice and the imperative mode of instructions we talked of the role of illustrations and the importance of those we talked about the fact that you need to place warnings where readers will see them before performing the tasks to which those warnings apply we also said that you need to tell your readers what to do in case of an unexpected result or a mistake how they can take alternative steps or if they are alternative steps that can be taken help your readers quickly find the one step that they want you also need to provide enough detail for your readers to do everything that they must do no detail should be skipped and the work of the readers will be damaged with this we come to the end of this lecture on instructions if you have any queries please feel free to contact us until next time, Allah Hafiz