Process Writing (Instructions)

Will Fleming

Process Writing (Instructions)

Workplace documentation isn’t just about recording information—it’s about making sure work gets done consistently, safely, and correctly. That’s where process writing, like instructions, becomes essential.

What is Process Writing?

Process writing is a style of writing that explains how to complete a task step by step. It focuses on:

Clear actions (“Tighten the bolt to specification”)
Logical order (what happens first, next, and last)
Measurable or observable results (the end goal)

Process writing also explains how something was done, such as how a repair was first diagnosed or how a project was completed.

In the workplace, process writing is found in various documents including procedures, checklists, manuals, guides, and standard operating procedures (SOPs), as well as in reports and project completion documents, like invoices. It’s one of the most common types of writing done by technical communicators. This section focuses specifically on writing instructions, those step-by-step explanations of how to do things, such as how to assemble something, how to operate something, how to repair something, or how to create something. This includes recipes, user manuals, and how-to guides.

Shared Characteristics

While the topics and formats of instructions can vary widely, many share some basic similarities:

- Purpose: to explain how something works or how something was achieved
- Audience: often tailored to specific readers/users and written with the audience’s needs in mind. It’s helpful to begin by asking what your audience already knows and what your audience will need to have explained or defined in order to complete the steps or the overall task.
- Language: usually written using clear and simple directives, like Open valve, Add contents, or Tighten screws. Tip: using clauses that begin with a verb and leave out the subject, like I or you, is helpful for simplicity and efficiency. For instance, instead of writing In the next step you should open the valve slowly… you can write Step 2: Open valve slowly.
- Structure/Organization: usually written in chronological order using clearly numbered steps.

Types of Instructions

There are three (3) main types of instructions/process analyses:

- Descriptive processes: these answer the question, “How is this done?” These texts describe how a process occurs so that readers can understand it better. For example, writing a descriptive process about how you registered for a course online rather than in person might be useful to someone who has never done online registration.
- Prescriptive processes: these are explanatory in nature; they prescribe how something is done (or should be done) so that readers can do it themselves. These are the most common type of instructional documents. For example, you might write a prescriptive process guide for users explaining how to perform basic maintenance on their cars, such as changing their own oil, checking spark plugs, or replacing brake pads. *The samples listed below are examples of prescriptive processes.
- Blended descriptive and prescriptive processes make the main thrust of the document a descriptive process while having a few sections summarizing how the readers can perform the process. In other words, writers may address both “How can I do this?” and “How is this done?” in different parts of one text. Alternatively, they might develop different versions of the same document for two audiences–an audience of users and an audience of interested parties.

Getting Started

At the beginning of an instruction-writing project or assignment, it’s important to consider your audience and determine the characteristics (the number of tasks and steps) of the particular procedure you intend to write about.

Audience and situation: Early in the process, define the audience and situation of your instructions. Remember that defining an audience means defining its level of knowledge and familiarity with the topic. It is sometimes helpful to describe your audience to yourself first, and then use that to assess your message at the end to be certain it’s appropriate for your audience.

Number of tasks: An important consideration is how many tasks there are in the procedure for which you are writing instructions. The term procedure can be used to refer to the whole set of activities your instructions discuss, while task can be used to define a semi-independent group of actions within the procedure. For example, setting up your modem is one task in the overall procedure of connecting a computer to the internet.

As another example, a simple procedure like changing a car’s oil contains only one task; there are no semi-independent groupings of other activities. A more complex procedure, like using a microwave oven, contains plenty of semi-independent tasks, such as setting the clock, setting the power level, using the timer, cleaning and maintaining the microwave, and more.

Some instructions have only a single task but have many steps within that single task. For example, imagine a set of instructions for assembling a children’s swing set. One effective approach would be to group similar and related steps into phases, and then renumber the steps at each new phase. A phase is a group of similar steps within a single-task procedure. In the swing set example, setting up the frame would be one phase; anchoring the thing in the ground would be another; and assembling the box swing would be still another.

Focusing Instructions

Another consideration, which maybe you can’t determine early on, is how to focus your instructions. For most instructions, you can focus on the tasks involved, or you can focus on the tools needed.

- - In a task approach to instructions on using a phone-answering machine, you’d have sections on recording your greeting, playing back your messages, saving your messages, forwarding your messages, and deleting your messages. These are tasks—the typical things users would want to do with the machine.

- - On the other hand, in a tools approach to instructions on using a photocopier, there would be sections on the copy button, the cancel button, the enlarge/reduce button, the collate/staple button, the paper tray, the copy-size button, and so on. If you designed a set of instructions on this plan, you’d likely write steps for using each button or feature of the photocopier.

General advice for writing instructions

- - Use clear, simple writing whenever possible.

- - Have a thorough understanding of the process in all its technical detail.

- - Take a reader-centered approach when writing the steps, by asking 1.) What does my audience need to know? and 2.) What does my audience know already?