Process narratives explain how something was done or instruct readers on how it could or should be done. Whether the purpose is explanatory or instructional, process narratives must clearly convey each necessary action and the exact order in which the actions occur.

Use process narratives to explain.

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Explanatory process narratives often relate particular experiences or elucidate processes followed by machines or organizations. Consider this excerpt from a remembered-event essay by Mary Mebane. She uses process narrative to let readers know what happened the first time she worked on an assembly line putting tobacco leaves on the conveyor belt:

The job seemed easy enough as I picked up bundle after bundle of tobacco and put it on the belt, careful to turn the knot end toward me so that it would be placed right to go under the cutting machine. Gradually, as we worked up our tobacco, I had to bend more, for as we emptied the hogshead we had to stoop over to pick up the tobacco, then straighten up and put it on the belt just right. Then I discovered the hard part of the job: the belt kept moving at the same speed all the time and if the leaves were not placed on the belt at the same tempo there would be a big gap where your bundle should have been. So that meant that when you got down lower, you had to bend down, get the tobacco, straighten up fast, make sure it was placed knot end toward you, place it on the belt, and bend down again. Soon you were bending down, up; down, up; down, up. All along the line, heads were bobbing—down, up; down, up—until you finished the barrel. Then you could rest until the men brought you another one.

—MARY MEBANE, “Summer Job”

Here, actions sequences (bend down, get the tobacco, straighten up fast) become a series of staccato movements (down, up; down, up; down, up) that emphasize the speed and machinelike actions Mebane had to take to keep up with the conveyor belt.

The next example shows how a laser printer functions:

To create a page, the computer sends signals to the printer, which shines a laser at a mirror system that scans across a charged drum. Whenever the beam strikes the drum, it removes the charge. The drum then rotates through a toner chamber filled with thermoplastic particles. The toner particles stick to the negatively charged areas of the drum in the pattern of characters, lines, or other elements the computer has transmitted and the laser beam mapped.

Once the drum is coated with toner in the appropriate locations, a piece of paper is pulled across a so-called transfer corona wire, which imparts a positive electrical charge. The paper then passes across the toner-coated drum. The positive charge on the paper attracts the toner in the same position it occupied on the drum. The final phase of the process involves fusing the toner to the paper with a set of high-temperature rollers.

—RICHARD GOLUB AND ERIC BRUS, Almanac of Science and Technology

Like Mebane’s process narrative, this one sequences the actions chronologically from beginning (“the computer sends signals to the printer”) to end (“fusing the toner to the paper”). Temporal transitions (then, once, then, final) and present-tense verbs (sends, shines, scans, strikes) convey the passage of time and place the actions clearly in this chronological sequence.

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Use process narratives to instruct.

Unlike explanatory process narratives,instructional process narratives must include all of the information a reader needs to perform the procedure presented. Depending on the reader’s experience, the writer might need to define technical terms, list tools that should be used, give background information, and account for alternatives or possible problems.

Figure 14.3 presents a detailed instructional process narrative from the Home Repair Handbook, which gives readers directions for replacing a broken plug. The first graphic includes four steps that are clearly numbered, illustrated, and narrated. Each step presents several actions to be taken, and its graphic shows what the plug should look like when these actions have been completed. We can identify the actions by looking at the verbs. Step 1 in “Replacing plugs with terminal screws,” for example, instructs readers to take four separate actions, each signaled by the verb (italicized here): “Unscrew and remove the new plug’s insulating barrier. Using a utility knife, split the end of the cord to separate the wires; push the cord through the plug body.” These are active verbs, and the sentences are in the form of clear and efficient commands. The anonymous authors do not assume that readers know very much, as they label every element of each drawing, including the screws. They also instruct readers precisely what to do. For example, in Step 4, they tell readers to “form loops on wires and wrap them clockwise three-quarters of the way around the screws.”

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