Key Principles for Creating Well Organized Documents
The information below is useful for more effectively organizing documents:
Get a General Sense of the Information
- What is the goal of the document? Write it out.
- Who are the users? Describe them.
- Gather all the information you can about the project (old documents, web pages)
- Read through the bulk of the material, at least quickly
- What don’t you know? (You may need to interview people)
- What timeline are you operating under?
Consider How People Will Read the Document
- Will more than one group read the document?
- Why will each group read? What will they be looking for?
- When and where?
- What outside factors will impact their reading?
- Are you translating technical information for your users? (if so, include definitions, examples, explanations as to why things must be done)
- The key is to anticipate how people will try to read your document
General Organizing Styles
- Sequential/Chronological—our instinct—start with the first thing and go from there (like the first screen of a program)—but this is not always best—might be useful if things have to be done on certain days of the week or times of the year (like monthly accounting reports or calculating tax payments)
- Alphabetical—another natural way to organize, if the person knows what they are specifically looking for
- Physical Layout—organize around the way a building is laid out or the way you get to the screens in a program
- By User Type—beginners versus experts—sometimes done by using side comments (can be part of the other methods)
- Task Oriented—one of the best ways to help people find information—saves reading time
Specialized Organization Features
- Table of Contents—basic but extremely valuable
- Page Numbers—basic or advanced (for example 2-14 which allows individual chapter updates but is harder to find), but labeling every line is often confusing and a waste of energy
- Warnings—very important information you need to draw readers attention to in a special way
- Unimportant Information—some info. you want to obscure or downplay
- Trouble Shooting—useful information to have, but often means we have to read every item hoping to find our problem
- Appendices—is some information relevant, but not necessary (technical specifications vs. what you need to know to do your job)
- Index—time consuming (again, it requires you to think about how your users will read)
- Color and Packaging—guide readers via physical look and document structure—tabs are very useful (like many dictionaries)
- Combine Methods—This may allow you to achieve more than one goal for the document
Remember
- Headings help organize
- Chunk information
- Cross reference if you can
- Use table of contents, page numbers, and
- Have an outside reader help evaluate your organization
- Test the document if possible
Other Factors to Consider
- Can you write as much as you want? (more pages = higher cost)
- Will the packaging impact you? (page size)
- What cost constraints are you under?
- Are there legal constraints to worry about?
- What does your boss want and when does she/he want it?