Manual Writing with Stylewriter Software

It’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it.  Nowhere is this more true than when writing instruction manuals.  The key to writing good manuals is clarity.

Good manuals rely on:

• clear, easy-to-understand writing style;
• clear, logical and well-ordered organisation; and
• clear and attractive presentation.

When writing a manual, test it out on people who are not experts or familiar with the subject.  Edit what you have written to make your meaning clear.

When you select Manual as your writing task, StyleWriter adjusts its statistical measures as follows:

	Style Index	Average Sentance	Passive Index	Long Sentance Limit
Excellent Range	0-15	10-18	0-15	30

Writing Style

Your manual should be easy to understand – you should never make your readers dig for information.  As well as writing in plain English, you should follow several simple principles:

• Write in the imperative mood:

Pull the wire back.

Type your password.

• Use active verbs.
• Use “you” and “your” as much as possible.
• Keep your sentences short – ten-word to twenty-word sentences are about right.
• Use familiar, direct language and avoid jargon.
• Start sentences with instructional verbs:

press,  type,  adjust,  attach,  close,  install.

Organisation

When writing a manual, it is important that you order information in a logical and practical way.  The structure of a manual is crucial to its usefulness as most readers will want to skim the manual as well as read it chapter by chapter.  Give each section a short introduction explaining what it covers and encouraging the reader to follow the instructions.

See Organisation for more information.

As in all writing, a good introduction is vital to an effective manual.  As well as explaining what the manual covers and how it’s organised, your introduction should promote the product and motivate the reader to use the manual.  Remember that many people only read the bare minimum to get up and running with a product – so make the most of the introduction.

You don’t usually need a conclusion or concluding summary in a manual.  Appendices such as a glossary of terms, troubleshooting advice or detailed technical information are often a useful way of organising material.  Try to include a good index and table of contents to help readers find information easily.

Manuals contain many sets of instructions that readers have to carry out to the letter.  The way you write these instructions influences how easy they are to follow.

See Instructions for more information.

Presentation

Good presentation is important to let your readers find the relevant information quickly and easily.  Don’t make your readers read cramped and crowded lines. To improve your presentation:

• Leave plenty of white space.  This helps pages look attractive and uncluttered.
• Be generous with graphics.  Word descriptions and graphics often complement each other.  Words tell the user what action to perform; graphics show where and how to do it.
• Use simple numbering of points.
• Be consistent in the format and typefaces you use.

Plain English Writing Task Styles in Stylewriter

This entry was posted on June 13th, 2010 and is filed under Writing Task Styles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.