Part 1 of Week Eight Instructions: Designing Your Instructions

• Time Required
• 7–8 hours, including reading time

This module asks you to finish composing the instructions that you (or someone else) will use to conduct primary research for your recommendation report. You will grade your own work by comparing your project to the criteria listed in the checklist.

Just like last week, you are ultimately working on two projects this week. You will summarize your instructions process in the Methods section of your recommendation report and you will include your instructions in an appendix to the report.

Watch for additional tips on composing instructions in the “Canvas Announcements & Course Advice” on the Course Home. The posts also show up in the Twitter feed for @HokieTengrrl Links to an external site.. If you read them and watch the related videos, be sure to note the time in your Weekly Work Log.

Be sure to claim points for the optional readings during the month of February by completing the self-assessment linked in the “To Track” section below.

New Resource: Join the class Slack Links to an external site. if you want to meet with classmates or ask Traci a question. If Traci is online, she’ll be in our Slack. Visit the Slack Help Center Links to an external site. if you need documentation.

 

Objectives for this Week

By completing this week’s activities, you address the following course objectives:

• Analyze the rhetorical situation and determine the appropriate audience or users of written communication, considering the needs of global audiences and people with disabilities. [CLO 1]
• Conduct research appropriate to workplace problem solving, such as literature review, evaluation of online resources, interview, and site inspection. [CLO 2]
• Interpret research findings with understanding of ethical and human implications. [CLO 3]
• Use conventions of various workplace genres, such as proposals, instructions, correspondence, reports, and slide decks, with understanding of how the genre conventions can be used as heuristics and as principles of arrangement. [CLO 4]
• Collaborate with classmates in planning, researching, writing, revising, and presenting information. [CLO 5]
• Apply principles of effective visual design for print and electronic presentation, including hierarchical, chronological, and spatial arrangements. [CLO 6]
• Identify and apply the principles of effective style in the composing of usable, reader-centered written communications. [CLO 7]

 

Activities for this Week

📚 To Read This Week

• Review as needed: Markel & Selber, Chapter 20: “Writing Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions,” pp. 555–579
• Instructions Project Criteria (webpage)
• !Important! Weekly Work Log Guidelines (webpage)—The process for work logs changes this week. Read the guidelines for the new instructions.
• Details on the Optional Activities that you can complete if you are working to earn a grade higher than a B:
  • Optional Activities Overview
  • Optional Reading Activities Instructions

📝 To Write This Week

• Finish work on your Instructions Project.
• Complete the Instructions Project Checklist. You have an unlimited number of times to complete the checklist.
• Remember to submit your Instructions Project in Part 2 of the Week Eight module, once you earn full credit on the Checklist.

💬 To Discuss This Week

• Follow the instructions in the What Do You Need? Feedback Discussion to share what you have written with your group.
• As a group, work to ensure that every person in the group gets at least two responses.

📓 To Track This Week

• Track and reflect on the work you have done for the week in your Work Log for the Week of 03/08, reviewing the Weekly Work Log Guidelines as needed.
• Complete the Week of 03/08 Self-Assessment to claim the points for the work you have done this week. You have an unlimited number of times to complete the self-assessment. Your points will be recorded automatically when you submit your quiz.
• Claim points for the optional readings during the month of February by completing the Self-Assessment of Optional Reading Activities for February.

 

Photo credit: Tie-dye instructions by Kelly on Flickr Links to an external site., used under a CC-BY-SA 2.0 license.