To: Nancy Myers

From: Ricky Johnson

Date: May 7, 2020
Subject: APLED 121-Chapter 8 summary
______________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 8 summary
Why write instructions? – include instructions when your audience needs to know how
to do anything with your product.

Criteria for writing instructions.

 Audience recognition – make sure that any reader no matter what level of
knowledge will be to understand what your instructions are telling them to do.
 Ethical instructions – clearly and correctly citing your sources of information will
help you avoid plagiarism.
 Components of instructions – not all instructions contain the same components.
Some simple instructions will just have a few numbered steps but others will
have a lot more components.
 Title page – preface your instructions with a title page consists of the topic about
which you are writing, the purpose of the instructions and a graphic depicting
your product.
 Safety requirements – use warnings to make your reader aware of any hazards
before preforming a step.
 Table of contents – use a table of contents so that your reader can find anything
they need to know easily on an as-needed basis.
 Introduction – make instructions reader friendly and involve your audience to
make your customers have a better experience with your product.
 Glossary – use a glossary, define your abbreviations, acronyms, or technical
terms.
 Required tools or equipment – make sure to let your reader know what they will
need to preform a step.
 Instructional steps – organize the steps chronologically.
 Additional components – your instructions might include additional components
such as technical descriptions, warranties, accessories, frequently asked
questions, and corporate contact information.
  Graphics – use graphics to clarify your instructions.

Collaboration to create user manuals. – collaboration is essential for team members

who write user manuals.

Instructional videos. – use videos to depict your instructions graphicly.

Standard operating procedure.

 Reasons for writing an SOP? – it ensures accurate job performance and

consistent quality and integrity of the end product.
 Components of SOPs – it contains many of the same components as before but it
has several that are different.

Test for usability. – make sure the instructions are usable and will help the reader
complete the task.

Sample instructions. – sample the instructions.

The writing processes.

 Prewriting – gather data to prepare.

 Writing – write a rough draft.
 Rewriting – revise your rough draft.