Supplementary material
Appendix F — Instruction Set Rubric
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Title | 5 - Contains a clear, usable title (e.g., Instructions for Cleaning the Drive Head of your Laptop Computer) that informs users what to expect from the instructions; No mechanical errors 4 - Contains a clear, usable title that informs users what to expect from the instructions and contains 1 mechanical error 3 - Contains a title that identifies the subject but fails to forecast the instruction set (e.g., The Laptop Computer) or contains 2 mechanical errors 2 - Contains a general title that fails to identify the subject of the instruction set (e.g., Good Practices) or contains 3+ mechanical errors 1 - Contains no title |
| Introduction | 5 - Explains the purpose of the instructions unless it’s obvious (e.g., a coffee maker), identifies a specific audience (e.g., aircraft maintenance), and discusses the benefits of performing the instructed task; Uses clear language with a level of technicality appropriate for the defined audience; Includes a complete list of tools and materials or a description of the conditions for performing the task, if applicable; Items are presented in a list or some visually distinctive manner that separates it from the introductory text; No mechanical errors 4 - Explains the purpose of the instructions unless it’s obvious, identifies a specific audience, and discusses the benefits of performing the instructed task; Uses mostly clear language with a level of technicality appropriate for the defined audience; Includes a complete list of tools and materials or a description of the conditions for performing the task, if applicable; Items are presented in a list or some visually distinctive manner that separates it from the introductory text; and contains 1 mechanical error 3 - Explains the purpose of the instructions unless it’s obvious and mentions the benefits of performing the instructed task but fails to explicate an audience or uses general, but comprehensible language; Includes a complete list of tools and materials or a description of the conditions for performing the task, if applicable; however, some or all information is presented in the narrative or the introduction instead of organized separately or contains 2 mechanical errors 2 - Fails to identify the purpose in performing the instructed task (audience and benefits may or may not be included) or uses muddled or confusing language; Includes an incomplete or a nonexistent list of tools and materials or a description of the conditions for performing the task, if applicable (items can be presented either as a visually distinctive list or included as part of the introduction’s narrative) or contains 3+ mechanical errors 1 - Includes no introduction |
| Safety Information | 5 - Information presented as a clear cause and effect explanation (e.g., Use a sturdy glass when dispensing ice or water. Failure to do so can result in cuts) and placed in a highly visible area to meet legal requirements; No mechanical errors 4 - Information mostly presented as a clear cause and effect explanation and placed in a highly visible area to meet legal requirements and contains 1 mechanical error 3 - Information explicates the cause (e.g., Use a sturdy glass) but fails to mention the effect (e.g., Failure to do so could results in cuts) or information is placed in a somewhat visible area that readers could overlook or contains 2 mechanical errors 2 - Information explicates the cause and/or the effect using muddled or inconsistent language or information is placed in a somewhat visible area that readers would probably overlook or contains 3+ mechanical errors 1 - No necessary safety information required, which can result in a lawsuit |
| Required Steps | 5 - Ordered and numbered chronologically; Written in imperative mood (e.g., Pick up the knife) and provides the right amount of info for each step; Separated from background information or additional notes (e.g., ‘Step 1 – I like PB&J with Fritos’, is not a step); Uses clear language with a level of technicality appropriate for the defined audience; No mechanical errors 4 - Ordered and numbered chronologically; Written in imperative mood and mostly provides the right amount of info for each step; Separated from background information or additional notes; Uses mostly clear language with most of the technicality appropriate for the defined audience or contains 1 mechanical error 3 - One step is not ordered or numbered sequentially or 1 step is not written in imperative mood; Mostly provides the right amount of info for each step or includes 1 piece of information as a step that is actually background information or an additional note or uses general or nonspecific, but comprehensible language or contains 2 mechanical errors 2 - Two+ steps are not ordered or numbered sequentially or 2+ steps are not written in imperative mood; Steps mostly provide too much info to readers; or 1+ chunk of text is incorrectly written as a narrative instead of ordered and numbered sequentially or includes 2+ pieces of information as a step that are actually background information or an additional note or uses muddled or confusing language or contains 3+ mechanical errors 1 - Includes no steps |
| Conclusion | 5 - If the conclusion is not obvious, it tells the reader what to expect after following the instructions and/or suggests other uses and options, if appropriate; If the conclusion is obvious, other relevant information like customer service numbers or an FAQ are included instead; Uses clear language with a level of technicality appropriate to the defined audience; No mechanical errors 4 - If the conclusion is not obvious, it tells the reader what to expect after following the instructions and/or suggests other uses and options, if appropriate; If the conclusion is obvious, other relevant information like customer service numbers or an FAQ are included instead; Uses mostly clear language with most of the technicality appropriate to the defined audience or includes 1 mechanical error 3 - If the conclusion is not obvious, it tells the reader what to expect after following the instruction and/or suggest other uses and options using general but comprehensible language; If the conclusion is obvious, it provides an unnecessary summary of the major steps or describes the results of the procedure or contains additional information that lacks a clear connection to the task or contains 2 mechanical errors 2 - If the conclusion is not obvious, it leaves out information that could confuse the reader regarding the results of the process or uses muddled or confusing language or contains 3+ mechanical errors 1 - Provides no conclusion when one is needed or supplementary information when some is needed, causing the instructions to end abruptly (e.g., if you flip the page expecting to read more, the document ended abruptly |
| Graphic Aids | 5 - All graphics have a clear purpose in helping the reader understand the task; Graphics are clearly organized on the page and labeled with a descriptive caption written in sentence form; No mechanical errors 4 - All graphics have a clear purpose in helping the reader understand the task; Graphics are clearly organized on the page and labeled with a descriptive caption written in sentence form and with 1 mechanical error 3 - Most graphics have a clear purpose in helping the reader understand the task or most graphics are clearly organized and labeled with a caption that lacks some description but are still comprehensible or 1 caption is not written in sentence form or labeled at all or contains 2 mechanical errors 2 - Most graphics lack a clear purpose or contains too many graphics, muddling the document’s organization or graphics lack a consistent organization, marring comprehension or 2+ captions are not written in sentence form or labeled at all or contains 3+ mechanical errors 1 - Contains no relevant graphics when their inclusion would help illustrate significant aspects of the document and/or supplement the text |
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