Hi this is Professor Lipuma of the New Jersey Institute of Technology making a recording for my Technical Communications class.
With material drawn from my text Fundamentals of Undergraduate Education and Learning.
What we're discuss today is something that is important to technical communications as one of the major tasks done in many people's classes
And if you're technical commuter and your actual work is the idea of writing descriptions, directions, and instructions.
The idea here is to clarify what we mean by these different things, and in the end we'll actually look at a specific kind of this topic.
So the first thing you want to think about is that, behind this is this idea of guidelines and rules.
And for us, there's a continuum between guidelines and rules, such that guidelines are suggestions
about what will make your package fit in with the target and situation, and look at it.
And hopefully your target will give you some guidelines to follow.
On the far extreme of this is this idea of rules, which are things that must be followed
And if you don't follow them, if you break the rules there are consequences.
So if your target gives you a set of guidelines and rules, what you have to determine is
are they things that should be done, such that there's setting a general area fit in, which makes them more guidelines.
Or are these absolute things that if you violate them, your package will be thrown away.
A great example of this is that one page resume. Now for some people that's a guideline.
And if they have enough information, they'll go on to two pages. For other people it's a rule.
If your resume is more than one page, they throw it away.
So it's important for you to figure out in the situation that you're in, with your target, are the things they're telling you guidelines or rules
Now, one of the reasons we bring this up is that, we're going to start talking about some specific terms
that many people confuse and so, as you read them you're not sure whether they're guidelines or rules.
The first thing we want to think about is this idea of directions. And as we think about directions
we often come up with this idea of instructions.
And directions and instructions seem similar. And then lastly, we have this concept of descriptions.
And directions and instructions, and descriptions all seem to be similar as to many of the other words we talked about.
And so, what we want to do in this presentation is really look at what is the difference between them.
And focus in this idea of descriptions to understand the different kinds of descriptions that we're going to be using. And see why they're important.
So, let's first talk about what is a direction versus an instruction. For us
Directions explain how to get somewhere, and that is meant to be as a path to follow toward a goal or doing something.
Most of the people today are familiar with getting directions to the store
Or directions to a place, going onto MapQuest. Or even using a GPS system, which will give you direction somewhere.
On the other hand, we have this idea of instructions, which explains how to do something.
Now, unfortunately for us, this idea of instructions also often gets tied to teaching.
Because a person who teaches is an instructor. They're telling you what to do
and how to do it to end up at a particular product or end.
And so a lot of times these two words are used interchangeably. Someone gives you directions and give you instructions.
Every time you listen to your GPS system, giving you a set of directions to a place, they're actually giving you a instruction on how to get there.
And so, for us, it's very difficult to understand the distinction here. What we really want to see is that it doesn't matter
What you call it, in both of these cases what you're thinking about is that, there are steps to follow in a process
And those steps contain this idea of a description of the situation, or characteristics, as well as a description of the process.
The way those individual pieces fit together. And that's what we really have to think about
Because when you're developing a package for your target, and you're telling them that you want them
To follow a set of sequenced items, those steps ,sequenced items, are what they going to have to understand and get a picture of in their mind.
And so to do that, technical writers have really come up with three different kinds of things.
There are technical definitions, there are mechanical descriptions, and then there are process descriptions.
And for us, a technical definition gives a clear explanation of a specified thing in a highly specialized way.
And this technical definition gives a usually a long list of parameters, such that it is very narrowly defined
And clarified so that you see the very clear understanding of the situation in which this item is, what goes into making it and how it fits together.
Now that's a little different than a mechanical description, which is a specialized type of this in which the ideas that
You have some sort of mechanism, some sort of inter working thing in which you are describing the physical characteristics of that thing
as well as how those physical pieces connect.
The most broad sense for these two pieces coming together is the idea of a processe description. And for us
Every time you engage in moving something from one place to another, the act of doing is a process.
Even the act of communication, when we went back to talk about the various aspects of that piece in the transfer model
We were really given a process description. And what we mean by this is that we're telling you in the idea
not only the individual pieces and what they look like it and their characteristics, or description of them.
But we're also talking about the idea of how those pieces fit together and move from one place to another.
Now, as we create a process description, there are various parts that we want to think about to make a good process description.
Now for us, there are three parts we're going to think about in process description.
There's the introduction section, there's the actual set of instructions to follow, and then finally the results.
Now, the reason these parts are important is that the introduction section, sets all the parameters to identify the situation in which
you find yourself, along with a clear description of what is and is not included in this process.
Going back to definitions, a clearly defined process lets us know what this process description can be used for.
For example if you want to print something, and you go onto Microsoft Word to see how to print, that is for using the software.
But if you're really thinking about, how to make your printer work, meaning how to connect to your computer
A process description about printing in Microsoft Word, doesn't work. And so this is why we need an introduction.
Many times because of the situation in which the instructions are couched, you don't need as much of an introduction.
For example, if I'm in Microsoft Word, and I use Microsoft Word Help to find out how to print
It already assumes I'm in the program, I have it working, I have something I want to print, and so it's much easier to jump right to step two.
Let's go in and look at each one of these a little more closely. So first of all
For introduction there are several different parts that may be included depending on your situation.
So, the first thing that all processes descriptions have is an overview.
And that overview clearly lays out what the description is about, what is and is not included, and if possible
gives some specific models, process, program software, and things like that, that this is designed for.
Many times this is given in an introduction to a user's manual and then sub-processes are listed out
Afterward assuming you as the reader, will go back to that original overview, if you need it.
Now, the next thing that we want to talk about are a series of things that may or may not be included.
After the overview, a lot of times there are assumptions made and these assumptions are
things made by the process description writer about the target and the situation
Because without these kinds of assumptions, the process description will be too complex and too difficult to do.
And so, as we talk about process description, this idea of assumptions becomes very important to narrow
the field and as you put them, many times the first paragraph of the overview is this idea of describing what is done.
The second paragraph immediately becomes a list of assumptions many times what they set of a bullet list of what we're talking about.
Now some people will immediately jump to the requirement section, but in other cases especially if you have something
Which comes with many parts or if you ever assembled something from IKEA or Target or a place like that, they give you a list of parts.
Those things that must be included because without the parts list, without the tools, without the items to put together, nothing else matters.
The difference between parts lists and requirements, is often seen that a parts list talks about what was included as pieces delivered to you.
Requirements often talk about skills or pre-existing conditions you need to have.
Most software programs list a set of system requirements that you need to have for your computer to run.
A certain amount of RAM, a certain amount of hard drive space, a certain version of software, a certain operating system, those aren't really parts, those are requirements.
Last but not least there are warnings. Many times these warnings are done to help the target.
Do not clip the red wire or the bomb will go off. Other times these are legal materials put in so that it protects the company giving you this process.
For example, if you break the seal on this, if you open up the case of the computer, your warranty is voided.
And so those warnings are put in to cover the person who actually is creating the process description. And other times it's to warn you.
The last side of warnings, which is very interesting comes out of cases filed against the company.
People follow the process description and made a mistake.
As a result they had to go back and put in the warning. I think one of the funniest warnings is if
You look on a jar of peanuts, in many cases there will now be a warning that says "may contain peanuts".
Sometimes warnings seem absurd to you, but they have a reason for being there.
Now, the next step we want to talk about is the actual set of instructions.
Now, for us, the instructions can have steps and subroutines.
Now, let's start with the idea of a step. A step is an intellectual piece that you identify as having a beginning
Which usually want to give a description of initial conditions, this is what you'll see when you start.
And then, an action, meaning that the person must do something, and usually you have to describe what to do and how to do it
And if there's associated skills, you have to give that if they have to use pieces from the parts lists.
Hopefully your parts list is labeled with numbers or letters, or figures so that they can see it and put it together.
And then what comes out of that step. If you've done this step correctly, then this will happen and then that will happen.
The idea here is that each step is actually a small subroutine, a small sub-process. But
When we talk about sub-process here, sometimes there are certain steps that are repetitive.
Insert screw, add nut, tighten. Instead of saying that every time, you'll just say fasten letter A to part B, and tighten
And so you give them some subroutine to go check to understand how to do it.
The idea here is that, in complex processes if you don't separate out redundant tasks or complex areas, your process becomes too large.
One other thing we have to be careful is that many times, words and pictures go hand in hand.
But people don't just read or don't just look at the picture. They do both.
That's what you want them to do. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen.
Many times, people will simply look at the picture, try to put things together and come out with something that's good.
And then they'll only go back to the words when they do it. Other people don't like getting material from pictures.
They can't understand 3D situations or 2D representation of a 3D world, so they have to read the steps through.
You cannot be guaranteed that someone will read the entire process and then go back, and even if you tell them to do that.
And so, it is your job in a process description to do your best to make it as clear and simple, a beginning, middle, and end.
Initial condition, action, and result for each step so that if the person does make a mistake, they can go back and see where that was.
So now the last part of this, is at the end, you have to give results.
Even though we've been saying that after each step there's a subroutine result, there should be a larger end result.
And so, what you really want to talk about is that there is some final picture of the item somewhere to see.
One good thing with computer programs is usually a window pops up and it says "you've been successful".
If it isn't successful, then you have to give them some way to get help or some suggestion for troubleshooting.
In some cases the computer or the process will tell you.
If this happens, then try this. In other cases troubleshooting has to be done with a live person.
And so besides the picture of the result, you want to make sure your that your process description gives them some avenue for assistance.
In the modern world, most people say "check online for help", "contact our online help desk", "call our online help number for troubleshooting". Which may be enough.
But the more you can do to make this tight, the more you can consider your target and their situation and what will help them do it
The better your process description will be and the more successful you'll be at accomplishing your goal of describing the process successfully. Thank you.