The Logical and Rhetorical Construction of Procedural Discourse
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc/1999/00000046/00000001/art00005
  access restricted (by the publisher) to members/subscribers/customers only
  peer-reviewed

Farkas, David K.
Technical Communication Online
1999

Abstract:

A very useful perspective for understanding procedural ('how to') discourse and for writing better procedures is to view procedures as a framework of actions and states. The states include desired (goal) states and unwanted states; the actions are user actions, system actions, and external events. This framework underlies all kinds of procedural discourse, including streamlined-step procedures, the model that predominates in online help systems. The components that make up streamlinedstep procedures are best understood as combinations of actions and states. Procedural discourse is also highly rhetorical in nature. We can see the rhetorical implications of actions and states in the various models of procedural discourse, and in specific strategies that writers implement. Because of its terse and rigid nature, the streamlinedstep model is not well suited for certain rhetorical strategies and cognitive goals, and so while recognizing the efficiency of the streamlined-step model, writers should not neglect more