English 360: Technical & Professional Writing
Dr. Russel Hirst
Assignment #2: Set of Instructions

This assignment calls for 4 to 6 double-spaced pages and at least two graphics (diagrams, graphs, charts, etc.). Its object is to give you practice in carefully describing a technical process for the benefit of a particular class of readers with particular needs and particular levels of experience and education. You may choose to write a set of instructions for virtually any technical process (just no recipes, please).

The process you give instructions for need not be highly technical--it can be the process of changing a tire or of fly fishing, for example. But it can also be as technical as you can handle: a section of a computer software manual or a lab procedure, perhaps. Remember that it must be a set of instructions that an individual can carry out; I don't want a description of a natural process (how a volcano erupts) or of an industrial process (how steel is made).

In this assignment I am principally concerned that you do the following things:

• Adjust your content, structure, and style to the needs, experience, and understanding of the audience you posit.
• Use headings, bullets, boxes, white space, and type styles intelligently.
• Use warnings, cautions, and other notes effectively.
• Use graphics effectively, including callouts, labels, captions, figure numbers, etc.

I am concerned that you develop a sense for the rhetorical function of graphics. When should you use graphics? What is the effect of using various graphics? How do they interact with the text? What kind should you use? Where should you put them? How big should they be, how detailed?

A final note: this assignment is an important proving ground for your final assignment (the report).