Document Development Exposition: Instructions and Usability Test Script

Explain in detail your document’s development from planning to finish, describing your
challenges, how you overcame them, and what you learned.

Planning
I began the planning process by selecting a topic I was knowledgeable about and would have a level
of complexity appropriate for the assignment. Eventually I settled on the topic “how to set up a
Minecraft server”. After having the topic selected, I filled out the Assignment Prep document and
figured out the audiences, and style of the instructions. The main formatting decision was to make
the header and title text green to match the theme of Minecraft.

First Draft (for peer editing)

For the first draft I simply wrote out the process for setting up the Minecraft server in a numbered
step-by-step list. Later I added a few images to give a visual indication of what certain steps should
look like. Finally, I formatted the document’s style according to the Assignment Prep document I
filled out previously. The main challenge with this document was making the steps both clear and
concise, and avoiding too much jargon that would alienate the target audience.

Second Draft (for your packet)

The main feedback I received from the peer review group was related to increasing readability. This
included changing the shade of green to a darker shade, increasing the size of certain photos, and
changing the font type to one more easily readable on computer screens.

Final Draft (for your portfolio)

The final draft was substantially changed according to the feedback I received. This included adding
an overview section, changing the wording of the numbered steps, and reformatting the “common
issues” section as well as changing the header to “Troubleshooting”. The most challenging of those
was re-wording the numbered instructions so each step begins with a “command”. This was achieved
mainly by removing unnecessary padding and rewording the first sentence of each step.