Instructions & processes
time to complete: 10-15 minutes
We will now turn to two more functions that might be useful for your academic presentation: giving instructions and describing a process.
Giving instructions
Depending on your topic or presentation assignment, you might have to provide instructions. That means you will introduce detailed information on how to do something, or perhaps how to use a piece of equipment.
Language that makes the sequence (order) clear:
- First, …
- Secondly, …
- Before you…,
- Then, …
- During this stage, we…
- Next, …
- In the next step, …
- Finally, …
Verb forms that show instruction:
- Imperative
e.g. Type your search terms in the search box. Click on the first arrow and select Articles from the drop-down menu. Then, hit ‘Enter’.
- Modal verbs
e.g. You should avoid… You need to check… At this point, you have to insert…
Processes
You might need to describe a series of steps taken in order to achieve a particular result.
The language you need to describe a process is similar to that of giving instructions, with the exception of the use of the ‘imperative’. Your sentences will have both a subject and a verb, not just a verb that tells the audience what to do.
- Next, transcribe the interviews. (instruction)
- Next, I transcribed the interviews (process)
In addition, your verbs might be in past, present or future tenses, depending on your topic e.g. describing an experiment you performed, describing a technique in general, or describing your proposed methodology.
- Next, I transcribed the interviews using... (past)
- Next, we transcribe the interviews using... (present)
- Next, I'll transcribe the interviews using... (future)
Let’s examine an extract from a presentation.
Task: Read the presentation transcript and identify the following:
- What process is the student talking about?
- Is it a past, a present or a future process?
- What language signals the stages of the process?
- What language signals the purpose of the stages?
- What language signals the methods used?
Make a note of your answers to compare with our suggested answers later.
My research is composed of three phases. Phase one was understanding how people assume or think themselves and others use insulin infusions. To understand WAI, all insulin infusion guidelines were analysed and three different focus group discussions with guidelines developers, managers and healthcare practitioners were conducted to explore how they imagine insulin infusions are used. Phase two explored how work was actually done by healthcare practitioners (WAD). This phase was conducted by video recording all tasks done while using insulin infusions. For phase II, I used a method called VRE where I spent time familiarising myself with the workplace and observing healthcare participants using VRIII, then I conducted a virtual reflexive meeting using Microsoft Teams with the participants to watch themselves and discuss the video footage of their work. The innovation of using this method resides in understanding the context of research setting by paying attention to the invisible but necessary practices that are taken for granted because we use them everyday. The third phase was a comparison between phase one and two in order to develop a model that describes how insulin infusions were used and to devise recommendations and solutions to improve patient safety. I used a task analysis technique called HTA to understand and analyse phase I and II.
Extract adapted from YouTube presentation transcript (University of Reading 2021)
Now, click below to check the suggest answers. The different answers have been highlighted using different colours.
- The process of her research
- A past process
- Language that signals the stages
- Language that signals the purpose of the stages
- Language that signals the methods used
My research is composed of three phases. Phase one was understanding how people assume or think themselves and others use insulin infusions. To understand WAI, all insulin infusion guidelines were analysed and three different focus group discussions with guidelines developers, managers and healthcare practitioners were conducted to explore how they imagine insulin infusions are used. Phase two explored how work was actually done by healthcare practitioners (WAD). This phase was conducted by video recording all tasks done while using insulin infusions. For phase II, I used a method called VRE where I spent time familiarising myself with the workplace and observing healthcare participants using VRIII, then I conducted a virtual reflexive meeting using Microsoft Teams with the participants to watch themselves and discuss the video footage of their work. The innovation of using this method resides in understanding the context of research setting by paying attention to the invisible but necessary practices that are taken for granted because we use them everyday. The third phase was a comparison between phase one and two in order to develop a model that describes how insulin infusions were used and to devise recommendations and solutions to improve patient safety. I used a task analysis technique called HTA to understand and analyse phase I and II.