Overview
INSTRUCTIONS
Analyzing Your Audience and Readership (See Chapters 4 & 6)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Instruction topic's website (i.e. the Twitter website)
- Websites that talk about the instruction topic
- Newspaper, magazine, or online articles about the instruction topic
- Social media posts about the topic or written by prominent members of the topic's audience
- Google Scholar
- CMCC Library
INSTRUCTIONS
Directions: Audience Analysis and Readership Report
To complete this assignment, you must do the following:
Step 1 (40 Points)
- Select your instructions topic. Pick something that interests you! Over the years, I've seen students submit recipes, card games, oil changes, video game tutorials, and countless other topics. Anything can work, but think about scope: ultimately, your instructions should be between about 800 - 1,500 words (this word count is for the actual instructions, not your brainstorming submission).
- Select your audience. Your audience should be very specific--not simply World of Warcraft (WOW) players but inexperienced senior citizens who hope to play WOW. Thus, your audience should have at least three parts, such as experience level + age + goal.
- Conduct research about your audience and identify 5 sources. You might read about your audience in popular or scholarly articles; find information about them on social media; and/or interview one or more potential audience members. You could also look at the CMCC Library links to learn about regional demographics, businesses, and more.
- Everyone must answer the first question. After that, pick at least three (3) additional questions to answer below placing the question above your response. Answer the ones that most appeal to you.
- What is the topic and goal of your instructions?
- Who is the audience of your instructions?
- What do you want your audience to be able to do after reading the instructions or procedures?
- What situation led to you creating these instructions for this specific audience? For example, if there are existing instructions, why do the original instructions need revision?
- What might your audience already know about the topic of the instructions?
- What is the audience's educational background and how might that affect their ability to follow your instructions?
- What is the audience's professional background how might that affect their ability to follow your instructions?
- What is the audience's personal preferences and characteristics and how might that affect their ability to follow your instructions?
- What is your audience's attitude toward the subject of your instructions?
- What expectations might your audience have for your instructions? What might they need in terms of level of detail, vocabulary, graphics, and overall design?
- In what physical environment and on what digital platforms might your audience read your instructions?
- How might you divide your instructions? How many levels of headings might you use?
- Submit your assignment as a Google Doc (ensure that I have access to your submission), Word Doc, or PDF.
Professor K. Tip
Having trouble brainstorming a topic? No worries. I'm here to help. Before you reach out to me, see if you can come up with 3 - 5 topics on your own. After you do, rank them from most to least important (i.e., your personal experience level with each). Ultimately, think about your relationship with this topic. Is it something that you could teach? If it is, you're good to go.
Step 2 (10 Possible Points)
Write two reply posts (appx. 200-300 words). In your reply posts, you should engage with two (2) classmates' topics and address the following:
- What you as a reader would want to know about their topic before attempting to follow their instructions.
- Some issues you might encounter trying to perform the task they're describing. Are you familiar with the process? If not, where might you get confused?
For this assignment, your reply posts will come via a first come, first served basis. Before you respond to someone's concept, please check to see if someone doesn't have any reply posts. If they don't, give them some feedback. If someone already has two responses, find a peer who doesn't.
Topics to Avoid/Reconsider: Keeping Your Scope Reasonable
INSTRUCTIONS
Building a Computer: I've seem this one pop up from time-to-time. Think of all the parts that go into a computer's construction. Also, consider the make and model of the computer. Additionally, consider that you'd have to find a way to explain how the user will obtain all of these parts. Bottom line, this topic is way too broad. If you are going to do something related to computer hardware, my advice would be to focus on just one part on a specific brand/model.
INSTRUCTIONS
Driving: Like above, there are a lot of variables at play. While it is generally true that driving cars requires similar skills, consider variables. For example, are buttons and objects uniform in all cars? However, there are some loopholes here. For example, suppose you're interested in teaching someone about driving a vehicle with manual transmission. How would you create steps for that?
Creating a Five-Course Meal: The ambition and enthusiasm would certainly be on full display here. However, that's way too many steps. Instead, if you are going to go the culinary route, focus on one specific meal.