| Carl Chatfield home page | Thesis | Chapter III |
In this chapter I will apply the discourse analysis methods discussed in Chapter II to identify rhetorical factors and reader roles within two how-to texts, Word User's Guide and Word for Dummies. Is this a reasonable comparison? Are these two texts really comparable? One could make several arguments that they are not. For example:
To address the first point, I argue that the secondary text market for popular software applications like Microsoft Word is in fact very competitive and time-sensitive. Bookstores, even those that specialize in computer books, typically place only a few titles about any single software product on their shelves. (C.D. Doyle, personal communication, September 10, 1995) The first titles to be published have the best chance of being carried by booksellers.
To address the second point, I simply point to the unarguable success of the secondary computer book market. (2) Despite the wishes of authors of primary documentation might have when designing their printed and online user assistance, the evidence is that a large percentage of buyers of popular software applications are also buying secondary texts to replace or supplement the primary documentation they received with their software.
The rhetorical factors I will analyze are those developed by Walters and Beck, (1992) which were described in Chapter II. They are intertextuality, informativity, situationality, intentionality, and acceptability.
The reader role taxonomies I will use are those developed by Coney, (1992) and Simpson (1989). Both taxonomies were described in detail in Chapter I. Coney's taxonomy consists of five nonexclusive reader roles: reader as receiver of information, reader as user, reader as decoder, reader as professional colleague, and reader as maker of meaning.
Simpson's taxonomy generally falls within the reader as user category of Coney's taxonomy, and includes three reader roles: doer, learner, and searcher.
In this section I report my findings of the analysis of the two texts, and offer some commentary on the findings. A broader discussion of the findings appears in Chapter IV, "Conclusions."
I evaluate intertextuality by analyzing each text's genre classification, design elements, and persuasive strategies invoked by the authors.
Software texts usually fall within identifiable categories such as user's guide or tutorial. By clearly indicating the type of software text, its author helps the reader adapt processing strategies from previously read texts of the same genre, or from similar texts in other genres. For example, a reader may be familiar with following procedures in a cookbook and then transfer their learned processing strategies to following procedures in a software user's guide. Or, a reader who has followed standard operating procedures when maintaining farm machinery could recognize the same reader role in standard operating procedures for computer hard drive maintenance. We could speak of readers learning a set of reader roles, and bringing those roles to new how-to texts. Ong (1975) suggests that there exists a tradition of fictionalizing audiences (i.e., creating reader roles) that extends back to the beginnings of the literary tradition. The same may be true for the genre of how-to texts, as Halse (1986) proposes.
The title of Word User's Guide clearly indicates its genre. The page design includes procedures consisting of numbered steps, bulleted lists and annotated illustrations as well as blocks of text. All of the part, chapter and section (subchapter) titles take gerund form, for example "Working with Long Documents" (a part title) and "Viewing Footnotes and Endnotes" (a section title). The major typographic and page design elements of Word User's Guide stress taking action and accomplishing tasks.
The title of Word for Dummies does not explicitly state the text's genre, except for the text "A Reference for the Rest of US!" on the front cover. Although it is not labeled as such, the organization and content of Word for Dummies is very similar to that of Word User's Guide. Word for Dummies falls within the genre of a user's guide.
Although the cover designs of both titles indicates their genre, they differ substantially in terms of rhetorical impact. The cover of Word User's Guide is white with all text in black and a single gray-scale graphic, as shown below.
Figure 5: The cover of Word User's Guide. The cover is white, the text is black and the illustration is gray-scale.
The cover design of Word for Dummies is much more complex graphically and rhetorically, as I will describe below.
Figure 6: The cover of Word for Dummies. The cover is bright yellow and includes black, purple and red elements.
The rhetorical factors at work on the two book covers have very different rhetorical effects. The extremely subtle and calm cover of Word User's Guide de-emphasizes the book itself and turns the reader's focus back to Word, the software application. For example, the text "User's Guide" in the upper left corner is not dominant. Instead the text "Microsoft Word" and "The World's Most Popular Word Processor" are dominant on the cover. If Word is indeed the world's most popular word processor, then doesn't it follow that Word User's Guide is the world's most popular user's guide for Word? The authors of Word User's Guide do not make such a claim. The design elements on the cover of Word User's Guide elevate the Word software application in prominence and diminish the User's Guide itself.
The cover design of Word for Dummies, on the other hand, turns the reader's attention squarely to the text itself. Several elements focus on the Dummies book series in general, and on Word for Dummies specifically :
In short, the cover of Word for Dummies presents a strong and direct rhetorical message. Some elements invoke a reader role of one who should "join the pack" of satisfied readers who have bought previous books in the Dummies series. Other elements set Word for Dummies apart from other Word documentation (by implication, specifically Word User's Guide) that are not "fun and easy" nor "for the rest of us." The author of Word for Dummies is willing to make the claim that Word for Dummies is in effect the world's most popular user's guide for Word-something the authors of Word User's Guide were not willing to claim on their cover.
While the cover of Word User's Guide invokes a vague reader role of "Word user," the cover of Word for Dummies invokes a much stronger role of "Dummies book reader who at the moment is reading about Word." The subject software, Word, is central on the Word User's Guide cover but is almost irrelevant on the Word for Dummies cover.
One could argue that as a secondary text, Word for Dummies must sell itself to the buying public while Word User's Guide, which it included with the Word software package, essentially arrives free to the reader. This is true as far as the initial purchase goes, but thereafter both texts must sell themselves rhetorically to the reader. Each text must invite the reader to step into a reader role by initially opening the text. It is at this level that the cover of Word for Dummies provides very strong inducements, while the cover of Word User's Guide provides almost none.
The internal design elements of Word for Dummies are very similar to that of Word User's Guide. The titles are all in gerund form, and the page layout includes numbered procedures and bulleted lists.
Word for Dummies includes one rhetorically significant internal design element that Word User's Guide does not. Word for Dummies includes marginal icons to indicate warnings, tips, and other notable information. In Word User's Guide, such indicators are incorporated directly into the text rather than indicated graphically in the margins. One of the margin icons used in Word for Dummies is called "Technical Stuff," shown below.
Figure 7: The "Technical Stuff" margin icon from Word for Dummies.
The rhetorical effect of the "Technical Stuff" marginal icons and notes is to help readers perceive themselves as more technically adept. The "Technical Stuff" notes generally contain information that is marginally relevant to the nearby text, but really no more technical than other content that is not labeled as technical. However by labeling some information as "Technical Stuff," the author of Word for Dummies allows readers to assume a reader role of a slightly more sophisticated user than they might otherwise assume. Word User's Guide has no consistent method of delineating technical information or of allowing readers to assume the reader role of a more sophisticated user.
Both texts either directly or indirectly make statements about the ease of use of the software application Word. In doing so, the authors reveal their positions in relation to the reader, for example sympathetic, neutral or even antagonistic. The persuasive strategies invoked in each text differ substantially, and can best be illustrated by example. Following are the introductory paragraphs for the sections on Mail Merge from each text. I chose Mail Merge because it is one of the most difficult tasks in Word, and provides a good potential opportunity for the authors to develop persuasive strategies with the reader.
Here are the introductory paragraphs to the passage of Word User's Guide addressing the topic of Mail Merge:
With the Mail Merge command on the Tools menu (the Print Merge command on the File menu in previous versions of Word), you can personalize form letters; print addresses on envelopes and mailing labels; assemble legal documents; and produce product data sheets, catalogs, and similar documents.
Whether you're producing a form letter or a legal document, you follow the same basic process. This chapter takes you through the steps to produce the following kinds of documents:
Once you're familiar with these basics, you can explore other possibilities for using the Mail Merge command in Chapter 30, "Mail Merge: Advanced Techniques." (p. 635)
Here are the introductory paragraphs to the passage of Word for Dummies addressing the topic of Mail Merge:
Mail Merge. Ugh. What it is: a method of producing several customized documents without individually editing each one. We're talking form letters here - but sneaky form letters that you can't really tell are form letters.
Let's face it, mail merge is not fun. For some reason, with every incarnation of WinWord, it gets more difficult and baffling. The boys and girls at Microsoft have always cheerfully "improved" mail merge, primarily by adding a hoary hoard of new ugly terms to describe it. I would normally pass on this topic, but in an effort to do my civic duty - and in an attempt to hold down the massive chiropractic bills that would result from your picking up and tossing the User's Guide through the window - this chapter contains only the basic, need-to-know steps for mail merging. (p. 221)
The Word User's Guide passage does not explicitly address the difficulty of the Mail Merge feature; however it does promise to "take[s] you through the steps" to produce some common Mail Merge documents. Because the Word User's Guide passage includes the tasks of producing form letters, labels and envelopes in the introductory chapter about Mail Merge, the passage implies that these are relatively easy tasks. (Another chapter entitled "Mail Merge: Advanced Techniques" addresses what the Word User's Guide authors must consider the hard tasks.) No clear reader role is developed in this passage. The first paragraph specifies the Word 6 commands to use Mail Merge, as well as the commands in previous versions of Word. This suggests a reader role of Word upgrader, but it is not fully developed. The Word User's Guide passage orients the feature in terms of output (form letters, for example), and also limits its scope by referring to a more advanced chapter.
The comparable passage from Word for Dummies, however, takes a very different approach. Word for Dummies claims that Mail Merge "is not fun" and is in fact "difficult and baffling." The passage implies that Word User's Guide is of little help (it should be thrown through a window) and that Word itself has made Mail Merge more difficult in recent updates. (3) The Word for Dummies passage is not as detailed as the Word User's Guide section in describing Mail Merge output or uses. It focuses instead almost entirely on the difficulty of Mail Merge and the "civic duty" of the author in describing the task.
The ethos of the authors of both texts is revealed in these passages. The Word User's Guide authors present an ethos of the understated and detached professional. This is indicated by the absence of informal tone and direct personal pronouns ("I" or "we"), and the lack of admission that Mail Merge is a complex, even difficult task. All of these elements are prominent in the Word for Dummies section. In Word for Dummies, the author develops an ethos of the mentor, or the buddy who sympathizes with the lot of the Mail Merge user. The author even goes so far to claim that it is his civic duty to lead the user to Mail Merge success.
The ethos of the author is further developed by stating the author's credentials in a biography or in some other way. For a full discussion of this, see "Author Biography" in the section "Intentionality and Acceptability" below.
One would expect how-to texts to exhibit a high degree of informativity. However factors such as how new information is introduced and how content is organized contribute to the rhetorical success or failure of a how-to text.
One measure of informativity is the ratio of new terms to common terms within a passage. New terms include terms from the software interface, and what is sometimes called "jargon." Jargon terms are understood by experts but have no immediate meaning to most users.
The passages examined in both subject texts are about a feature called WordArt. WordArt is used to create special effects with text, such as distorting text into a wavy line. The passages appear on p. 589 of Word User's Guide and pp. 254-55 of Word for Dummies. Both passages appear in the Appendix, "Sample Passages Used For Informativity Measures." Also indicated in the appendix are the new terms and repetition of those terms.
The analysis of the two subject texts reveals the following:
| Informative factor | Word User's Guide | Word for Dummies |
| New terms in a sample 200 word passage. | 14 (7%) | 10 (5%) |
| Number of times new terms were repeated within the passage. | 29 (14.5%) | 16 (8%) |
The Word User's Guide passage introduces a few more new terms than does the comparable passage in Word for Dummies, and repeats those terms much more frequently. This would suggest that Word User's Guide places a greater demand on the reader to process new information. A careful examination of the passages in question reveals that Word User's Guide goes into more verbose detail in both the conceptual explanation of the WordArt feature and the procedure for creating a special effect with WordArt than does the Word for Dummies passage. For example, the Word User's Guide procedure provides exact step-by-step instructions, including steps to click the OK button to close a dialog box. The procedure in Word for Dummies provides higher level instructions and leaves such details to the user to work out. Ironically, Word for Dummies generally requires more inferring from the reader than does Word User's Guide.
Both subject texts are organized pragmatically, that is, by user task. At the part level the contents of both texts are similar. For example, both texts address formatting tasks within a single part. At the chapter level one finds an even greater degree of similarity between the two texts, although the chapter titles differ substantially.
Excluding front matter, Word User's Guide contains 830 pages. Of these, 44 pages make up the index. This is approximately 5% of the total page count. Word User's Guide contains approximately 4,750 index entries. (4) This is approximately 5.7 index entries per page.
Word for Dummies contains 380 pages, of which 14 pages contain the index. This is approximately 3.7% of the total page count. Word for Dummies contains approximately 2,000 index entries. This is approximately 5.3 index entries per page.
The average index entries per page is so close that neither text can claim an informative advantage based on scope of index.
Situationality is best understood in terms of author empathy with the reader. Empathy with the reader is a very strong rhetorical factor that authors of how-to texts can use. Author empathy is closely related to the Intertextuality factor of persuasive strategies of authors. The two subject texts exhibit very different degrees of situationality as measured by author empathy. Two expressions of empathy are of interest here: the author's stated position of the ease or difficulty of using the subject software, and the author's stated position of the importance of using the subject software or some component of it.
A common place for an author to state his position of the ease or difficulty of using the subject software or the importance of using the subject software is the Introduction. Both Word User's Guide and Word for Dummies include Introductions (the Word User's Guide Introduction is entitled "Before You Begin"). Here are the two Introductions, followed by an analysis of situational factors.
The Microsoft Word User's Guide contains detailed information about using Microsoft Word for Windows and Microsoft Word for the Apple Macintosh. When instructions for the two versions of Word differ, you'll see a note such as "In Word for Windows" or "In Word for the Macintosh."
In this new version, Word for Windows and Word for the Macintosh share the same file format, features, appearance, and documentation. Because this version of Word eliminates most of the differences between Word for Windows and Word for the Macintosh, both products are numbered version 6.0 (Microsoft Corporation, 1994, p. xiii)
The Word Introduction continues with four pages of the typographic conventions used within the text. Below is the Introduction of Word for Dummies.
Welcome to Word For Windows 6 For Dummies, a book that's not afraid to say "You don't need to know everything about Word for Windows to use it." Heck, you probably don't want to know everything about Word for Windows. You don't want to know all the command options, all the typographical mumbo-jumbo, or even all those special features that you know are in there but terrify you. No, all you want to know is the single answer to a tiny question. Then you can happily close the book and be on your way. If that's you, then you've found the right book.
This book informs and entertains. And it has a serious attitude problem. After all, we don't want to teach you to love Word for Windows. That's sick. Instead be prepared to encounter some informative, down-to-earth explanations-in English-of how to get the job done by using Word for Windows. After all, you take your work seriously, but you definitely don't need to take Word for Windows seriously. (Gookin, 1994, p. 1)
The Word for Dummies Introduction continues with a cartoon followed by two pages of typographic conventions used within the text.
The Word for Dummies Introduction includes a number of author and reader role cues. These are analyzed below under "Author and Reader Roles."
The Introductions of the subject texts address the issue of situationality in very different ways. The Word User's Guide Introduction focuses almost exclusively on the fact that the single text applies to both Word for Windows and Word for the Macintosh. No hints are given to the author's perception of the ease or difficulty of using Word.
The Word for Dummies Introduction is much more specific in indicating the author's position on the ease or difficulty of using Word. The author states that some features "terrify you" and suggests that the reader should not want to know all the details of Word. The Word for Dummies Introduction sets up Word for Dummies as the source to answers to specific questions.
The Introduction of Word for Dummies contains much stronger situational factors than does the Introduction of Word User's Guide. This pattern is repeated (although not as explicitly as in the Introductions) throughout the two texts. Word for Dummies contains several dozen references to what its author considers difficult to use or poorly designed features in Word. The authors of Word User's Guide never explicitly criticize Word features. However one could infer by the far greater length of Word User's Guide (830 pages) that its authors intended to more thoroughly describe Word tasks than did the author of Word for Dummies (360 pages). The mere existence of the 830 pages of content in Word User's Guide implies a high level of empathy with the reader and the tasks he faces. However this empathy is never made explicit in the text as it is repeatedly in Word for Dummies.
I evaluate intentionality and acceptability together. In a sense, intentionality and acceptability are two sides of the same coin: intentionality refers to the author's attempt to make rhetorical connections to the reader, and acceptability refers to the reader's susceptibility to accept these connections. The reader's acceptability is influenced by the author's perceived subject matter expertise.
On the title page of Word User's Guide the sole hint of the author is "Microsoft Corporation." No individual or even department names are given. This is consistent with the Word software application itself, where the only potential location that could contain the software authors' identities, the Help/About dialog box, lists only "Microsoft Corporation." (5)
The author of Word for Dummies is given an elaborate biography. On the title page the author, Dan Gookin, is prominently named. Below his name appears "author of best-selling DOS for Dummies, 2nd Edition and WordPerfect 6 for Dummies." Following the title page is a complete one-page biography of Gookin entitled "About the author." The biography gives a history of Gookin's writing career and his expertise in not just in using computers but in explaining them. The biography does so in a casual tone, for example: "Dan Gookin got started with computers back in the post slide rule age of computing…Today, Gookin still considers himself a writer and computer "guru" whose job it is to remind everyone that computers are not to be taken too seriously."(p. v) On the back cover of Word for Dummies is a smaller "About the Author" biography that lists Gookin's several titles in the "For Dummies" series of computer books.
The roles and intentions of the author or authors of Word User's Guide are not made explicit. The author of Word for Dummies, on the other hand, goes to great lengths to establish a role that might be described as a friendly mentor to the reader. In his biography, Gookin is portrayed as a computer expert and prolific technical writer, but one who is sympathetic to the plight of the reader and the difficulty of using Word.
The presence of quick reference sheets in the manuals, in addition to providing cognitive assistance, is also a rhetorical factor. The inclusion of the quick reference sheets indicate a higher level of empathy for the reader on the part of the author.
The back cover of Word User's Guide includes quick reference information. The explanatory text in the front matter of the text refers to this as "handy reference information" (p. xiv). The reference information consists of two bulleted instructions on getting online help, and a table of keyboard shortcuts. The entire back cover of the text is black text on a white background. The two headings on the page are white text in gray boxes.
Word for Dummies includes a tear-out quick-reference sheet labeled "Cheat Sheet" on both sides. The cheat sheet is bright yellow. It includes the text "…For Dummies: #1 Computer Book Series for Beginners" on both sides. The sheet includes three graphic images and four tables of information. The sheet labels parts of the Word screen and toolbars, and describes common editing and formatting keyboard shortcuts, navigation, and other miscellaneous tips.
Several factors in these quick reference sheets address the writer's intentionality and the reader's acceptability. Because the Word for Dummies sheet is two-sided, it contains more information than does the Word User's Guide sheet. However the information common to both is comparable in detail. The significant factors are the color and layout choices. The Word for Dummies sheet is bright yellow and difficult to miss as one opens the book. The Word User's Guide sheet is much more subtle. Because it is on the back cover, it cannot easily be removed as the Word for Dummies sheet can be. The fact that the Word for Dummies sheet is labeled a "Cheat Sheet" is also a rhetorical factor. This suggests to the reader that Word for Dummies helps them get directly and perhaps even sneakily to the most useful and concise information about Word. The notion of "cheat sheets" is one most readers are immediately familiar with. The Word User's Guide sheet lacks any label or identifier, except in the front matter of the text. The "#1 Computer Books…" promotions on both sides of the Word for Dummies sheets further support the reader's level of acceptability of the text.
As Simpson (1989) has noted, reader roles function at several levels within a text: document level, passage level, and sentence level. In this section I will identify author and reader roles at these levels within Word User's Guide and Word for Dummies.
The title of Word for Dummies literally suggests a reader role of "dummy." It is interesting that in the domain of microcomputer software at least, a large percentage of users are prone to self-depreciation. There is an element of dark humor in self-admitted ignorance of computer-related issues, and the title of Word for Dummies plays on this humor.
At the document level, both subject texts invoke similar author roles. It is reasonable to assume that anyone who can publish a text about Word is a Word expert. The reader roles implied by the covers of the two texts differ, however, as discussed above in the "Intertextuality" section above.
At the passage level author and reader roles are most similar. Both texts contain comparable passages of similar design: enumerated instructions, bulleted lists, and blocks of text paragraphs. At the passage level, both texts suggest strong doer reader roles. Word User's Guide contains far more conceptual art pieces (art other than screen shots), and suggests a somewhat stronger learner role than does Word for Dummies.
It is at the sentence level that the differences in author and reader roles between Word User's Guide and Word for Dummies is most apparent. To illustrate, I refer again to the Introductions of both texts. In the following passages, I have identified the reader roles invoked [bolded in block parenthesis] per sentence or sequence of sentences. I begin with the Word User's Guide Introduction.
The Microsoft Word User's Guide contains detailed information about using Microsoft Word for Windows and Microsoft Word for the Apple Macintosh. When instructions for the two versions of Word differ, you'll see a note such as "In Word for Windows" or "In Word for the Macintosh." [-Reader as receiver of information]
In this new version, Word for Windows and Word for the Macintosh share the same file format, features, appearance, and documentation. Because this version of Word eliminates most of the differences between Word for Windows and Word for the Macintosh, both products are numbered version 6.0 [-Reader as receiver of information] (Microsoft Corporation, 1994, p. xiii)
Below is the Introduction of Word for Dummies.
Welcome to Word For Windows 6 For Dummies, a book that's not afraid to say "You don't need to know everything about Word for Windows to use it." [-Reader as receiver of information] Heck, you probably don't want to know everything about Word for Windows. You don't want to know all the command options, all the typographical mumbo-jumbo, or even all those special features that you know are in there but terrify you. [-Reader as user] No, all you want to know is the single answer to a tiny question. Then you can happily close the book and be on your way. If that's you, then you've found the right book. [-Reader as user]
This book informs and entertains. And it has a serious attitude problem. After all, we don't want to teach you to love Word for Windows. That's sick. Instead be prepared to encounter some informative, down-to-earth explanations-in English-of how to get the job done by using Word for Windows. After all, you take your work seriously, but you definitely don't need to take Word for Windows seriously. [-Reader as user] (Gookin, 1994, p. 1)
It is clear that the Word for Dummies Introduction invokes the reader as user role to a much greater extent than does the Word User's Guide Introduction, but in a highly prescriptive way. The author role in the Introduction of Word for Dummies (and throughout the text) is one of an information gatekeeper or filter. The author role is to provide "the single answer to a tiny question," whatever that question may be. While the author role of Word User's Guide in essence tries to stay out of the way of the reader and the information, the reader of Word for Dummies will receive a dose of the author's humor and opinions along with task-oriented information.
The author of Word for Dummies writes "This book informs and entertains. And it has a serious attitude problem." What the author is saying in effect is that the author role informs and entertains, and has an attitude problem as well. Contrast this with the complete absence of authorial voice in the Word User's Guide Introduction (this is typical of the entire text). The author role of the Word User's Guide can be described as exhaustive, neutral, and above all subdued. The author role of Word for Dummies, on the other hand, is loud, entertaining (or at least attempts to be), irreverent, and sometimes selective.
There are many conclusions that can be drawn from this analysis and generalized to some degree to all primary and secondary how-to texts. This is the subject of Chapter IV, "Conclusions."