Writing Instructions People Can Replicate

Writing Instructions People Can Replicate by Theresa Happe

Back in a freshman English class, our class was assigned a project in which we had to write a how-to article and then demonstrate in front of the class. The professor read our prepared instructions aloud and we demonstrated each step as he read. Going through this process, I realized how the little details left out make all the difference between someone reading the how-to article being able to complete the task as intended or not. Some instructions truly require a visual and are quite difficult to describe. When you truly want to create a quality how-to article on your website, you can’t leave out those details if you want your readers to trust your information.

If You Can’t Say It, Show It

Videos are by far the best way to demonstrate, but you can still effectively explain a process with photos. If the how-to involves creating something, writing each step as you do it will ensure you don’t leave anything out. You can even test out your instructions on someone else the same way we did in our English class. You might discover that a minute detail you assumed others would know is something your test subject brings up.

Take photos of all the steps. If you can’t take them yourself because you need both hands to show the actions involved, get a friend to help. Sometimes even photos don’t tell the whole story. If photo A has an object in one position and photo B has the object in another, you might need to demonstrate what you did to the object in the first position to get it to the second position. Let’s say the action is folding and you want to show the direction of the folding, you can draw a picture and show the direction of the fold with arrows, scan it and save it as an image or use a photo editing program to place arrows directly in the photo.

Steps and Organization

Be sure to accurately list all the materials used for your demonstration. You can group them all together and take a photo of them.
If some part of your demonstration needs to be done in advance, be sure to let the reader know. If drying time or some other factor is involved, make note of it.

Break each main step down into individual steps with numbers, bullets, letters, etc.

Make sure your photos clearly show the step demonstrated. If the shot is too far away or the image is blurry, the reader will completely miss what you are trying to convey.

Shrink your image files down to web friendly file sizes so if you have many photos on the page, a long load time won’t discourage the reader.
Be original. There are plenty of how-tos on the internet. Why should someone read yours? It might be the care of the detailed description; it might be a different way or a faster way than others do it.

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