Writing Labs
Writing Step-By-Step Procedures
There are three parts to writing effective step-by-step procedures: the Step, the Student Steps and the Steps Result.
The Step
The Step tells learners exactly what they are to do. In my books, steps typically aren’t longer than one sentence. For instance, a step to create a new folder in Windows 98 and give it a name would look like this:
- Create and rename a new folder on the desktop.
The Student Steps
The Student Steps are the exact steps necessary for the student to complete the step. This could be a few lines or several. The key here is to take your time. Add as many steps as you need to make sure the learner is successful. The Student Steps to create a new folder and rename it would look like this:
The Step Result
I’ll add a Step Result after any step when I think the result is important. For instance, learners may not know that right-clicking the desktop will show a shortcut menu. The Step Result is the perfect place to show this. I took the same Student Steps from above and added some Step Results.
A shortcut menu appears.
Your new folder appears on the desktop. By default, new folders have the name “New Folder.”
Here’s how the completed exercise could appear in a step-by-step book:
Student Activity: Create and Rename a Folder
- Create and rename a new folder on the desktop.
A shortcut menu appears.
Your new folder appears on the desktop. By default, new folders have the name “New Folder.”
There are a couple of things worth noting in the example above. The text is short and concise. There’s not much chance that a learner is going to get lost. Second, notice the use of the bold style. I typically bold-face anything the learner needs to type or anything that is important.
Challenge Exercise
Print this page. Then see if you can write the Steps, Student Steps and Step Results for the following procedure.
Hey techno dude... we need to show our employees how to center a paragraph and add spacing above and below paragraphs. Our corporate style for paragraph spacing is 12 points. Here’s the stuff you need to tell them: First of all, make sure they select the paragraph. Can’t do nuttin to a paragraph if it’s not selected. Duuuh!!! I still think the easiest way to select a paragraph is to triple-click it. But you can tell them any way you like.
Then they need to go to the Format menu and select the Paragraph command. (Which will, of course, show the Paragraph attributes dialog box.) There are three tabs. Make sure that the Indents and Spacing tab is in front. (They can click it to make it come in front.). They’ll see an Alignment area... select Centered. They’ll also see a Spacing Before and Spacing After command. Have them type 12 points into both the Spacing Before and the Spacing After areas. When they are done, they can click OK.
Possible Solution
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