Project 1: Contrasting Instructions Assignment

1. Audience Needs Section

Scenario 1: I’m a medical lab tech for a clinical laboratory that processes COVID-19 samples. I
have been asked to write the instructions for a standard operating procedure (SOP) that will
instruct employees in the sample processing department on how to clean their workstations.
Though the department is full of employees who have experience in the sciences, the COVID era
has ushered in the need for this mandatory set of instructions to limit the spread of the virus.
Since the sample processing department must have the patients’ samples at their desk in order to
process them for testing, these instructions are to be routinely conducted when leaving your
workstation. The audience’s level of experience with the sciences and technology will make this
SOP’s instructions easy to follow for them. The amount of step-by-step procedures that are
carefully conducted by the audience on a common basis means they are likely to not skip any
steps and will perform tasks exactly as written. Technical jargon, when needed, may be useful
because of the audience’s familiarity with such writing.

Scenario 2: I’m an office worker in the financial aid department at large university in the same
state as a COVID hotspot. The university has sent an email to returning staff over the Summer
asking what procedures they would like to see in place before returning to work. As someone
who has an immunocompromised child and has stayed well informed during the pandemic, I am
submitting a request for desk cleaning procedures to be put in place. I will be attaching a draft set
of instructions that is geared towards my coworkers to the university along with my request.
Since I have not kept in touch with my coworkers’ personal lives during our time working from
home, I do not know how well informed they are about sanitation during the pandemic. For this
reason, I will not use any technical jargon or language that may distract or confuse them.
Throughout the years, I’ve heard that some of my coworkers have experienced headaches due to
straining their eyes while reading documents, so I will be using a larger font to ensure they do
not have to strain when reading the instructions.
 2. Instructions
Scenario 1 Instructions:
Sanitizing Your Workstation After Sample Processing
The purpose of these instructions is to inform the sample processing department of the proper
procedures necessary for sanitizing your desks. These steps should be followed when arriving to
the workstation, during a reprieve in the workday, and prior to leaving for the night. Should these
steps be followed, there will be a mitigated risk of contagion and exposure to SARS-CoV-2
when working at these stations. Sanitation should take no longer than two minutes and requires
gloves and either Lysol wipes or kimtech wipes with 70% isopropyl alcohol on standby.
Caution: Do not attempt to clean the computer monitors. They will become damaged by
the cleaning agents used in these instructions.
1. Put on gloves, a lab coat, and eye protection. Ensure your mask is fitted neatly to your face.
2. Turn off all electronics that are to be sanitized.
3. Wipe down the face of the electronics that have been turned off with a dry kimtech wipe.
4. Take a new kimtech wipe and spray it twice with 70% isopropyl alcohol. This will be used to
wipe down your electronics.
Note: A wrung-out Lysol wipe may be used if no isopropyl alcohol is available.
5. Wipe the face side of your mouse with the soaked kimtech wipe for five seconds. Dispose of
the wipe in a biohazard waste bin afterwards.
6. Repeat step 3
7. Wipe the face side of your keyboard with the soaked kimtech wipe for 10 seconds. Dispose of
the wipe in a biohazard waste bin afterwards.
8. Repeat step 3 using two kimtech wipes.
9. Wipe down your tabletop area, along with any nearby areas your samples have rested on, with
the soaked kimtech wipes for 15 seconds. Dispose of the wipes in a biohazard waste bin
afterwards.
10. Wait four minutes before returning power to the devices you have sanitized.
11. Remove gloves after you have powered on the necessary devices and dispose of them in a
biohazard waste bin.
12. Remove all personal protective equipment and store in their proper areas.
13. Wash hands with soap and warm water for one minute before exiting the sample processing
room.
By following these instructions, this department can decrease the chances of spreading SARS-
CoV-2 both throughout the lab and in their personal lives. Preventing the spread of this pathogen
is key to you and your coworkers’ safety, successful lab operations, and providing our patients
with their viral test results in a timely manner. Failure to follow these steps poses a serious health
risk to the general public, so do follow these instructions thoroughly.
Scenario 2 Instructions:

How to Sanitize Your Desk during the Pandemic

The following instructions are for all faculty and office staff returning to
work at the university. The number of active COVID cases in our state is
still relatively high despite the university’s reopening, so it is important
that we all stay vigilant and clean our workspaces prior to and after
finishing our work. Though young and healthy people have a high
chance of recovering just fine from the virus, the risk of spreading the
infection to more vulnerable populations remains an extremely
important factor to consider. The only requirements for these
instructions are Lysol wipes, a small cleaning cloth, and two minutes of
your time.
Caution: Performing the following steps on a laptop, as opposed to a
desktop PC, may result in a damaged screen and/or device.

Note: It is best to use a microfiber cloth when following these steps. An

otherwise normal piece of clean cloth is acceptable as well.

1. Turn off and unplug any electronic devices you are cleaning.
2. Wipe down your computer monitor, keyboard, and mouse with a
cloth.
3. Open a container of Lysol wipes take only one wipe out.
4. Wring the single wipe over the open container so fluid does not seep
into the hardware you are cleaning.

5. Wipe you keyboard back and forth, horizontally, three times with the
wrung-out wipe.
6. Wipe your mouse with this same wipe. Dispose of this wipe in the
proper area after this step.
7. Repeat steps 3 and 4.
8. Wipe your tabletop area with this new wipe. Dispose of this wipe in
the proper area after this step.
9. Put the Lysol wipes away and allow devices to sit for four minutes
before returning power. You may leave them unplugged/unpowered
overnight if your department allows.
10. Wash your hands for one minute with soap and warm water.

Once you have finished washing your hands, you have done your part in
preventing the spread of coronavirus at your workplace. You are not
only protecting your fellow coworkers by following these instructions,
but you are protecting their loved ones and the students at our university.
Please repeat these steps before leaving each shift.
 When ensuring that I was tailoring the instructions to the audiences correctly, the first
scenario felt very natural to write. Since I am in my final year of studies in Cellular and
Molecular Biology, I have read through countless procedures throughout my time at UNH. I
chose to not use any pictures since procedures do not typically use pictures when the instructions
do not involve using or building an apparatus. My current workplace is in the very environment I
was describing, so I used jargon such as “kimtech wipes” and “SARS-CoV-2” because of the
level of familiarity that laboratory works have with these phrases. Writing out the whole name of
the virus as opposed to “coronavirus” is likely to establish a higher rapport between the writer
and scientists while also conveying a sense of importance to a reader within the lab. I only
bolded the title and cautionary note because these are areas I wished to draw the most attention
to from a reader in this line of work.

The second scenario was more difficult to write because I had to step into a completely
different set of shoes. I have worked in a lab processing COVID samples all Summer and have
studied in labs for years, so I have a great deal of background for this topic. Writing out
instructions while assuming your audience does not know how to take proper precautions was
more difficult than I had anticipated. Without thinking, you assume that people have common
sense or a similar know-how of relatively simple tasks, but writing good instructions forces you
to forgo these assumptions. In order to write the second scenario’s instructions, I placed myself
into my mother’s shoes because she works in a financial office setting for a large hospital. I
remember her coworkers being older and many having glasses, so I took this as inspiration for
increasing the font size, including pictures, and coloring the cautionary text.

I believe I effectively used the class readings by using what is, in my opinion, the most
important reading while I was writing the instructions for both scenarios. I was reading between
pages 562 and 568 in the Technical Writing textbook as I was working through this project. The
reading here helps with every step of the instructions portion of the project and especially helped
me with what content to include in the introductions for both scenarios. I mostly referred to the
readings themselves along with the text examples rather than the full instruction excerpts later on
in the reading. The text examples not only helped me determine the proper way to write a
statement in the imperative mood, but also with the amount of content I should have included in
each step.